Prior to the Summer Offensive of 1965, Quang Ngai and the surrounding provinces had witnessed a substantial increase in VC military activities. On February 6, 1965, the VC 409th Sapper Battalion attacked the U.S. base at Camp Holloway at Pleiku, injuring more than a hundred American personnel and damaging about 20 aircraft. The U.S. retaliated by launching Operation Flaming Dart, bombing selected targets in North Vietnam. On 10 February the VC bombed a U.S. military billet in Qui Nhơn and the U.S. retaliated by launching Operation Flaming Dart II. Following those actions the VC decided to launch a major assault on South Vietnamese units in Ba Gia, a small village in Son Tinh District about 10 kilometres away from Quảng Ngãi City.