Forces Armées Neutralistes
Forces Armées Neutralistes (Neutralist Armed Forces) was an armed political movement of the Laotian Civil War.
History
Forces Armées Neutralistes has founded upon the basis of the mutinous Bataillon Parachustistes 2 (Battalion of Parachutists 2) that lost the Battle of Vientiane, FAN's original stance was that of its commander, Captain Kong Le, who espoused strict neutrality for the Kingdom of Laos and an end to governmental corruption. Withdrawing from Vientiane in defeat on 16 December 1960, FAN occupied the Plain of Jars; their major center was the all-weather airstrip at Muang Soui. The following year was spent in conflict with Royalist guerrillas. During 1961, FAN grew to a strength of 8,000; it had a company of tanks and a small air arm. However, it was hampered by inadequate supplies erratically passed along by the Pathet Lao communists.
Spring of 1963 was a season of growing dissension in Neutralist ranks; sides began to be taken. Major General Kong Le struck an alliance with the Royalists. In response, in April 1963, Colonel Deuane Sunnalath split off several battalions into a new party, the Patriotic Neutralists, which allied itself with the Pathet Lao. The April 1963 casualty list for FAN was 85 dead, 43 wounded. Given all the losses and defections, FAN was down to 2,200 men and 50 PT-76 light tanks by month's end.
In the subsequent years, FAN's battle performance would range from undistinguished to poor, in such battles as Lak Sao. From 1961 through 1966, it launched numerous unsuccessful attacks on the Phou Khout ridgeline positions of People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) troops overlooking FAN positions at Muang Soui. On occasion, Kong Le assumed the robes of Buddhist monkhood while his subordinates led the assaults. Resentment grew among both his subordinates and his troops concerning his leadership, and they mutinied and forced Kong Le into exile on 16 October 1966. After his departure, the Forces Armées Neutralistes were subsumed into the Royal Lao Army and faded into inconsequentiality.
Overview and background
Beginning on 23 December 1950, the United States began military aid to the French administration of the Kingdom of Laos as they fought the
Of the 68 ethnic minorities that comprised the Lao population, the
As
The basic Lao economy was so underdeveloped that an artificial economy developed. U.S. dollars funded imports that were sold commercially on the open market. The resultant Lao kips went to underwrite the Lao military. These payments were also subsequently turned over into foreign goods. With no controls on the imports, the quality and utility of provisions were often ignored.[4]
Fall summarized the result by quoting a pro-American Lao officer, Sisouk na Champassak: "Black market deals in American aid dollars reached such proportions that the Pathet Lao needed no propaganda to turn the rural people against the townspeople."[5]
The 1960 Laotian coups brought about a pivotal change of government in the Kingdom of Laos. General
Origin of Forces Armées Neutralistes
Kong Le had led his Bataillon Parachutiste 2 (Paratroop Battalion 2) into the 10 August 1960 coup. The battalion suffered only 17 killed in the Battle of Vientiane, before being forced from the city by Phoumi's troops. As the defeated paratroopers withdrew northward to the Plain of Jars on 16 December, about 400 neutralist adherents joined the column as new recruits, upping the column's strength to about 1,200 men.
Vang Pao's
At this point, both Phoumi and Kong Le reorganized their forces. However, while both sides were reorganizing, the communists launched attacks.
By 5 May 1961, the term Forces Armées Neutralistes came into use to describe Kong Le's military.[18] Kong Le recruited enough new soldiers to split BP 2 into six companies. Although designated as airborne units, only the veteran cadre had parachute training.[16] By October 1961, FAN was in conflict with the Royalist guerrillas surrounding the Plain; the effect was to push FAN into cooperation with the communists.[19] After a 23 December 1961 battle between FAN and the guerrillas, a FAN defector and a Vietnamese prisoner verified Vietnamese communist backing for FAN.[20]
By the time the
Dissension began between FAN and the communists. PAVN insisted on supplying military trainers to FAN, despite Kong Le's preference for cadre from the French military mission. After FAN tank crews were trained by PAVN, the Neutralists had to seize the PT-76 tanks they had been promised; the PAVN response was to withhold ammunition from FAN. In general, the Pathet Lao's help to FAN was sporadic; the Lao communists were an untrustworthy conduit of Soviet aid. On 27 September, U.S. ambassador
On 4 December 1962, the FAN air arm was augmented by three
On 5 January 1963, a
Schism of the Neutralists
In April 1963, the Neutralists split. Colonel Deuane founded his own Patriotic Neutralists from units abandoning FAN.
As a result of an agreement struck between Vang Pao and Kong Le on 11 April, FAN's new ally, the Royal Lao Army, came to its relief. Within two days, the communists called for a truce; it was short-lived. When communist actions continued against the Neutralists,
May 1963 was a time of low morale for FAN, given their losses via enemy action and Patriotic Neutralist defections. An offensive against the communists was planned, then cancelled for fear of provoking an overwhelming counter from PAVN. Souvanna Phouma ordered a defensive posture by Neutralist and Royalist forces for the nonce.[28] By this time, FAN could muster 2,200 men, supported by 50 PT-76 tanks.[29]
Battle of Lak Sao
While centered on the Plain of Jars, FAN raised a Special Guerrilla Battalion that occupied Vang Khy, a village located between Vientiane and Vang Viang. While the reputed purpose of the new battalion was security for Neutralist officials in the capital, the Royalist General Staff suspected it was actually a potential coup force. In December 1963, its commanding officer was murdered in Vientiane. A Royalist assassination was presumed.[30]
In an offensive move coordinated with the Royalists, FAN supplied the forces for one of the columns that attacked Lak Sao in Military Region 3 in late 1963. Composed of Batallion Infanterie 8 (Battalion of Infantry 8), a PT-76 amphibious tank company, and Bataillon Parachutistes 5 (Battalion of Parachutists 5), the Neutralist column overcame light resistance along Route 8 to occupy Lak Sao in late November. However, by January 1964, the badly beaten FAN troops had been withdrawn from Military Region 3; they been brought to the Plain of Jars. The Route 9 corridor from
In early 1964, FAN forces were co-located with Royalist units atop mountaintop positions at Phou Khe, Phou San, and Phou Nong. The Royalist units were subjected to numerous communists probes of their strongholds, though the Neutralists were ignored. Subsequently, the Royalists vacated Phou Nong.[30]
The 1964 coup
With the FAN offering steadily less reliable support to the Royalists, and the communists on the offensive, neutralist Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma convened a conference on the Plain of Jars on 17 April 1964. Failing in his attempt to calm or quell the three-sided conflict, and discouraged by his failure, Souvanna Phouma returned to Vientiane prepared to resign. However, on the night of 18 April, General Siho Lamphouthacoul led the National Police in a coup. General Kouprasith Abhay, who commanded the Royalist troops in the capital, consented to the coup. Without opposition, Siho's Bataillon Special 33 (Special Battalion 33) conquered the capital's governmental infrastructure. The following morning, coup troops arrested Souvanna Phouma and about 15 other important personages; the detainees were a mixed bag of Frenchmen, Royalists, and Neutralists. When U.S. ambassador Unger backed Souvanna Phouma, the latter was restored to office.[33]
Continued hostilities
By the time of the coup, the Patriotic Neutralists had been largely absorbed into the Pathet Lao;[34] the two sides held the first of their biannual cooperative political congresses in 1964.[35] On the Plain of Jars, the coup sparked further dissension in the Neutralist movement. Two of FAN's paratroop battalions—BP 4 and BP 6—favored siding with the communists. On 27 April 1964, as the Royalist garrison withdrew from Phou San, it was attacked and defeated by communist forces as nearby FAN units deigned to intervene. However, when Pathet Lao occupied the vacated strongpoint overlooking Kong Le's headquarters at Muong Phan, his Bataillon Parachutistes 5 unsuccessfully assaulted the mountaintop. Six days later, the third mountaintop position, on Phou Nong, also fell. The defeated troops split into two columns escaping in opposite directions, with the Royalists retreating southeast while FAN withdrew to the northwest.[33]
On 13 May 1964, as Pathet Lao troops moved to isolate the Neutralist garrisons at Muong Phan and Muong Kheung, a revolt against Kong Le broke out within FAN. His tank company commander, Colonel Sourideth, encircled Kong Le's headquarters with a dozen tanks. The next day, BP 4 went over to Deuane's Patriotic Neutralists. One company of the latter was fighting in an offensive against Royalist regiment Groupement Mobile 17 (Mobile Group 17).[36] By 21 May, Ambassador Unger feared that the neutralist forces in Laos faced extinction if FAN's position at Muang Soui fell to the communists.[37] Kong Le withdrew FAN from the Plain in good order, except for an inconsequential loss of small arms. However, in June, his armored force of 23 vehicles had to be abandoned at Muong Kheung.[36]
The FAN still blocked Route 7 to communist use, as well as holding the strategic all-weather airstrip at Muang Soui. As they were short of expert gunners, a 279-man Thai artillery battalion was flown into Muong Soui on 4 July 1964 to reinforce FAN as part of the Royalist offensive, Operation Triangle. However, a battalion of the PAVN 148 Regiment of the 316th Division, backed by Pathet Lao, held an overwatch position on the heights of Phou Khout. Three FAN battalions took up an unsuccessful offensive to clear them from overlooking Muong Soui. Their failure to capture the ridge left Route 7 blocked to both sides. Deadly minefields inflicted 106 casualties on FAN's paras on 7 August, turning back their fourth assault on Phou Khout.[38][39] Elsewhere, the FAN garrison in Vang Vieng joined the slow north-bound Royalist offensive column up Route 13 as its contribution to Operation Triangle.[40]
In December 1964, another FAN offensive on the communist-held high ground at Phou Khout failed.
Elsewhere, FAN Bataillon Infanterie 5 (Infantry Battalion 5) at Moung Hiem, commanded by Souvanna Phouma's nephew Tiao Sisouvanh, made a point of co-existing peacefully with nearby PAVN units. However, on 11 March 1965, the Vietnamese communists unexpectedly turned on them, overran the battalion in a midnight attack, and executed its three senior officers.[43] On 10 November, the FAN commander at Muang Soui suddenly decided he would launch another attack on Phou Khout. On short notice, U.S. aircraft using 750lb. bombs blasted the ridge in the face of heavy antiaircraft fire from machine guns and 37mm cannons. On both 16 and 20 November, FAN attacked up the mountain's north slope. However, air support fizzled out after the 20th, not being resumed until 2 December. When the Christmas bombing truce freed up sorties scheduled for strikes in Vietnam, there was an unsuccessful attempt to restart the air cover for further attacks, but it fizzled.[44]
In January 1966, FAN decided to leave the assault on Phou Khout to American air power. While U.S. air strikes struck the communists there, eight battalions of Neutralists fanned out onto the Plain of Jars on 30 January. In the event, air support was sporadic, and with the exception of BP 2, FAN was unsuccessful. On 12 February 1966, a communist attack overran
Kong Le's departure
On 16 October 1966, Kong Le was forced into exile. Royalist Generals Ouane Rattikone and Kouprasith Abhay wanted control of FAN's 12,000 troops. With their consent, three of Kong Le's subordinates divided up command of FAN after the Royalist General Staff agreed to accept them into the Royalist forces at their serving rank. Kong Le departed on a Royal Lao Air Force C-47 on 17 October.[46]
On 24 June 1969, the North Vietnamese communists launched Operation Toan Thang. They assaulted the strategic Muang Soui all-weather airfield on Route 7 with four battalions stiffened by PT-76 tanks. Neutralist forces on hand outnumbered the Vietnamese attackers by a three to one margin. The mixed defense force of Hmong guerrillas and FAN troops held out until 06:00 on 27 June, at which time they scattered to abandon their post to the communists. By now, Vang Pao had come to dislike and distrust FAN.[47][48] The Operation Off Balance followup mustered 700 FAN troops for a counterattack on the communists. However, FAN and the Royal Lao Army fled the battlefield rather than move into the assault, leaving Vang Pao's guerrillas to carry on. The FAN desertion doomed the Off Balance counterattack.[49]
The Neutralists had established their headquarters at Khang Khay. On 20 February 1970, a determined North Vietnamese battalion backed by tanks and led by Dac Cong sappers chased FAN and its co-located Hmong irregulars from the base.[50] The casualty count for Royalist forces for the first half of 1970 illustrated just irrelevant FAN's contributions to the war efforts had become. Of the 614 Royalist troops killed during January to June 1970, just ten were Neutralists.[51]
See also
References
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- ^ Castle, pp. 5, 20, 141.
- ^ Anthony, Sexton, pp. 15, 19–20, 28–29.
- ^ a b Fall, pp. 163–166.
- ^ Fall, p. 165.
- ^ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 31–42.
- ^ Library of Congress country study of Laos: Royal Lao Army [1] Retrieved 20 February 2015.
- ^ Library of Congress country study of Laos: Battle of Vientiane [2] Retrieved 5 February 2015.
- ^ Ahern, p. 34.
- ^ Ahern, pp. 27–28.
- ^ Ahern, p. 74.
- ^ Ahern, p. 53.
- ^ Anthony, Sexton, p. 48.
- ^ Anthony, Sexton, p. 51.
- ^ Ahern, p. 52.
- ^ a b c Conboy, Morrison, pp. 52–54.
- ^ Ahern, p. 152.
- ^ Library of Congress country study of Laos: Expansion of Pathet Lao Influence [3] Retrieved 5 February 2015.
- ^ Ahern, pp. 111–113.
- ^ Ahern, p. 115.
- ^ a b c d e f Conboy, Morrison, pp. 95–98.
- ^ Castle, p. 56,
- ^ Anthony, Sexton, p. 79.
- ^ Ahern, p. 150.
- ^ a b Conboy, Morrison, p. 98.
- ^ Conboy, Morrison, p. 99.
- ^ Ahern, pp. 152–154.
- ^ Ahern, pp.155–158.
- ^ Ahern, p. 163.
- ^ a b Conboy, Morrison, p. 106.
- ^ Conboy, Morrison, p. 100-102.
- ^ Google maps Laos. [4] Retrieved: 7 February 2015.
- ^ a b Conboy, Morrison, p. 107.
- ^ Brown, p. 202.
- ^ Stuart-Fox, p. 250.
- ^ a b Conboy, Morrison, pp. 107–108.
- ^ Anthony, Sexton, p. 103.
- ^ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 110–112.
- ^ Anthony, Sexton, pp. 119–128.
- ^ Conboy, Morrison, p. 112.
- ^ Conboy, Morrison, p. 132.
- ^ Anthony, Sexton, pp. 143–144.
- ^ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 152–153.
- ^ Anthony, Sexton, pp. 185–187.
- ^ Anthony, Sexton, pp. 188–192.
- ^ Anthony, Sexton, pp. 206–207.
- ^ Ahern, pp. 317–320.
- ^ Anthony, Sexton, p. 320.
- ^ Anthony, Sexton, pp. 303–304, 306.
- ^ Ahern, p. 335.
- ^ Anthony, Sexton, pp. 326–327.
- Ahern, Thomas L. Jr. (2006). Undercover Armies: CIA and Surrogate Warfare in Laos. Center for the Study of Intelligence. Classified control no. C05303949.
- Brown, Mervyn (2001). War in Shangri-La: A Memoir of Civil War in Laos. The Radcliffe Press. ISBNs 1860647359, 9781860647352.
- Anthony, Victor B. and Richard R. Sexton (1993). The War in Northern Laos. Command for Air Force History. OCLC 232549943.
- Castle, Timothy N. (1993). At War in the Shadow of Vietnam: U.S. Military Aid to the Royal Lao Government 1955–1975. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-07977-X.
- Conboy, Kenneth and James Morrison (1995). Shadow War: The CIA's Secret War in Laos. Paladin Press. ISBN 0-87364-825-0.
- Fall, Bernard(1969). Anatomy of a Crisis: The Laotian Crisis of 1960–1961. Doubleday & Co. ASIN: B00JKPAJI4.
- Stuart-Fox, Martin (2008). Historical Dictionary of Laos. Scarecrow Press. ISBNs 0810864118, 9780810864115.