Operation Phiboonpol

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Operation Phiboonpol
Part of Laotian Civil War; Vietnam War
Date9 –11 June 1971
LocationMoung Phalane
Result Unsuccessful Royalist attempt to capture the Bolaven Plateau
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
Units involved
Bataillon Infanterie 20
1 Special Guerrilla Unit
Bataillon Volontaires 43
Bataillon de Parachutistes 104
Thai mercenary company
Royal Lao Air Force
U.S. Air Force 		Group 559
Strength
Battalion and regimental-size ~50,000
Three PT-76 tanks
Casualties and losses
Heavy Heavy

Operation Phiboonpol (9–11 June 1971) was a "short but very intense engagement" of the Laotian Civil War. Five Royal Lao Government battalions went on the offensive in Military Region 4 of the Kingdom of Laos to try to regain the Boloven Plateau, which overlooked the vital Ho Chi Minh Trail lying to its east. Stopped in its tracks by the People's Army of Vietnam, with its first use of tanks in southern Laos, the Royalists held firm while close air support inflicted heavy casualties on North Vietnamese attackers. A Thai mercenary company sent as a Royalist relief force was ambushed and wiped out. For weeks after the battle, vultures feasted on unburied corpses.

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.

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.

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.

Contents

Overview

The Ho Chi Minh Trail has been called, "the lifeline of Hanoi's [North Vietnam's] efforts to topple the South Vietnamese government." [1] There were numerous attempts by Royal Lao Government troops—in most cases, irregular military units—to interdict the Trail during the course of the Second Indochina War. Beginning with offensives such as Operation Left Jab and Operation Junction City Jr. in 1969, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) continued to direct attacks on the Trail in 1970 in Operation Maeng Da, Operation Honorable Dragon, Operation Diamond Arrow, and the Tchepone Operation. [2] Action against the Trail continued in 1971 with Operation Silver Buckle, Operation Desert Rat, and Operation Phoutah. [3] From the eastern side of the Trail came Operation Lam Son 719 on 8 February 1971. [4]

Hanoi Municipality in Hà Nội, Vietnam

Hanoi is Vietnam's capital and second largest city by population. The city mostly lies on the right bank of the Red River. Hanoi is 1,720 km (1,070 mi) north of Ho Chi Minh City and 105 km (65 mi) west of Haiphong.

Irregular military Any non-standard military organization

Irregular military is any non-standard military component that is distinct from a country's national armed forces. Being defined by exclusion, there is significant variance in what comes under the term. It can refer to the type of military organization, or to the type of tactics used. An irregular military organization is one which is not part of the regular army organization. Without standard military unit organization, various more general names are often used; such organizations may be called a "troop", "group", "unit", "column", "band", or "force". Irregulars are soldiers or warriors that are members of these organizations, or are members of special military units that employ irregular military tactics. This also applies to irregular troops, irregular infantry and irregular cavalry.

In Catholic canon law, an interdict is an ecclesiastical censure, or ban that prohibits persons, certain active Church individuals or groups from participating in certain rites, or that the rites and services of the church are banished from having validity in certain territories for a limited or extended time.

Background

Pathet Lao (PL) defections

In November 1970, charismatic Pathet Lao (PL) General Phomma Douangmala, who had been at odds with the Vietnamese communists, died of wounds while in a People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) hospital. The general's bodyguard captain blamed the Vietnamese for the general's death. On 26 March, the captain led a security platoon of 30 men from the 25th Special Fighters Battalion in its defection to the RLG. Another 89 defectors would follow in the next few days. [5]

Pathet Lao communist political movement and organization in Laos

The Pathet Lao was a communist political movement and organization in Laos, formed in the mid-20th century. The group was ultimately successful in assuming political power in 1975, after the Laotian Civil War. The Pathet Lao were always closely associated with Vietnamese communists. During the civil war, it was effectively organized, equipped and even led by the People's Army of Vietnam. They fought against the anti-communist forces in the Vietnam War. Eventually, the term became the generic name for Laotian communists.

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.

The defecting captain supplied information that led to 43 sorties of tactical air strikes hitting the PAVN's Group 968. Then, the defecting platoon was joined by the remainder of the 25th Battalion. [5]

There were an additional 55 PL desertions in April. The commander of the 11th Pathet Lao Battalion was blamed for not preventing defections, and reduced in rank. The 11th Battalion then also defected, commander and men, in mid-April. Distrustful PAVN troops surrounded and disarmed the last PL battalion in the area, the 12th; most of those PL troops then deserted. The continuing defections amounted to the largest in the Laotian Civil War. [5]

Royal Lao Government (RLG) reverses

On 1 January 1971, Project Copper began as Khmer Republic troops moved in Military Region 4 against the Trail's southern extension, known as the Sihanouk Trail. [6] The home base for Project Copper was Pakse Strip 22 (PS 22). It was garrisoned by a Central Intelligence Agency sponsored paramilitary organization, 1 Special Guerrilla Unit battalion (1 SGU). U.S. Air Force (USAF) fighter-bombers struck communist threats with tactical air strikes. AC-130 gunships also helped fend off any communist threats through January and February 1971. [5]

Project Copper was a coordinated military action undertaken by the Kingdom of Laos and the Khmer Republic from 1 January–May 1971. It used U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) funds channeled through the Central Intelligence Agency to train three Cambodian battalions to interdict the Sihanouk Trail before it joined the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Committed to battle in southern Laos on 1 January 1971, one battalion deserted the battlefield, a second one mutinied during training, and a third had to be repurposed after suffering 80 casualties. By late January, the project was temporarily suspended.

Khmer Republic former country

The Khmer Republic was the pro–United States military-led republican government of Cambodia that was formally declared on 9 October 1970. Politically, the Khmer Republic was headed by General Lon Nol and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak that took power in the 18 March 1970 coup against Prince Norodom Sihanouk, then the country's head of state.

Sihanouk Trail Military supply route in Cambodia

The Sihanouk Trail was a logistical supply system in Cambodia used by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and its Viet Cong (VC) guerillas during the Vietnam War (1960–1975). Between 1966 and 1970, this system operated in the same manner and served the same purposes as the much better known Ho Chi Minh Trail which ran through the southeastern portion of the Kingdom of Laos. The name is of American derivation, since the North Vietnamese considered the system integral to the supply route mentioned above. U.S. attempts to interdict this system began in 1969.

On 8 February 1971, Operation Lam Son 719 unexpectedly struck at the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The RLG had no prior notice of the South Vietnamese incursion. Laotian Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma claimed that Laotian neutrality depended on non-recognition of military operations in his country, and did not inform his military of the coming incursion. [4] There is no record of how the differing operations affected one another. [7] It is also said that Operation Silver Buckle, begun on 5 January in Military Region 3, was planned as a diversion to Lam Song 719. [8]

On 8 March, PAVN assaults overran PS 22 and three nearby outposts. 1 SGU retreated westward to Houei Kong. By 15 May, the communists had managed to secretively haul heavy weapons within firing range of the central Bolovens intersection of Routes 23 and 232, as well as the village of Pak Song at the junction. Royalist Bataillon Infanterie 20 (BI 20) held the town and its intersection; a contingent of 127 Pathet Lao defectors were stationed on a hilltop northwest of town. About 30 12.7mm machine guns had been brought in by the communists as antiaircraft weapons. With supportive tactical air power kept at bay, and with artillery pounding their position, BI 20 deserted their defenses before PAVN infantry attacked. The PL defectors also fled, but were trapped by PAVN pursuers at the top of a sheer cliff and wiped out. The sickly MR 4 commander tried to rally his troops into a defense at Ban Gnik. This was the situation just prior to Operation Phiboonpol. [9]

Operation Phiboonpol

One history has noted that the Laotian Civil War was marked "...by short but very intense engagements." [10] Certainly, Operation Phiboonpol was such. With all Royalist positions except Ban Gnik on the Bolovens Plateau lost to the communists, that village on the Plateau's western edge became the rallying point for Royalist stragglers. BI 20 and 1 SGU gathered there, but were looking for an excuse to leave the front. Bataillon Volontaires 41 (BV 41) had fallen back from Salavan. Bataillon Volontaires 43 (BV 43) had withdrawn from Attopeu. Also present was a unit from the Forces Armées Neutralistes, Bataillon de Parachutistes 104 (BP 104). [11]

The commanding general of MR 4, Phasouk Somly Rasphakdi, was loath to counterattack. He not only had a demoralized lot of defeated troops to inspire; he also faced the beginning of the rainy season. While the monsoon would clog the communist aggressors' resupply routes, it would also interfere with tactical air support of the Royalists' attacks. Nevertheless, the general's CIA advisors prodded him into the offensive Operation Phiboonpol. On 9 June 1971, his disgruntled force of five battalions moved slightly eastward from Ban Gnik. The following night, a PAVN counterassault headed by three of the first communist tanks ever committed to battle in MR 4 struck and stalled them. As the PT-76 tanks fired upon the Royalist forward command post, U.S. Air Force (USAF) AC-130 gunships could not penetrate heavy cloud cover to offer supportive fire to the Royalists. As daylight came, sunshine burned away the low lying clouds. [11]

The communists began human wave frontal attacks on the Royalists as the fog cleared. Close air support struck the PAVN, inflicting heavy casualties. With eight Royal Lao Air Force T-28 Trojans stationed nearby at Pakse, 88 tactical air strikes hit the communist forces that day, including 14 by one pilot. One attacking tank was also destroyed by the defenders' artillery. Nevertheless, the besieged Royalists were radioing for help. [11]

The response came from Pakse, as a company of Thai mercenaries trundled down Route 23 to the rescue. They dismounted from their trucks several kilometers short of the battle, and began to route march in. They walked into a communist ambush. The mercenaries' extinction was overheard on the radio net. But while this was happening, USAF fighter-bombers arrived with close air support for the Royalists. Among the casualties they inflicted were the destruction of one tank and the damaging of the final one. An estimated 700 PAVN soldiers were killed. [12]

Results

Operation Phiboonpol then settled into fixed positions just west of Ban Gnik. The Royalists thus managed to cling to the Bolovens Plateau, and secure Route 23. For several weeks, vultures feeding on unburied corpses on the battlefield constituted an ongoing danger to pilots flying in the area. [13]

U.S. Ambassador G. McMurtrie Godley believed that RLG control of the Bolovens Plateau was necessary for successful peace negotiations ending the Laotian Civil War. He urged his CIA paramilitary personnel and the Royalist military's General Staff to plan a fresh offensive to take advantage of the monsoon weather. [14]

Notes

  1. ↑ Castle, p. 107.
  2. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 217–224, 269–272, 276–278.
  3. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 281–292.
  4. 1 2 Castle, p. 109.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Conboy, Morrison, p. 286.
  6. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 281–284.
  7. ↑ Castle, pp. 108–109.
  8. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, p. 289.
  9. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 286–287.
  10. ↑ Dommen, p. 59.
  11. 1 2 3 Conboy, Morrison, p. 287.
  12. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 287–288.
  13. ↑ Conboy, Morrison, p. 288.
  14. ↑ Hukle, p. 1.

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References

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