Marching West | 12.02.26 | by Zex

Описание: The Kingdom of Laos emerged from the First Indochina War free of the French, but in a state of chaos. Even as the French pulled out of Laos, the US took up their advisory role to the Royal Lao Government through such agencies as the Programs Evaluation Office. Meanwhile, Vietnamese communists and Lao communists were active in Laos, sowing discontent against the government. The government itself was in turmoil, as various Lao soldiers and politicians scrambled for positions of power. The US became convinced that Laos could not be allowed to fall under communist control, lest other countries in Southeast Asia follow suit.

On 14 December 1960, General Phoumi Nosavan won control of the Kingdom of Laos in the Battle of Vientiane. Although he was backed by US covert operations, he did not want to await a political solution to the political turmoil in Laos. In a move to assert control over Lao territory, he authorized military operations in northwestern Laos near the Chinese, Burmese, and Vietnamese borders. In so doing, he hoped to force a military solution on the unsettled political situation in Laos.
In January 1962, even as the Chinese Road pact was announced, the Royal Lao Army abandoned its occupation of Muang Xay, Laos. It withdrew into Luang Namtha, a village with about 1,800 inhabitants 24 kilometres (15 mi) from the Chinese border. The communist troops in the vicinity fired a few mortar rounds into the outskirts of the town. Royalist reinforcements were flown into Luang Namtha over the next few days, including four 105 mm howitzers and twelve 75 mm howitzers. T-6 Harvards from the Royal Lao Air Force operated from the unpaved airstrip there. Communist shelling beginning 1 February forced withdrawal of the T-6s to Luang Prabang. The US military attaché at that time deemed the topography of Luang Namtha too similar to that of Dien Ben Phu to be defensible.

By May, the PAVN moved in a battalion of their 316th Brigade. This invasion did not go unnoticed by the Royal Lao Government. They planned a two pronged response.

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