Battle of Nam Bac
Battle of Nam Bac | |||||||
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Part of Laotian Civil War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Thailand |
People's Army of Vietnam Pathet Lao | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Savatphayphane Bounchanh Khampai Sayasith Vang Pao William H. Sullivan Theodore Shackley | ? | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
support aircraft |
316th Division 335th Independent Regiment 41st Special Forces Battalion | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
7,500 | 4,100 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
6,100 2,400 captured | ? |
The Battle of Nam Bac was one of the major engagements of the Laotian Civil War. Despite misgivings about their potential performance the Royal Lao Army moved in to occupy the Nam Bac Valley in August 1966; the position would block a traditional Vietnamese invasion route that led to the Lao royal capitol, Luang Prabang.
The location was problematic. It was closer to the North Vietnamese border than to Luang Prabang; any Vietnamese communist invaders would also enjoy the use of Route 19 for part of their route to the valley. Nam Bac itself could only be resupplied by air from Luang Prabang, and its supply line was dependent upon use of an airstrip sited on low ground within artillery range of nearby heights. Those surrounding hilltop positions would have to be held if assaulted by invaders.
Both sides now began to gradually feed in reinforcements. One year later, in August 1967, the
As the Royalist defense deteriorated, diversionary relief columns set out from both east and west of the besieged positions. Their progress was too slow however. Royalist troops under pressure began to desert their positions and evade to the south. General Bounchanh, the Royalist commander, left his headquarters and headed south. As the leaderless Royalist force dissolved, it suffered heavy casualties as the Vietnamese rounded up fleeing Lao soldiers. Ultimately, the Royal Lao Army would only muster 1,400 of the Nam Bac troops again. Conversely, over 600 of the Lao
, and copious ammunition.Background
While American troops in the Vietnam War fought communist guerrillas, in neighboring Laos the situation was much different. The People's Army of Vietnam invaded the Kingdom of Laos with regular army formations, while Lao guerrilla forces tried to expel them.[1] In an unprecedented situation, the American Ambassador to Laos was granted presidential power to direct the war in Laos.[2] The exercise of this power is most famously associated with William H. Sullivan[3] and G. McMurtrie Godley.[4]
Preliminary movements
In 1961, the Royal Lao Army had moved out of the Nam Bac Valley north of the Lao royal capitol, Luang Prabang. The communist Pathet Lao moved in a couple of companies to occupy it. They would remain directly unchallenged until August 1966.[5][6]
However, the CIA sponsored
Origin of the plans to retake Nam Bac remain vague. Certainly, the Royal Lao Army's rout at
One problem Lair pointed out was logistical. He believed that once the troops were emplaced, there would be no Royal Lao officer capable of keeping Nam Bac's front-line troops supplied with the necessities of war even if its airfield could be protected while the supplies were offloaded.[6]
Another problem was terrain. Although Nam Bac appeared upon the map to be an ideal spot to establish a position blocking a communist advance on Luang Prabang, it would have to be supplied by air in the absence of any roads. Moreover, Nam Bac was closer to North Vietnam than to Luang Prabang. While it was a trackless 96 kilometres (60 mi) upriver north of Luang Prabang, it was only 64 kilometres (40 mi) downriver southwest of the Vietnamese border. Furthermore, for much of the 64 kilometres (40 mi), Route 19 also offered an easy entry for the invading Vietnamese. Thus Nam Bac could be more easily reinforced by the Vietnamese than by Lao Royalist troops.[6][9]
The terrain at Nam Bac itself was unfavorable. The airfield needed for resupply was sited in the valley within artillery range of nearby hills. Those hills would have to be occupied by Lao troops. Lair concluded by stating that he thought offering the Vietnamese a fixed base like Nam Bac to assault was a recipe for disaster.[6]
Operation Prasane
Nevertheless, the preliminary Operation Prasane began several weeks later. On 18 July, Royal Lao Army troops were helilifted into the Nam Bac area, and found only light resistance. The Royalist troops reclaimed the Nam Bac Valley in July and August 1966 in a move sanctioned by the American Embassy and supported by the CIA's proprietary airline, Air America. While RLA Colonel Khampai Sayasith of Groupement Mobile 11 commanded the movement, overall command of the Nam Bac operation was held by General Savatphayphane Bounchanh. The nearly bloodless overrunning of the Nam Bac Valley was hailed as a great victory for the RLA. The North Vietnamese response was to truck troops to the end of Route 19 and march them in from there. The invaders infiltrated into the hills surrounding the Nam Bac Valley and began to dig fortifications. The siege had begun.[6][9]
Siege
In early 1967, RLA attempts to expand their stronghold were thwarted by the enemy. Two additional RLA regiments, Groupement Mobile 25 and Groupement Mobile 27 were transferred in from elsewhere in Laos as reinforcements. In turn, during July and August 1967, the communists reinforced their positions around Nam Bac. On 2 August 1967, Groupement Mobile 12 was also moved to Nam Bac. However, even in this rainy season, the North Vietnamese were active. On the 14th, RLA Bataillon d'Infanterie 26 (26th Infantry Battalion) was stationed 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) northeast of Nam; the North Vietnamese regulars attacked it and inflicted serious casualties. On 31 August, 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) south of Nam Bac at a position at Mok Lok, RLA troops were accidentally bombed by Royal Lao Air Force Thai mercenary pilots. The infantry fled the position. The error caused the RLA to call off usage of the Thai mercenaries, leaving close air support to the understrength contingent of Lao RLAF pilots.[6][8] Nevertheless, Air America still flew logistical support, including hauling in aerial rockets to be used as ground-to-ground weapons in lieu of artillery. However, as the siege continued, the communists moved their own artillery onto the hills overlooking the valley and opened fire.[5]
In September 1967, the royalists again reinforced, this time with an elite unit. Bataillon Parachutistes 55 (Paratroop Battalion 55) was withdrawn from its action against opium smugglers crossing the Burmese/Lao border, loaded into landing craft, hauled down the
In October 1967, as the dry season began, the Royalists tried to hang onto their positions while extending their lines a bit. On 7 October the communists drove Groupement Mobile 15 from their position to the southeast of Nam Bac. However, the RLA irregulars briefly captured Nam Thuam, and managed to seize another air strip at Muang Xay, but could only hold it until 3 November. Meantime, RLA forces outside the besieged valley mounted Operation Linkup. On 15 November, some of General Vang Pao's guerrillas were airlifted closer to the siege and began marching westward in a relief column.[8]
In early December, before Vang Pao's Operation Linkup troops could arrive in Nam Bac, the North Vietnamese committed the entire battle-hardened PAVN 316th Division, along with part of the 335th Independent Regiment, to the battle. With a monthly combat casualty toll of 42
During the year, Shackley authored an embassy position paper entitled U. S. Policy in Northern Laos. It called for a Royalist occupation of positions along a northern defensive line running west to east along the axis
End
In an attempt to break the siege, U.S. Air Force
On 11 January 1968, the North Vietnamese 41st Dac Cong Battalion (41st Special Forces Battalion) attacked the northern outskirts of Luang Prabang. While the RLA was distracted by this diversion, the PAVN 148th Regiment of the 316th Division launched an all-out attack from the north of Nam Bac, while a battalion from the 335th Independent Regiment bored in from the west. Bounchanh decided to move his threatened headquarters and its two supporting howitzers from a perilous location adjacent to the airstrip, to the nearby hilltop village of Ban Houei Ngat. He failed to notify Air America of the move; they continued to drop vital supplies into the abandoned valley. During this turmoil, the 99th Bataillon Parachutistes (99th Paratroop Battalion) was inserted as reinforcements.[8]
On 13 January 1968, the 148th Regiment menaced the RLA headquarters. General Bounchanh believed the Nam Bac Valley had already fallen to the communists; he hastily fled southwards, to be plucked from the jungle via helicopter two days later. With no leadership or central node of communication organizing the defense, the RLA strongpoint disintegrated. Within a day, the troopers belonging to three of the regiments—Groupement Mobile 11, Groupement Mobile 12, and Groupement Mobile 25—had abandoned their positions and drifted south toward Luang Prabang. That left only Groupement Mobile 15 and the 99th Bataillon Parachutistes facing the communist attack. The PAVN 316th Division now unleashed a weapon previously unknown in Laos, when they rained 122mm DKZ rockets on Groupement Mobile 15. The RLA regiment withdrew without notifying the 99th Bataillon Parachutistes. The latter were left by themselves to try to withstand the overwhelming communist onslaught. Only 13 of the paratroopers survived the battle, the rest being killed in action or captured. By the 14th of January, the siege had been broken and the Royal Lao Army routed.[8] American helicopters began plucking fleeing Lao troops from the jungle.[10]
Aftermath
The 99th Bataillon Parachutistes was not the only Royalist unit to be nearly wiped out; Groupement Mobile 25 took nearly as severe casualties. All the other RLA units committed to Nam Bac also suffered heavy losses. Groupement Mobile 12 lost three-quarters of its personnel. Both Groupement Mobile 11 and Groupement Mobile 15 lost half. By 1 February, the Royal Lao Army could only muster 1,400 survivors of Nam Bac. Even the unsuccessful relief force moving in from the east took 70 casualties. The blood cost and prisoners lost to captivity were not the only damages done to the Royal Lao Army. In artillery alone, they had lost seven
The Royalists scrambled to put up a new defense line north of Luang Prabang to protect the royal capitol, with little success. Meanwhile, the communists struggled to absorb their bounty. A great deal of it was human, as most of the RLA troopers had been captured by an encircling maneuver by the 174th Regiment, rather than killed or wounded in combat. Some 2,400 RLA prisoners were marched off to the Vietnamese border to build seven prison camps 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from one another. Some 600 of these prisoners would switch sides rather than return to RLA combat service, and serve as porters and road builders for the communists. Others would join the Patriotic Neutralists, a Lao force allied to the communists but doing little fighting.[8]
The defeat shattered the Royal Lao Army's morale. The finger pointing in its wake was extensive. The CIA officers on scene—
No matter whose the responsibility for the defeat, the annihilation of the Royal Lao Army tipped the balance of power in Laos towards the Vietnamese communists.[12] Indeed, the Royal Lao Army was left with only six of its 11 makeshift Groupe Mobile regiments intact.[13]
Sources
- ^ Conboy, Morrison, p. 85.
- ^ William Branigin, "William H. Sullivan dies at 90; veteran diplomat oversaw 'secret war' in Laos", Washington Post, 22 October 2013. [1] Retrieved 4 October 2014.
- ^ Stuart-Fox, pp. 329–330.
- ^ Stuart-Fox, p. 120.
- ^ a b Leeker, Dr. Joe F. Air America in Laos III—in combat [2] pp. 11–12.
- ^ a b c d e f g Warner, pp. 208–210.
- ^ Conboy, Morrison, p. 133.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Conboy, Morrison, pp. 183–187
- ^ a b c d e Castle, pp. 81–85.
- ^ a b c d e Warner, pp. 222–223.
- ^ Conboy, Morrison, p. 247.
- ^ Pribbenow, pp. 213–214.
- ^ Conboy, Morrison, p. 199.
References
- Castle, Timothy N. (2000). One Day Too Long: Top Secret Site 85 and the Bombing of North Vietnam. Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0-23110-317-6.
- Conboy, Kenneth and James Morrison (1995). Shadow War: The CIA's Secret War in Laos. Paladin Press, ISBNs 0-87364-825-0, 978-1-58160-535-8.
- Pribbenow, Merle L., translator (2002). Victory in Vietnam: The Official History of the People's Army of Vietnam, 1954–1975. University Press of Kansas, ISBNs 0-70061-175-4, 978-0-70061-175-1.
- Stuart-Fox, Martin (2008). Historical Dictionary of Lao of Laos (Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East). Scarecrow Press, ISBNs 0-81085-624-7, 978-0-81085-624-0.
- Warner, Roger (1995). Back Fire: The CIA's Secret War in Laos and Its Link to the War in Vietnam. Simon & Schuster, ISBNs 0-68480-292-9, 978-0-68480-292-3.