Operation Off Balance

Last updated
Operation Off Balance
Part of Laotian Civil War; Vietnam War
Date1 –15 July 1969
Location Plain of Jars in northeastern Laos
Result Unsuccessful Royalist attempt to blunt an enemy offensive
Belligerents
Flag of Laos (1952-1975).svg  Kingdom of Laos
Supported by
Flag of the United States.svg  United States 		Flag of North Vietnam.svg  North Vietnam
Supported by:
Flag of the Soviet Union (1955-1980).svg  Soviet Union
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  People's Republic of China
Commanders and leaders
Vang Pao
Units involved
Bataillon Guerrier 206
Bataillon Commando 208
101 Bataillon de Parachutistes
Bataillon Guerrier 201
Bataillon d'Infanterie 15
U.S. Air Force
Royal Lao Air Force 		19 PAVN battalions with 8+ tanks
Strength
Battalion-size Battalion-size
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown

Operation Off Balance was a hastily planned offensive operation of the Laotian Civil War; it happened between 1 and 15 July 1969 on the Plain of Jars in the Kingdom of Laos. The Royal Lao Government forces in Military Region 1 of Laos had just been evicted from the crucial all-weather airfield at Muang Soui, as well as most of the Plain, on 28 June 1969. Hmong General Vang Pao planned a quick counter-offensive to recapture the airfield from his communist foe; it would kick off on 1 July, supported by 60 sorties per day of tactical air strikes from Operation Barrel Roll.

Laotian Civil War 1963-1975 civil war in Laos

The Laotian Civil War (1959–75) was fought between the Communist Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Government, with both sides receiving heavy external support in a proxy war between the global Cold War superpowers. It is called the Secret War among the CIA Special Activities Division and Hmong veterans of the conflict.

Plain of Jars megalithic archaeological landscape in Laos, consisting of thousands of stone jars scattered around the upland valleys and the lower foothills of the central plain of the Xiangkhoang Plateau

The Plain of Jars is a megalithic archaeological landscape in Laos. It consists of thousands of stone jars scattered around the upland valleys and the lower foothills of the central plain of the Xiangkhoang Plateau. The jars are mostly arranged in clusters ranging in number from one to several hundred.

Kingdom of Laos former country

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.

Contents

In the event, the 1 July offensive ran afoul of its Neutralist allies, who retreated rather than carry out their assault. A constant flow of reinforcements from the attacking People's Army of Vietnam fed their own strength to resist. With the Neutralists' abstention, the remaining forces in Off Balance—two battalions of Hmong guerrillas and a Royalist paratrooper battalion— were defeated by counterattacking communist tanks supported by heavy artillery. During the battle, the Hmong suffered the loss of their only fighter pilot, Lee Lue. The reputation he had gained while flying over 5,000 combat missions had become the symbol of Hmong resistance; his death was a crushing blow to Hmong morale. Operation Off Balance ended the day of Lee Lue's burial. The communists still held the Plain of Jars and Muang Soui.

Peoples Army of Vietnam Combined military forces of Vietnam

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.

Major Lee Lue was a Laotian Hmong fighter bomber pilot notable for flying more combat missions than any other pilot in the Kingdom of Laos. Lee Lue flew continuously, as many as 10 missions a day and averaging 120 combat missions a month to build a total of more than 5,000 sorties. Lee Lue was the leader of the special group of Hmong pilots flying T-28Ds from Long Tieng against the Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese positions. The group was funded by the CIA and was part of the regular Royal Lao Air Force, but took orders directly from MR2 Commander Gen. Vang Pao. He was shot down by anti-aircraft fire and killed over Laos near Muang Soui on 12 July 1969. At the time of his death, he had flown more combat missions than any pilot in history.

Overview

After World War II, France fought the First Indochina War to retain French Indochina. As part of its loss of that war at Dien Ben Phu, it freed the Kingdom of Laos. Laotian neutrality was established in the 1954 Geneva Agreements. When France withdrew most of its military in conformity with the treaty, the United States filled the vacuum with purportedly civilian paramilitary instructors. [1] A North Vietnamese-backed communist insurrection began as early as 1949. Invading during the opium harvest season of 1953, it settled in northeastern Laos adjacent to the border of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. [2]

First Indochina War 1946-1954 war between France and Ho Chi Minhs forces

The First Indochina War began in French Indochina on December 19, 1946, and lasted until July 20, 1954. Fighting between French forces and their Việt Minh opponents in the south dated from September 1945. The conflict pitted a range of forces, including the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps, led by France and supported by Bảo Đại's Vietnamese National Army against the Việt Minh, led by Ho Chi Minh and the People's Army of Vietnam led by Võ Nguyên Giáp. Most of the fighting took place in Tonkin in northern Vietnam, although the conflict engulfed the entire country and also extended into the neighboring French Indochina protectorates of Laos and Cambodia.

French Indochina Federal state in Southeast Asia

French Indochina, officially known as the Indochinese Union after 1887 and the Indochinese Federation after 1947, was a grouping of French colonial territories in Southeast Asia.

Paramilitary Militarised force or other organization

A paramilitary is a semi-militarized force whose organizational structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but which is formally not part of a government's armed forces.

As the Laotian Civil War flared, the Central Intelligence Agency established a secret guerrilla army in the Plain of Jars. Interposed between the communist settlement around Xam Neua and the Royal Lao Government in Vientiane, the Hmong military irregulars fought to hold on to their traditional territory, and to preserve Laos. [3] After the failure and defeat of Operation Pigfat, the communists had overrun the Plain of Jars to within ten kilometers of the guerrillas' main base at Long Chieng. [4] They were poised to turn the Hmong army's western flank. [5]

Central Intelligence Agency National intelligence agency of the United States

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.

Xam Neua District & municipality in Houaphan Province, Laos

Xam Neua (ຊຳເໜືອ [sám nɨ̌ə], Vietnamese: Xâm Neua or Sầm Nưa, sometimes transcribed as Sam Neua or Samneua, literally "northern swamp", is the capital city of Houaphan Province, Laos, in the northeast of the country. Xam Neua is one of the country's least visited provincial capitals by Western tourists.

Royal Lao Government

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.

Background

Facing an enemy drive that had penetrated within ten kilometers of his main base by the disastrous end of Operation Pigfat, as well as menacing his major air strip at Muang Soui, Hmong General Vang Pao and his CIA backers had fought back. An aerial campaign, Operation Raindance, had sapped enemy strength by its massive destruction of his pre-positioned supplies. However, after it and the following Operation Stranglehold ended, the Hmong guerrillas had swept through enemy ground back to their own territory. It seemed a somewhat successful end to their dry season operations. [6] [7] [8] [9]

Operation Pigfat was a crucial guerrilla offensive of the Laotian Civil War; it lasted from 26 November 1968 to 7 January 1969. Launched by Hmong tribal soldiers backed by the Central Intelligence Agency, it was based on the usage of overwhelming air power to clear the path for the guerrillas. The guerrillas were faced with the largest concentration of Vietnamese communist troops stationed outside Vietnam, and hoped to spoil that imminent attack.

Muang Soui Town in Laos

Muang Soui is a small town in Xiangkhouang Province in northeastern Laos. It is located along Route 7, northwest of Phonsavan.

Vang Pao Laotian-American soldier

Vang Pao was a major general in the Royal Lao Army. He was a leader in the Hmong American community in the United States.

As Vang Pao planned a rainy season offensive during late June 1969, the People's Army of Vietnam anticipated him. In its first rainy season offensive of the Laotian Civil War, as well as its first use of tanks in northern Laos, the communists captured Muang Soui on 27 June in Campaign Thoan Thang. Making the threat more serious was the addition of seven fresh communist battalions during the past two months. That brought the total PAVN order of battle opposing Vang Pao to an unprecedented 19 battalions. [10]

Operation Off Balance

On 28 June 1969, Vang Pao began planning another preemptive attack on the communists in hopes of catching them by surprise; it would be launched three days later on 1 July. [11] The Hmong general proposed rallying the 700 Forces Armées Neutralistes soldiers at Xieng Dat who had fled there from Muang Soui. He would stiffen their will to fight by assigning a couple of battalions of his guerrillas to the operation, some 600 Hmong. Also available was a Royal Lao Army paratroop battalion of 300; the paratroopers were considered the best of the regular troops. With half of the 120 daily Operation Barrel Roll air strike sorties pledged for support, the pincer movement on the ground was supposed to recapture the vital all-weather fighter strip at Muang Soui in ten days. [11] [12]

On 29 June, a CIA case officer flew in to Xieng Dat to appraise the combat effectiveness of the Neutralists. He met with a sullen commanding officer, Colonel Sing, who reported the desertion of 50 soldiers the previous night, and claimed to be short of weaponry. On the other hand, when the case officer moved on to the Hmong, the CIA man found Vang Pao personally firing a 4.2 inch mortar at the enemy. The inspection tour left serious doubts as to whether the Hmong had sufficient military power to tackle an offensive by themselves. To further complicate matters, Vang Pao and the Neutralists loathed one another. [13]

T-28Ds of the Royal Lao Air Force, used in Operation Barrel Roll in the Kingdom of Laos T-28Ds operating in Laos 1964-73.jpg
T-28Ds of the Royal Lao Air Force, used in Operation Barrel Roll in the Kingdom of Laos

Nevertheless, dubbed Operation Off Balance, the plan tried to live up to its name by kicking off hurriedly on 1 July 1969, three days after it was proposed. The Hmong Bataillon Guerrier 206 (Warrior Battalion 206) was helilifted to a landing zone at the old Operation Momentum base at San Luang. [12] They moved out on foot northeastward toward the objective. Neutralist Bataillon Commando 208 (Commando Battalion 208), which had been regrouped at Xieng Dat after their flight from Muang Soui, marched eastward to join that column. In a separate move, the paratroop battalion, 101 Bataillon de Parachutistes (101st Parachute Battalion), was helicoptered to Ban Na, southeast of the objective, to begin their approach march. In a third part of the operation, the Hmong Bataillon Guerrier 201 (Warrior Battalion 201) paired with the Neutralist Bataillon d'Infanterie 15 (Battalion of Infantry 15); they were helicoptered to Phou So to walk south to Muang Soui. [11]

On 1 July, the U.S. Air Force struck the communists at Muang Soui with 50 sorties of tactical air strikes. Their bomb damage assessment was 18 secondary explosions from munitions, 12 fires set, and 39 bunkers destroyed. Weather grounded the aircraft on 2 July. On 3 July, they got through for 24 sorties. They were grounded again on 4 July. [12]

Neutralist Bataillon d'Infanterie 15 refused to participate in the operation. That left the Hmong Bataillon Guerrier 206 alone in its advance from the north. The other Neutralist unit, Bataillon Commando 208, was scarcely any more aggressive. However, the other Hmong in Bataillon Guerrier 201 and the Royalist paratroopers advanced. On 5 July, as 30 sorties each of USAF and RLAF air struck the communists, Hmong guerrillas were only five kilometers from the airfield. However, at least two PAVN battalions still blocked them. Meanwhile, pilots and road watch reconnaissance teams reported a steady flow of reinforcement from North Vietnam; they had counted eight more tanks incoming, as well as 1,000 trucks. [11] [12]

For several days, flying weather once again turned foul; only on 8 July did air power hit, and then with only six missions. On 11 July, a Neutralist unit finally made a decisive move—Bataillon Commando 208 moved away from Muang Soui. At that, Operation Off Balance was effectively ended. [12]

That was far from the worst news on 11 July. Vang Pao's kinsman, the famed Hmong RLAF pilot Lee Lue, was killed by anti-aircraft fire. [11] At the time of his death, he had flown over 5,000 battle missions—arguably the most combat sorties of any fighter pilot in history. [14]

The communists counter-attacked on 13 July, using both tanks and heavy artillery. Lacking air support to support their resistance, the Hmong guerrillas dropped back into defensive positions. [12] On 15 July, Vang Pao called off Operation Off Balance. [11]

Aftermath

Lee Lue's funeral

Lee Lue was the survivor of the first two Hmong pilots trained. His reputation as a warrior had even spread within the American fighter pilot community. Daily, weather permitting, he flew combat whether healthy or ill. He had become an important symbol to the Hmong resistance. Commonly, when he landed at the end of a day's combat, he would be so weary he would be carefully lifted from the cockpit by his ground crew. [15]

The communists fully appreciated his significance; they celebrated with impromptu fireworks as his plane crashed. His death so stunned the Royalists that the Royal Lao Armed Forces generals actually flew to the front in Military Region 2 to pay their respects at the three-day funeral. The ceremony was an amalgam of Hmong animist and Lao Buddhist beliefs. Air Attache Colonel Robert Tyrrell laid an American Distinguished Flying Cross on Lee Lue's coffin before his interment. Raven FACs stationed at Long Tieng also joined the ceremony. Karl Polifka stated, "Lee Lue was one of only two people I have shed tears over in my Air Force career." Another Raven, Mike Cavanaugh, considered Lee Lue his brother. [15]

Bombing of Khang Khai

Lao Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma had been greatly perturbed by the loss of Muang Soui to the communists. As planning for Off Balance went forward, he decided to remove the ban on bombing Khang Khai. He stumped for 150 air strikes to attack on 1 July as a means of showing his wrath. He also requested 150 more sorties the following day. This request to Seventh Air Force was passed back to Washington, DC for approval. It arrived there on a weekend, and was mishandled by junior staff on duty. When more senior officials returned to work on Monday, they disapproved the request as being an unnecessary escalation of the war, especially since there was a Chinese cultural mission in Khang Kai. The American ambassador in Vientiane, G. McMurtrie Godley, was also cautioned about allowing the RLAF to bomb Khang Khai, for fear of provoking the Chinese communists. The entire subject was slated for discussion at an upcoming rules of engagement on 11 August. [12]

While this was in progress, in early August, a Raven Forward Air Controller directed an air strike using a laser-guided bomb on a communist radio station on the outskirts of Khang Khai. An errant cloud misguided the bomb; it struck the Chinese cultural mission. The resulting explosion of stored munitions leveled everything within a quarter mile, including the broadcast equipment. Much to the U.S. State Department's surprise, there was no subsequent complaint from the Chinese about the bombing. [12]

On the ground

After Lee Lue's funeral, the Hmong guerrillas withdrew to Long Tieng. The Royalist 101 Bataillon de Parachutistes were helilifted to a defensive position at Ban Na. On 10 August 1969, PAVN troops overran Xieng Dat, scattering the Neutralists. After the remnants of the Neutralist unit were regathered at Muong Kassy, they were airlifted to Thailand for retraining. The communists still controlled the Plain of Jars. [11] They had escalated their offensive power with tanks; to that they added seven fresh infantry battalions. [16]

Vang Pao was left with an internal problem in his community. Hmong clan leaders who were demoralized by losses lobbied for withdrawal of the Hmong community westward out of the war. [16]

Notes

  1. ↑ Castle, pp. 7–12, 15–18.
  2. ↑ Dommen, pp. 30–34.
  3. ↑ Warner, pp. 44–47
  4. ↑ Warner, p. 264.
  5. ↑ Ahern, p. 318.
  6. ↑ Warner, pp. 263–265.
  7. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 201–212.
  8. ↑ Anthony, Sexton, pp. 298–302.
  9. ↑ Ahern, pp. 308–310.
  10. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 211–214.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Conboy, Morrison, pp. 213–214.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Anthony, Sexton, pp. 304–306.
  13. ↑ Ahern, pp. 318–319.
  14. ↑ Hilmer, p. 5.
  15. 1 2 Robbins, pp. 220–225.
  16. 1 2 Ahern, p. 320.

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References

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