The plan of Operation Masher was for the U.S., South Vietnamese and ROK soldiers to sweep north and for the U.S. and South Vietnamese marines to sweep south catching and killing the PAVN/VC forces between the allied forces. Orders for the U.S. forces in Operation Masher were to "locate and destroy VC/NVA units; enhance the security of GVN of South Vietnam installations in capital Bong Song, and to lay the groundwork for restoration of GVN control of the population and rich coastal plain area." The primary metric for judging the success of the operation would be the body count of PAVN/VC soldiers killed.