101st Airborne Division Fighting in the A Shau Valley, May 1969. Source: Warfare History Network website.

On 13th May 1969, troops of the US 101st Airborne Division, launched an assault on PAVN forces located in the A Shau Valley on the Vietnamese/Laotian border. The attack was part of General Abrams’ strategy to disrupt North Vietnamese logistic outposts, and so reduce the ability of Communist forces to launch attacks on American and ARVN troops. The battle, which lasted over a week, eventually centred on Hill 937, a ridge of the Dong Ap Bia Mountain, on which PAVN forces were entrenched. The fighting was characterised by American infantry assaults up the slope, resulting in significant American casualties. The North Vietnamese eventually abandoned their positions, but the Americans did not hold onto Hill 937 afterwards, owing to its lack of long term strategic value.

The Battle of Khe Sanh. Source: WarHistoryOnLine website.

On 21st January 1968, the Battle of Khe Sanh, which turned out to one of the bloodiest military encounters of the Vietnam War, commenced. The forward Marine base on the Laotian border, designed to disrupt North Vietnamese Army infiltration across the DMZ and from eastern Laos, was placed under siege by three divisions of the PAVN who commenced a massive bombardment of the 6,000 strong garrison. The outpost became increasingly isolated, although a massive air support campaign (Operation Niagara) against the PAVN besiegers kept Khe Sanh both supplied and protected from NVA attacks, as well as degrading its artillery. Although both tactically and optically, the engagement did resemble the 1954 siege of Dien Biên Phu, the scale and accuracy of US air support was a crucial difference between the two battles, with the Communist forces never able to secure traction with regard to massed infantry attacks, the tactic which had eventually overrun the French garrison fourteen years before.

In March 1968, after finally defeating the VC Tet Offensive, the Americans launched a joint US/ARVN relief expedition, Operation Pegasus, which eventually broke through to Khe Sanh, significantly reinforcing the base, and resulting in the effective lifting of the siege, although the North Vietnamese bombardment continued. The relief allowed Westmoreland to claim victory. The purpose behind the North Vietnamese attack on Khe Sanh remains contested. Some claim the assault was intended as a massive distraction, to draw American resources away from other areas of South Vietnam to increase the success of Tet; others that Giap did indeed intend to reprise his historic victory over the French by securing a game-changing defeat of American forces at Khe Sanh at the same time as the Viet Cong offensive was achieving military success in the southern cities. Perhaps both considerations were at play. Either way the siege was costly to both sides, with nearly 250 members of the US garrison killed, together with approximately 2,500 wounded, and some 750 Americans killed during Pegasus with a similar number wounded. The North Vietnamese casualties are contested, but probably consisted of about 5,500 killed and an unknown number of wounded.

NVA Regulars. Source: Campaign Series Legion website

In January to March 1968, following on from its success at Nam Bac in 1967, the PAVN cleared the remaining RLA forces out of northern and eastern Laos, culminating in the stunning victory at Lima Site 85 on 10th March 1967 when an important US monitoring and air raid guidance centre was overrun, despite intense American air support to the RLA garrison, which was defeated and scattered into the surrounding countryside. The Royal Lao Army was effectively neutralised for the next twelve months. The only active Vientiane troops in the Plain of Jars thereafter were Vang Pao’s Hmong fighters who carried out a small scale but effective guerrilla campaign against the North Vietnamese regulars and the Pathet Lao.

A South Vietnamese Village Burns During a US Search-and-Destroy Mission, 1966. Source: The Vietnam War TV series by PBS.

Late 1966 saw intense fighting in South Vietnam, principally between US forces and the North Vietnamese Army. In September, US infantry launched Operation Attleboro in response to dry season PAVN attacks on the base at Tay Ninh while it was under construction, while the Viet Cong launched similar assaults on South Vietnamese outposts. The North Vietnamese withdrew, resulting in Attleboro becoming a large search-and-destroy mission in the area surrounding Tay Ninh, intending to disrupt Viet Cong Infrastructure, and block PAVN infiltration routes. Although large stores of Communist supplies were uncovered, protracted engagement with Communist forces was relatively limited. Nonetheless the NVA/VC suffered over 1,000 casualties with 150 Americans killed.

General Vang Pao. Source: Alamy Stock Photos

In late 1963, against American advice, Laotian President Phoumi Nosovan launched an offensive against the North Vietnamese forces established in eastern Laos. Forming an alliance with Kong Le’s Neutralist FAN faction, who had already been attacked by the Pathet Lao the previous November, the Royal Lao Army and FAN forces struck north east towards the Laotian border with North Vietnam, seeking to destroy NVA supply lines into Laos and isolate Hanoi’s forces based in the country. The fighting culminated in a drawn out two month series of engagements around the town of Lak Sao. The PAVN, deploying three battalions of experienced Viet Minh veterans from the First Indochina War, ultimately decisively defeated the RLA who fled in disorder, marking a significant setback for the pro-US Rightist government in the Laotian Civil War.

However other Rightist military groupings fared better in the renewed war with the Communists. An irregular force of Hmong guerrillas formed by General Vang Pao, who were loyal to King Savang Vatthana and therefore the Royalist government, and funded and supplied by the CIA, enjoyed military success against the Pathet Lao in late 1963. Most notably Vang Pao’s troops defeated the Pathet Lao on the Plain of Jars, reversing the insurgents’ earlier gains at the expense of the FAN and took the town of Sam Neua from the Communists with the help of US air support. The Hmong then established a formidable base of operations in the centre of the country.

Members of the Pathet Lao Using a Grenade Launcher. Source: Bridgeman images

In the first part of 1963, the civil war in Laos flared into life once more. The uneasy alliance between the Neutralist FAN under Kong Le and the Pathet Lao broke down, and the insurgent organisation, backed by the PAVN, launched a concerted attempt to dislodge the Neutralist faction from its stronghold on the Plain of Jars. The FAN suffered a number of defeats in small scale engagements and although they held onto their positions, the Neutralists were severely weakened by their losses, which included defections to both the Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Army.

STV-022 subcompact carbine / PDW - 7.62x39mm - Vietnam

STV-215 compact carbine - 7.62x39mm - Vietnam

STV-380 carbine - 7.62x39mm - Vietnam (new standard service rifle)

STV-410 rifle - 7.62x39mm - Vietnam (export only?)