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| See also: | Other events of 1972 List of years in Laos | ||||
The following lists events that happened during 1972 in Laos.
| | This article does not cite any sources .(March 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) |
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| Decades: | |||||
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| See also: | Other events of 1972 List of years in Laos | ||||
The following lists events that happened during 1972 in Laos.
Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a socialist state and the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. At the heart of the Indochinese Peninsula, Laos is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast and Thailand to the west and southwest.
The Ho Chi Minh trail (Vietnamese: Đường mòn Hồ Chí Minh, also called Annamite Range trail was a logistical network of roads and trails that ran from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam to the Republic of Vietnam through the kingdoms of Laos and Cambodia. The system provided support, in the form of manpower and materiel, to the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam and the People's Army of Vietnam, or North Vietnamese Army, during the Vietnam War.
The Lao People's Revolutionary Party, formerly the Lao People's Party, is the Marxist–Leninist political party in Laos which emerged from the Communist Party of Vietnam founded by Hồ Chí Minh in 1930. It has governed in Laos since 1975. The policy-making organs are the Politburo, Secretariat and the Central Committee. A party congress, which elects members to the politburo and central committee, is held every five years. The congress used to also elect a secretariat, but this body was abolished in 1991. As of 2016, 128 of the 132 members of the National Assembly of Laos were from the Lao People's Revolutionary Party.
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 (PAVN). They fought against the anti-communist forces in the Vietnam War. Eventually, the term became the generic name for Laotian communists.
The Laotian Civil War (1959–1975) was a civil war in Laos fought between the Communist Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Government from 23 May 1959 to 2 December 1975. It is associated with the Cambodian Civil War and the Vietnam War, 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 Center and Hmong veterans of the conflict.
Yankee Station was a fixed coordinate off the coast of Vietnam where U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and support ships loitered in open waters over a nine-year period during the Vietnam War. The location was used primarily by aircraft carriers of Task Force 77 to launch strikes over North Vietnam. While the coordinate's official designation was "Point Yankee", it was universally referred to as Yankee Station. Carriers conducting air operations at Yankee Station were said to be "on the line" and statistical summaries were based on days on the line. Yankee Station was initially located at 16° 00′ N, 110° 00′ E, however with a massive increase in operations over North Vietnam in 1966 the station was moved about 145 miles northwest to 17° 30′ N, 108° 30′ E, placing it about 90 miles from the North Vietnamese shore.
Bounnhang Vorachith is a Laotian politician who has been General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and President of Laos since 2016. Previously he served as Deputy Prime Minister from 1996 to 2001, as Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006, and as Vice President of Laos from 2006 to 2016.
Operation Commando Hunt was a covert U.S. Seventh Air Force and U.S. Navy Task Force 77 aerial interdiction campaign that took place during the Vietnam War. The operation began on 15 November 1968 and ended on 29 March 1972. The objective of the campaign was to prevent the transit of People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) personnel and supplies on the logistical corridor known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail that ran from the southwestern Democratic Republic of Vietnam through the southeastern portion of the Kingdom of Laos and into the Republic of Vietnam.
Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG) was a highly classified, multi-service United States special operations unit which conducted covert unconventional warfare operations prior to and during the Vietnam War.
Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base is a Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) facility located near the city of Ubon Ratchathani, in Ubon Ratchathani Province. It is approximately 488 km northeast of Bangkok. The Laos border is about 60 kilometres (37 mi) directly east. The facility is also used as a civil airport.
Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base is a Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) base, the home of 23rd Wing Air Command. It is in the city of Udon Thani in northeastern Thailand and is now the main airport serving the city and province.
Operation Steel Tiger was a covert U.S. 2nd Air Division, later Seventh Air Force and U.S. Navy Task Force 77 aerial interdiction effort targeted against the infiltration of People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) men and material moving south from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam through southeastern Laos to support their military effort in the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
Operation Tiger Hound was a covert U.S. 2nd Air Division, later Seventh Air Force and U.S. Navy Task Force 77 aerial interdiction campaign conducted in southeastern Laos from 5 December 1965 till 11 November 1968, during the Vietnam War. The purpose of the operation was to interdict the flow of People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) supplies on the Ho Chi Minh Trail from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, through southeastern Laos, and into the northern provinces of the Republic of Vietnam. The missions were originally controlled by the 2d Air Division until that headquarters was superseded by the Seventh Air Force on 1 April 1966.
Operation Barrel Roll was a covert U.S. Air Force 2nd Air Division and U.S. Navy Task Force 77, interdiction and close air support campaign conducted in the Kingdom of Laos between 14 December 1964 and 29 March 1973 concurrent with the Vietnam War.
Operation Popeye was a military cloud-seeding operation carried out by the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War in 1967–1972. The highly classified program attempted to extend the monsoon season over specific areas of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, in order to disrupt North Vietnamese military supplies by softening road surfaces and causing landslides.
Team Sone Pet was the code name for a spying foray directed against the People's Republic of China in 1967 and 1968. This classified military operation in the Kingdom of Laos during the Laotian Civil War was an infiltration of spies into Yunnan Province of the People's Republic of China. The operation was run jointly by Lao General Ouane Rattikone and the Republic of China, using an espionage team recruited by the American Central Intelligence Agency. The first mission in 1967 was successful; however, the second mission in 1968 disappeared.
Operation Sourisak Montry VIII was a Thai military offensive against an encroaching Chinese Communist presence just north of the Mekong River. Operation Phalat established a base camp at Xieng Lom, Laos, on the southern bank of the Mekong River, and garrisoned it with three Thai mercenary battalions. Operation Sourisak Montry was a series of indecisive skirmishes in the same area, during which the Thais won a Pyrrhic victory over the Pathet Lao in mid-March 1972.
Operation Maharat was a military offensive of the Royal Lao Government aimed at Communist insurrectionists. At stake was the sole road junction in northern Laos well in the rear of Royalist troops fighting in Campaign Z. On 30 December 1971, the garrison of a Royal Lao Army artillery battery and two Forces Armées Neutralistes battalions was besieged by an attacking force of Pathet Lao and Patriotic Neutralists. On 21 January 1972, the Royalists were reinforced by 11th Brigade, then overrun. The Communists spread north and south along Route 13 over a 110 km (68 mi) stretch. A Royalist counter-attack on 16 March 1972 would find both Route 13 and the intersection vacated.
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.
The Vinh wiretap was an American espionage operation of the Vietnam War. From 7 December 1972 through early May 1973, CIA telephone intercepts of North Vietnamese military communications were supplied to American diplomat Henry Kissinger. As border phone lines were well watched, the decision was made to tap a military multiplex line in the Vietnamese heartland near Vinh. The CIA used a black helicopter to set a clandestine wiretap to eavesdrop on Paris Peace Talks discussions and other intelligence.
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