Operation Maeng Da

Tchepone, Laos, it ran into stiff resistance from the PAVN 9th Regiment from 11–15 July. An attempt on 16 July to reinforce the Royalist Blue, Black, and Mobile 1 battalions by White Battalion was thwarted by PAVN ground fire and hazardously heavy air traffic over the battlefield. On 17 July, the worst hit Royalist unit, Black Battalion, was airlifted back out of battle. The other two Royalist battalions exfiltrated away from the PAVN troops. In the process, the commander of Mobile 1 was killed; the battalion lost all combat discipline. Both retreating battalions regrouped at the operation's start point. Although ancillary follow-up operations occurred in the vicinity throughout September, the Maeng Da offensive would not resume. However, the Central Intelligence Agency, which had trained and supported the Royalist guerrilla battalions, prepared the Tchepone Operation

Democratic Republic of Vietnam.^[2]

Annamese Cordillera in southern Laos became the haven for a logistics network, the Ho Chi Minh trail. The communist war effort in South Vietnam depended on that supply route.^[3]

pimp".^[7]

Tchepone.^[7] Mobile 1 was not alone on this multi-battalion mission, the first in MR 3 to be launched under a single field commander. It was inserted by helicopter at a rendezvous point near Vang Tai on 2 July 1970. Black Battalion joined it from the west; Blue Battalion came from the north. The three battalions came together at Vang Tai on 8 July. From there they moved southeast, reaching Route 23 on 10 July, finding little communist activity. They expected White Battalion to land 10 kilometers distant from them as the initial reinforcements for the march on Tchepone. Instead, they spent 11–15 July heavily engaged with People's Army of Vietnam 9th Regiment regulars, with Black Battalion taking severe casualties. On 16 July, the three Royalist irregular battalions withdrew to a helicopter landing zone slated for White Battalion's arrival. However, the fighting was too heavy to land the reinforcing White Battalion. The hurly-burly of tactical aircraft supporting the landed troops made the air space surrounding the HLZ exceedingly hazardous. The CIA agent controlling the insertion aborted it.^[8][9]

air attache briefed the meeting on the progress of Maeng Da, the CIA Station chief was humiliated to discover he had not been previously informed of the attack. He furiously reminded his subordinates that his MR 3 staff was supposed to seek approval from him for any multi-battalion operations. After threatening to relieve anyone and everyone responsible for Maeng Da, he cancelled the scheduled insertion of White Battalion. Instead, on the following day, Black Battalion was helilifted back out of combat. The other two battalions began to recede toward Vang Tai. Mobile 1's commander was killed by communist fire; then the battalion lost all unit cohesion. The Maeng Da stragglers reached Vang Tai on 26 July.^[8]

the Ravens, as well as Laotian forward air guides. On 3 September 1970, they occupied Ban Houei Mun, which was stocked as a forward airstrip for the Raven FACs. Beginning 9 September, the two battalions pushed 28 kilometers southeastward into low ground west of Tuomlane. Black Battalion joined them there. Meanwhile, White Battalion, joined by Mobile 2, spent 4–7 September 1970 combing the nearby Route 23 valley.^[10]