Invasion of Laos, 1971: Lam Son 719

305 Pages·2014·10.48 MB·English

by  Robert D. Sander

R o b e R t D . S a n D e R
Invasion of Laos, 
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Invasion of Laos, 
Lam Son 719
Robert D. Sander
University of Oklahoma Press : Norman
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sander, Robert D., 1946–
Invasion of Laos, 1971 : Lam Son 719 / Robert D. Sander.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8061-4437-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Operation Lam Son 719, 1971.
I. Title.
DS557.8.L3S26 2014
959.704'342 dc23
2013024356
Th e paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library
Resources, Inc. ∞
Copyright © 2014 by the University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Publishing Division
of the University. Manufactured in the U.S.A.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise—except as permitted under Section 107
or 108 of the United States Copyright Act—without the prior permission of the
University of Oklahoma Press.
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Preface
For years I have harbored a sense that I fought in a lost battle of
a lost war. In 1971 I was a helicopter pilot in Operation Lam Son 719, a
South Vietnamese Army Corps attempt, supported by U.S. air power, to
sever the Ho Chi Minh Trail. It was the culmination of a ten-year eff ort
to halt infi ltration of North Vietnamese forces into South Vietnam. As
a junior captain I certainly had little day-to-day knowledge of the battle
plan or its progress and little infl uence over the operation’s outcome.
What I did know when it was over was that many of my fellow aviators,
all helicopter pilots, had been shot down, killed, or wounded in what
seemed a failed operation. Th is book is not an autobiography. It is an
eff ort to trace South Vietnam’s battle against infi ltration from the Com-
munists in the north, to consider the national policies and directives
restricting military eff orts, and to chronicle Operation Lam Son 719,
the fi nal chapter in the anti-infi ltration battle.
Lam Son 719 was a bloody aff air. Although historical sources con-
tain varying casualty counts, the South Vietnamese force, the Army of
the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) 1st Corps, appears to have suff ered
more than 7,500 casualties, and the Communist forces approximately
13,000.1 It is diffi cult to determine the number of soldiers each side
committed to the battle. Th e South Vietnamese had approximately
17,000 troops available for the operation, but not all of these soldiers
were in the area of operations at any given time. As for the Commu-
nists, reinforcements were rushed to the area of operations as the forces
in contact were depleted, so a casualty rate is diffi cult to determine.
While the overall U.S. casualties were low as compared to that of
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Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Preface ix
Introduction 3
1. Johnson’s War 13
2. Th e Truck Hunters 32
3. Nixon’s War 50
4. 1970: Th e Cambodian Incursion 65
5. Planning Lam Son 719 81
6. Dewy Canyon 2 99
7. Th e First Week in Laos 109
8. Th e Second Week in Laos: Th e Attack Stalls 127
9. Collapse on the Northern Flank 141
10. Onward to Tchepone 158
11. Th e Retreat from Laos 174
12. After Lam Son 719 192
Appendix A: Th e Helicopters of Lam Son 719 213
Appendix B: Th e Butcher’s Bill 227
Notes 233
Glossary 263
Bibliography 271
Acknowledgements 277
Index 279
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Illustrations
Figures
1. O-1 Birddog 36
2. O-2 Skymaster 38
3. OV-10 Bronco 40
4. AC-130 42
5. A Cobra pilot gets some crew rest at Khe Sanh 136
6. UH-1H Iroquois “Slick” 214
7. UH-1C Charley Model gunship 215
8. AH-1G Cobra 218
9. AH-1G turret weapons 220
10. M35 20mm cannon 221
11. OH-6A with blades removed being pushed out of a hangar
at 5th Transportation Battalion following repair 222
12. Th e red dust at Khe Sanh boils as a CH-47 picks
up a damaged Cobra 223
13. CH-54 Tarhe 224
14. CH-53 224
Maps
1. Th e Ho Chi Minh Trail 2
2. Base Areas 604, 607, 611, and the A Shau Valley 93
3. ARVN positions at the end of 12 February 120
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illustrations
4. Concept of operations as revised on 16 February 128
5. ARVN positions at the end of 3 March 167
6. ARVN positions on the morning of 20 March 181

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