Operation Black Lion (15 June – 19 October 1972) was a Royal Lao Government counter-offensive against a People's Army of Vietnam thrust that cut the Kingdom of Laos in two at Khong Sedone during May 1972. Two regiments of Royalist military irregulars retaliated on 15 June 1972, attacking the Communist 39th Regiment in an air assault while Royal Lao Air Force tactical air strikes hammered the 39th. During the next month, the 39th Regiment would suffer an estimated 360 casualties and be rendered ineffective for attacks. On 18 July, they retreated, leaving a rear guard to be overrun.
The Royal Lao Government was the ruling authority in the Kingdom of Laos from 1947 until the communist seizure of power in December 1975 and the proclamation of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. The Franco-Lao Treaty of 1953 gave Laos full independence but the following years were marked by a rivalry between the neutralists under Prince Souvanna Phouma, the right wing under Prince Boun Oum of Champassak, and the left-wing, Lao Patriotic Front under Prince Souphanouvong and future Prime Minister Kaysone Phomvihane. During this period, a number of unsuccessful attempts were made to establish coalition governments.
The People's Army of Vietnam, also known as the Vietnamese People's Army (VPA), is the military force of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The PAVN is a part of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces and includes: Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, Border Defence Force, and Coast Guard. However, Vietnam does not have a separate Ground Force or Army branch. All ground troops, army corps, military districts and specialised arms belong to the Ministry of Defence, directly under the command of the Central Military Commission, the Minister of Defence, and the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army. The military flag of the PAVN is the flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, with the words Quyết thắng added in yellow at the top left.
The Kingdom of Laos was a constitutional monarchy that ruled Laos beginning with its independence on 9 November 1953. The monarchy survived until December 1975, when its last king, Savang Vatthana, surrendered the throne to the Pathet Lao, who abolished the monarchy in favor of a Marxist state called the Lao People's Democratic Republic, which has controlled Laos since.
Throughout the following months, the Royalists pushed eastward along Route 23 towards Vietnam to capture Laongam. Then, on the nights of 14/15 and 18/19 October 1972, Communist PT-76 tanks struck four Royalist Thai mercenary battalions holding Laongam. All the Thais except the regimental staff abandoned the town on 19 October; however, an AC-130 Spectre gunship repelled the Communist attack. Two Thai battalions returned to form a weak defense.
A mercenary, sometimes known as a soldier of fortune, is an individual who takes part in military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather than for political interests. In the last century, mercenaries have increasingly come to be seen as less entitled to protections by rules of war than non-mercenaries. Indeed, the Geneva Conventions declare that mercenaries are not recognized as legitimate combatants and do not have to be granted the same legal protections as captured soldiers of a regular army. In practice, whether or not a person is a mercenary may be a matter of degree, as financial and political interests may overlap, as was often the case among Italian condottieri.
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam, was a country that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of the Cold War. It received international recognition in 1949 as the "State of Vietnam", which was a constitutional monarchy (1949–1955). This became the "Republic of Vietnam" in 1955. Its capital was Saigon. South Vietnam was bordered by North Vietnam to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, Thailand across the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest, and the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia across the South China Sea to the east and southeast.
Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics is the management of the flow of things between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet requirements of customers or corporations. The resources managed in logistics may include tangible goods such as materials, equipment, and supplies, as well as food and other consumable items. The logistics of physical items usually involves the integration of information flow, materials handling, production, packaging, inventory, transportation, warehousing, and often security.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence (HUMINT). As one of the principal members of the United States Intelligence Community (IC), the CIA reports to the Director of National Intelligence and is primarily focused on providing intelligence for the President and Cabinet of the United States.
Beginning in 1955, the Kingdom of Laos was divided into five Military Regions (MR), roughly corresponding to the areas of the country's 13 provinces. The Military Regions were necessitated by the poor lines of communication within the country. The Military Districts were the basis of a culture of warlordism in the Royal Lao Armed Forces (FAR) high command, with most MR Commanders running their zones like private fiefdoms.
Interdiction is a military term for the act of delaying, disrupting, or destroying enemy forces or supplies en route to the battle area. A distinction is often made between strategic and tactical interdiction. The former refers to operations whose effects are broad and long-term; tactical operations are designed to affect events rapidly and in a localized area.
Background
By the end of April 1972, the Royal Lao Government (RLG) had lost control of the Bolovens Plateau and its overwatch of the Trail to the invading People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). A renewed PAVN 9th Regiment captured the village of Laongam and advanced nine kilometers along Route 23 into Royalist territory. Also, during the third week in May, the PAVN 39th Regiment unexpectedly made a rainy season advance to occupy the town of Khong Sedone on the banks of the Mekong River. This move cut Route 13, between Savannakhet and Pakxe, thus severing the only highway between the two Lao Military Region headquarters. It also essentially divided Laos in two, and menaced Thai sovereignty.[4]
Savannakhet, officially named Kaysone Phomvihane and previously known as Khanthabouli (ຄັນທະບູລີ), is a city in western Laos and the capital of the Savannakhet Province. With a population of 120,000 (undated), it is the second-largest city in Laos, after Vientiane. The city is the birthplace of Kaysone Phomvihane, the first leader of Laos after the dissolution of the Kingdom of Laos from 1975 to 1992, and was named after him in 2005. Although the old French colonial quarter of the town, along the Mekong River-front, is depressed and crumbling, the town's proximity to Thailand's booming economy has brought about new commercial development in the northern part of the town, near both the river crossing and the bus terminal.
Loss of the Mekong River town was too great an affront to Lao nationhood to be borne. Deputy Minister Sisouk na Champassak was forwarded to Pakxe by Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma. Champassak was to remain in Pakxe—barring cabinet meetings in Vientiane—overseeing Royalist efforts to regain Khong Sedone and block attacks on Pakxe. King Savang Vatthana believed the operation should retake Paksong in the Communists' rear, cutting their supply lines into Khong Sedone.[5]
Prince Sisouk na Champassak was the eldest son of Chao Bounsouane na Champassak, who was in turn the eldest son of the last King of Champassak, Chao Ratsadanay. His brother is Chao Sisanga Na Champassak.
Prince Souvanna Phouma was the leader of the neutralist faction and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Laos several times.
Paksong is a city in Laos, situated on the Bolaven Plateau. The city is well known for its coffee exports. It is the capital of Paksong District.
The RLG's immediate reaction was the dispatch of partially trained Bataillon Voluntaire 44 (BV 44) from Military Region 4, backed by four 105mm howitzers to retake Khong Sedone. When the volunteer battalion was unsuccessful, the undertrained regimental-sized Groupement Mobile 41 (GM 41) also tried and failed. These two failures precipitated Operation Black Lion.[4]
Operation Black Lion
The Royalists had an artillery fire base sited at the road junction where east-west Route 23 from Vietnam intersected the Laotian north-south Route 13 near Khong Sedone. In early June, the Royalists began reinforcing the position with Thai mercenary troops returning from a loan to Military Region 2. Four battalions left the Plain of Jars on 12 and 13 June; after being re-equipped, they were stationed at the critical intersection. In late June, they were joined by a fifth Thai battalion. In early July, a 4.2 inch mortar was added to the garrison. However, the Royalist forces had secured no foothold on the Bolovens Plateau.[6]
In early June, Savannakhet Unit of the CIA planned Operation Black Lion to retake Khong Sedone. On 15 June 1972, Groupement Mobile 32 (GM 32) was helilifted into Pakxe Site 47, unloading on the fly and without their heavy weapons company. This placed GM 32 11 kilometers north of Khong Sedone. Only two hours after re-forming their ranks, GM 32 moved south toward their objective. Less than two kilometers out, they ran headon into the 3rd Battalion of the PAVN 39th Regiment. After intense fighting, the arrival of tactical air support for the Royalists drove the Vietnamese out of the way.[7]
On 16 June, Groupement Mobile 33 (GM 33) was landed seven kilometers west of Pakxe Site 47. It divided in two to assault differing objectives. Group Alpha was directed at the mountaintop of Phou Khong. Group Bravo was targeted at Route 13.[8] The Communist defensive positions were laid out with a basic weakness; while antiaircraft guns and artillery pieces were sited on one bank of the Se Done River, most of their infantry protection was stationed on the other.[9]
On 17 June, GM 32 was six kilometers north of Khong Sedone. On 18 June, Alpha Group of GM 33 was repulsed in its attack on Phou Khong, being struck by artillery and mortar fire. Bravo Group of GM 33 unsuccessfully assaulted Ban Napheng, three kilometers north of Khong Sedone. On 19 June, two battalions of GM 32 took Ban Napheng, then quickly moved into a vacated Khong Sedone. The PAVN forces had withdrawn westward to a deserted RLA bivouac.[8]
GM 32 remained static in Khong Sedone into the first week of July. Communist artillery fire began to fall on GM 32. Meanwhile, troops from the 39th Regiment conquered Ban Napheng.[8] The attacking Royalists took advantage of the poor Communist dispositions to inflict an estimated 300 PAVN casualties.[9] However, during the second week in July, intercepted Communist signals traffic disclosed that the PAVN 39th Regiment had orders to hold the old RLA camp at all costs. GM 32 was ordered into the attack, with the Royal Lao Air Force (RLAF) delivering close air support and a 75mm recoilless rifle platoon firing support. Even though intercepted radio messages revealed the PAVN was suffering heavy losses, the Communists hung on until 18 July before staging a fighting withdrawal over Phou Khong.[8] Encroaching Royalist irregulars killed the PAVN defensive rearguard in their bunkers. The guerrillas also reported finding 60 fragmentary corpses of Communist soldiers killed by RLAF strikes. The PAVN 39th Regiment was through as a fighting force.[10]
As GM 32 had launched its assault, GM 33 was redirected from its attack on Phou Khong to recapture Ban Napheng. Having done so within a week, GM 33 moved three kilometers north of the village, following in trail of the withdrawing PAVN.[8]
As July turned into August 1972, GM 32 pursued the depleted PAVN 39th Regiment 15 kilometers northeastward. The Royalists destroyed five tons of Communist war materiel along the way. On 12 August, the Royalist regiment took Moung Wapi. On 15 August, it was relieved by allies of the Royalists, Bataillon Infanterie 18 (BI 18) from Forces Armées Neutralistes.[8]
In July, this task force attacked eastward along Route 23. The PAVN 9th Regiment held firm at Laongam. The Royalists established a new fire base with four artillery pieces halfway between Laongam and the 13/23 intersection. An additional Thai battalion reinforced the Royalist assault force. A renewed attack captured Laongam on 5 September, but could push no further.[11]
An AC-130 gunship mission was crucial in repelling communist attacks on BC 401.
On 25 September, in mid-battle, three of the Thai battalions in Laongam were designated as constituting a new regiment, Groupement Mobile 401 (GM 401). One Thai battalion secured the new intermediate fire base. A sixth Thai battalion having joined the operation, there were two battalions free to attempt to move eastward along Route 23 into Communist territory.[11]
On 14 October, four PAVN PT-76 tanks supported infantry attacking the Thais. Two of the PT-76s were destroyed on 15 October, and the Vietnamese withdrew. On the 18th, the PAVN struck again. By 0100 hours on the 19th, all the Thai infantry was in full flight, as GM 401 abandoned its headquarters staff and the new fire support base. The Communists overran the fire base, destroying three of four Royalist howitzers. An AC-130 Spectre gunship fire mission forced a Communist withdrawal and saved the 18 man headquarters.[11]
Two of the Thai battalions that had fled returned to establish a feeble defensive line while the Royalists planned another offensive.[11]
Kou Kiet was a major Laotian Civil War victory for the anti-communist troops of the Kingdom of Laos. Patterned after prior Operation Raindance, it depended upon extensive air strikes blasting communist units and clearing them from the path of the Royalist offensive. Powered by 150 daylight and 50 night sorties daily, with 50 to 80 day strikes directed by Raven Forward Air Controllers, Kou Kiet ran from 6 August to 30 September 1969. It was successful beyond expectations. After the Royal Lao Government troops achieved their objectives, General Vang Pao insisted on pushing forward while they had the initiative. As a result, the Royalists regained control of the entire Plain of Jars while also capturing a huge stock of munitions from the communists. Their triumph came at a cost. However successful the Royalists were, by battle's end their battle-worn forces had exhausted their pool of potential recruits, while the Vietnamese could easily replace their personnel losses.
Campaign 139 was a major military offensive of the People's Army of Vietnam, launched against its Royalist enemies during the Laotian Civil War. Larger than previous invading forces, Campaign 139 was also a combined arms expedition containing tanks, artillery, engineers, and Dac Cong sappers. As such, it was a decided escalation in the war. It was also an exceptional rainy season offensive by PAVN, which usually withdrew during the wet season.
The Tchepone Operation was an interdiction campaign by the Royal Lao Armed Forces aimed at disrupting the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) supply line, the Ho Chi Minh trail. The pair of three-battalion Central Intelligence Agency-sponsored Royalist irregulars aimed at a communist garrison at Moung Phine, and the vital transshipment point of Tchepone. The Muang Phine thrust was fruitless. The Tchepone column stalled on Route 9 only 13 kilometers from the logistics center on 31 October. Between 1 and 10 November, the PAVN fiercely attacked while reinforced with nine antiaircraft guns and six mortars. The Royalist guerrillas retreated to base under cover of tactical air strikes by the Royal Lao Air Force and U.S. Air Force that inflicted heavy casualties on the PAVN, including close air support delivered within 20 meters of the Royalists. Analysis of the results of the Tchepone Operation convinced the CIA that regimental operations should replace multi-battalion ones.
Operation Counterpunch, waged 26 September 1970 to 7 January 1971, was a military offensive of the Laotian Civil War. Royalist General Vang Pao's guerrilla army regained the vital all-weather forward fighter base at Muang Soui on the Plain of Jars from the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). The preemptive Counterpunch was credited with delaying an imminent PAVN wet season offensive for a month. The guerrilla army survived, though still heavily outnumbered by the PAVN.
Operation Bedrock (Laos) was a military offensive staged by the Royal Lao Armed Forces against the People's Army of Vietnam in Military Region 4 of the Kingdom of Laos. Its purpose was disruption of the supply of rice to Communist forces occupying the Ho Chi Minh Trail. It was successful.
Operation Sayasila was a major offensive military operation of the Laotian Civil War. It was staged by command of King Sisavang Vatthana. Launched on 26 July 1971 against the Ho Chi Minh Trail complex and its People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) garrison, Sayasila was planned as a rather complex two phase operation dependent on coordinating two columns containing 4,400 troops with close air support in an attack on 1,100 Vietnamese Communist soldiers. When the assault stalled in mid-August, it was elaborated upon with two additional helilifts of Royalist troops behind the PAVN's mobile garrison. When the Royalist command failed to coordinate tactical movements among its various columns, the PAVN 9th Regiment moved to defeat Royalist aggressor columns one at a time. By 1 September, this Royalist attack had also failed.
Campaign 74B was a major combined arms offensive by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) during the Laotian Civil War. The Communist offensive, if successful, would knock the last remaining fighting troops of the Kingdom of Laos out of the war, ensuring the Vietnamese conquest of Laos. The 316th PAVN Division—reinforced by artillery, tanks, and sappers—attacked during a period of slackened tactical air support for General Vang Pao's guerrilla army; Operation Lam Son 719 was being waged at the same time. Having captured the highly strategic Plain of Jars during Operation 74B, the Communists attackers managed to penetrate deeply enough to fire upon the main guerrilla base at Long Tieng.
Operation Thao La was a Royal Lao Government (RLG) dry season offensive during the Laotian Civil War, aimed at severing the Ho Chi Minh Trail and retrieving the Lao Bolaven Plateau from the grip of the People's Army of Vietnam. Its objectives were the use of recently captured Salavan as a jumpoff point for occupying Tha Theng and Ban Phong. Key to the plan was a prearranged daily allotment of supportive tactical air power.
Campaign Z was a military offensive by the People's Army of Vietnam; it was a combined arms thrust designed to defeat the last Royal Lao Army troops defending the Kingdom of Laos. The Communist assault took Skyline Ridge overlooking the vital Royalist base of Long Tieng and forced restationing of Royalist aviation assets and civilian refugees. However, Communist forces eventually receded back onto their lines of communication without capturing the base.
Operation Strength was a Royalist military offensive of the Laotian Civil War. The attack, undertaken against the advice of his American backers by Hmong General Vang Pao, was launched across the rear of the attacking People's Army of Vietnam forces. A distracting attack was launched from Boumalong in the north while the main assault struck northwards from Ban Pa Dong. A BLU-82 superbomb served as a secondary distraction. Having drawn 11 of the 22 attacking Communist battalions back into their own rear area, the Royalists withdrew after suffering light casualties. The Operation Strength feints into the PAVN rear area sapped the vigor from the ongoing Campaign Z.
Operation Strength II was a Royalist military offensive of the Laotian Civil War. It was devised as another diversion in the mode of the original Operation Strength. Planned as a pincer movement on the Plain of Jars, Operation Strength II's beginning was grossly hampered by combat refusals and desertions from one of its two task forces. Loss of tactical air support as the Easter Offensive began in South Vietnam also weakened the Laotian effort. In any event, neither pincer did much toward its goal of distracting the People's Army of Vietnam from its attempts to overrun the strategic guerrilla base at Long Tieng and end the war.
Operation Sinsay was a Royal Lao Government offensive of the Laotian Civil War. The planned offensive was pre-empted by prior moves by the opposing People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN); they struck on 6 March 1972. Although the Communist attack reached Laongam, 21 kilometers from Pakxe and the Thai border, and the defending Royalist battalions there were reassigned to fight in Operation Strength on the Plain of Jars, monarchist guerrillas were able to interdict Communist supply lines and force a Vietnamese retreat by the end of March 1972.
Operation Fa Ngum was a Laotian military offensive aimed at capturing the villages of Ban Ngik and Laongam as bases for incursions onto the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The Central Intelligence Agency backers of Royalist guerrillas planned to use a combination of air mobility and route march assaults to clear Route 23 through the two towns. Defensive forces to be defeated were the People's Army of Vietnam 9th and 39th Regiments. At various times and in differing combinations, the Royalists would commit two regiments of guerrillas, a makeshift regiment of the Royal Lao Army, three battalions of Neutralists, and a detachment of armored cars. Fighting a two-phase battle, the Royalists displaced the two PAVN regiments back towards the Vietnamese border. The Royalists both gained and gave up the open air cemetery of Ban Ngik. The PAVN returned westward toward the Thai border as the Royalists fell back. Enfeebled by mutiny and a serious casualty rate, the Royalists ended Operation Fa Ngum with a weak defensive blocking position at Laongam on Route 23.
Operation Phou Phiang II was one of the final battles of the Laotian Civil War. It was an attempt to relieve the siege on the guerrilla headquarters at Long Tieng on the Plain of Jars. Planned with the backing of Henry Kissinger, it was designed as a two phase attack consisting of five task forces of Thai mercenaries and Royalist guerrillas upon the People's Army of Vietnam invading Laos. Air superiority was used to direct over 100 air strike sorties daily to support the offense, and air mobility to shuffle attacking troops. A new radar bombing program by F-111 Aardvarks and B-52 Stratofortresses failed to cripple the Communist forces. Designed to overwhelm Communist defenses with its multiplicity, the five Lao task forces were defeated in detail by the Communists despite two new columns being improvised and introduced into the fray.
Operation Phou Phiang III was the final offensive of the Laotian Civil War by the Royal Lao Army's L'Armée Clandestine. Central Intelligence Agency-sponsored Hmong guerrillas and Thai mercenaries formed three attacking task forces in an attempt to clear the People's Army of Vietnam from positions near the Royalist guerrillas' headquarters on the Plain of Jars. All three columns failed to move the Vietnamese invaders before the ceasefire of 21 February 1973 ended the war.
Operation Maharat II was a Royalist offensive against Pathet Lao insurrectionists during the Laotian Civil War. The Royalists planned a two pronged convergence on four Pathet Lao battalions holding the intersection of routes 7 and 13. With neither side particularly avid for combat, the situation was resolved by the Royalist reinforcement of its attack forces until the Communists faced overwhelming odds. The Pathet Lao then decamped. Operation Maharat II ended on 5 February with an artillery fire base supporting an irregular regiment occupying the road intersection. On 22 February 1973, a ceasefire took effect.
Operation Black Lion III was one of the last Royal Lao Army offensives of the Laotian Civil War. Aimed at regaining the Lao towns of Paksong and Salavan and their associated airfields for Lao usage, the three regiment offensive captured Salavan on 20 October 1972, and Paksong shortly thereafter. Although the besieged Royalists would hold through early February 1973, they would be routed by PAVN tanks and infantry just before the 22 February 1973 ceasefire ended the war.
Campaign 972 was the final offensive in the south of the Kingdom of Laos by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). After fending off a score of Royal Lao Government attacks against the Ho Chi Minh Trail between June 1969 and late 1972, the PAVN attacked and essentially cut Laos in two at Khong Sedone by November 1972. Sporadic ongoing fighting, especially for control of Paksong, continued until 8 February 1973. Although a ceasefire officially ended the Laotian Civil War at noon on 23 February with Salavan, Thakhek, and Lao Ngam in Communist hands, the PAVN launched another successful assault on Paksong 15 minutes later.
Operation Black Lion V was the final Royal Lao Government offensive of the Laotian Civil War. Launched as a followup to Operation Black Lion and Operation Black Lion III, it too was aimed at regaining control of the Bolovens Plateau, which overlooked the Ho Chi Minh trail. This last assault took the town of Paksong on the plateau on 6 December 1972 and held it until a ceasefire took effect at midday on 22 February 1973. A People's Army of Vietnam attack began at 12:05 the same day and overran Paksong by dark.
The Battles of Bouamlong came about because the valley of Bouamlong was a center of Royalist guerrilla operations during the Laotian Civil War. Located well into Communist-held territory and maintained by an air bridge, on several occasions Bouamlong served as a launching point for Royalist offensives such as Operation Raindance, Kou Kiet, Operation Counterpunch III, and Operation Strength. It was also targeted for attack by offensives by the People's Army of Vietnam during Campaign 139 and Campaign 74B. Defended by Auto Defense Choc troops led by Major Cher Pao Moua, Bouamlong held out against the Communist forces even after the War ended in a ceasefire in February 1973. There were reports of resistance into the 1990s.
References
Ahern, Thomas L. Jr. (2006), Undercover Armies: CIA and Surrogate Warfare in Laos. Center for the Study of Intelligence. Classified control no. C05303949.
Castle, Timothy N. (1993). At War in the Shadow of Vietnam: U.S. Military Aid to the Royal Lao Government 1955–1975. ISBN0-231-07977-X.
Conboy, Kenneth and James Morrison (1995). Shadow War: The CIA's Secret War in Laos. Paladin Press. ISBN978-1-58160-535-8.
Nalty, Bernard C. (2005). The War Against Trucks: Aerial Interdiction In Southern Laos 1968–1972. Air Force History and Museums Program. ISBN978-1-47755-007-6.
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