Raid on Ban Naden
Raid on Ban Naden | |
---|---|
Part of Laotian Civil War; Vietnam War | |
Type | Covert rescue mission |
Location | Ban Naden, northern Laos |
Planned | Early December 1966 |
Planned by | CIA |
Commanded by | Sergeant Te |
Objective | Free the prisoners of war held at Ban Naden |
Date | January 9, 1967 0400 hours |
Executed by | Team Cobra Supported by Air America, RLAF, and USAF |
Outcome | 82 prisoners rescued |
Casualties | 3 prison guards killed |
The raid on Ban Naden of 9 January 1967 was a successful rescue of
News of the raid was not released to the public or press. The operation is highly classified and used as an instructional case study in CIA training.
Preliminaries
In late 1966, the
Planning for a heli-borne rescue mission began immediately. However, that approach was quickly compromised in favor of a quiet final ground approach. The CIA recruited a
Raid
On 5 January 1967, the ten men of Team Cobra boarded Air America Sikorsky H-34 helicopters. The defector accompanied them. They were dropped in a clearing two days walk from Ban Naden. In the early morning hours of 7 January, they crept down a creek bed toward the prison camp. Although triple canopy jungle hindered aerial observation, the ground team could see a pair of cave mouths at the base of a 500-meter cliff face. As the cave entrances were six meters across, about 20 prisoners could be seen penned behind each set of bamboo bars. Two bamboo huts stood before the cave mouths. There were also holding cells sunken in the ground.[5]
Team Cobra attacked at 04:00. They killed three guards, and drove the others away. Sergeant Te used
Meanwhile, leading a party of released captives, Te headed for Route 12.
After gaining an open clearing guarded by friendly forces off Route 12 at about 17:00, the band of 53 escapees awaited rescue. Before rescue helicopters arrived, 22 more locals left to return to nearby relatives. Ignoring Air America policy forbidding night operations, Sikorsky H-34s swooped in and carried the rest to Savannakhet.[8][9]
The Ban Naden raid was a successful rescue of
Aftermath
CIA officer
An official account of the raid was never released to the media or the public. The Ban Naden raid has been classified, and is used in CIA officer training as a case study.[11]
See also
- Son Tay, North Vietnam.
- Laotian Civil War places Ban Naden raid in perspective of theater of operations
Notes
- ^ a b Briggs, p. 209.
- ^ Secord, Wurts, p. 66.
- ^ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 175–176.
- ^ Secord, Wurts, p. 67.
- ^ a b c d e f Conboy, Morrison, p. 176.
- ^ Secord, Wurts, p. 69.
- ^ Secord, Wurts, pp. 69–70.
- ^ a b c Phisit Intharathat, "Prisoner In Laos: A Story Of Survival-Parts I and II", Smokejumpers Magazine, October 2006. Hosted by Air America website [1] Retrieved 1 December 2014.
- ^ Conboy, Morrison, pp. 176–177.
- ^ Conboy, Morrison, p. 177.
- ^ Secord, Wurts, p. 70.
References
- Briggs, Thomas Leo (2009). Cash on Delivery: CIA Special Operations During the Secret War in Lao. Rosebank Press, ISBNs 0-9841059-4-6, 978-0-98410-594-6.
- Conboy, Kenneth and James Morrison (1995). Shadow War: The CIA's Secret War in Laos. Paladin Press. ISBN 978-1-58160-535-8.
- Richard Secord and Jay Wurts (1992), Honored and Betrayed: Irangate, Covert Affairs, and the Secret War in Laos, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 9780471573289.