Brock, Found this recently at the library..Laos, 1971, CIA...Trans America...Raven etc. It promises to be a good read.~~Eddie
The Life Of General Vang Pao, Hmong Guerrilla Leader
The first complete account of the secret battle of Skyline Ridge,
1972, when a ragtag Laos-Thai army supported by the CIA threw back a
vast NVA army.
In late 1971, the People's Army of Vietnam
launched Campaign "Z" into northern Laos, escalating the war in Laos
with the aim of defeating the last Royal Lao Army troops. The NVA troops
numbered 27,000 and brought with them 130mm field guns and T-34 tanks,
while the North Vietnamese air force launched MiG-21s into Lao air
space. General Giap's specific orders to this task force were to kill
the CIA army under command of the Hmong war lord Vang Pao and occupy its
field headquarters in the Long Tieng valley of northeast Laos.
They
faced the rag-tag army of Vang Pao, fewer than 6,000 strong and mostly
Thai irregulars, recruited by the Thai army to fight for the CIA in
Laos. By the time the NVA launched their first attack, 4,000 Tahan Sua
Pran had been recruited, armed, trained and rushed in position in Laos
to defend against the impending NVA invasion. They reinforced Vang Pao's
indigenous army of 1,800 Lao hillstribe guerrillas.
Despite the
odds being overwhelmingly in the NVA's favor, the battle did not go to
plan. It raged for more than 100 days, the longest in the Vietnam War,
and it all came down to Skyline Ridge. As at Dien Bien Phu, whoever won
Skyline, won Laos.
Against all odds, against all WDC expectations, the NVA lost, their 27,000-man invasion force decimated.
James
Parker served in Laos. Over many years he pieced together his own
knowledge with CIA files and North Vietnamese after-action reports in
order to tell the full story of the battle of Skyline Ridge.
@ Amazon
