The Laotian quagmire
7:16 a.m. over Eastern Laos, 4 November 1958
Thieu Uy (Second Lieutenant) Le Hung of the Vietnamese Airborne Regiment looked out of the Royal Vietnamese Air Force DC-3 and saw that the air was clear with stray shafts of sunlight gilding the paddy fields below, with scattered tiny figures littering the fields. Smoke from the myriad of village fires rose vertically, which he quietly gave a blessings that at least today for his unit there no heavy crosswinds over the drop zone today.
He looked down the fuselage at his platoon and envied the ability of his subordinates to lightly doze or to chat with their comrades. In contrast, he was attempting to remember his objectives and to commit the small map to memory. The paratroopers of the Airborne Regiment wore American helmets and webbing, and most still had a Model 43 submachine gun or Duck strapped to their thigh rather than the M – 1 carbine.
His reverie was rudely interrupted by the order to ‘Stand up and Hook up.’ Figures lurched against each other, snapping the spring hooks of their webbing static lines over the cable running down the fuselage roof and jerking to make sure they were secure.
‘Equipment check!’ Each man focused on the parachute pack of the man in front, particularly the static line attachment. The red light flicked on and an icy blast accompanied by a deafening noise through an open cargo door went through the fuselage. 2LT Le stood in the doorway and composed himself waiting for the green light. The green light buzzed and simultaneously he was slapped on the shoulder by the jumper master, reacting on instinct he pushed himself out of the door and into the blue sky.
One one thousand
Two one thousand
Three one thousand
Four one thousand
Five one thousand
With a physical jolt his parachute deployed and he looked at the other canopies covering the morning sky. Now where was the form up point again…
Background:
The Vietnamese government had watched with trepidation as the precarious balancing act between the Neutralist, Pathet Lao and the Royalist faction had been destroyed with the untimely death of the Neutralist Prime Minister. Without his guiding personality the Neutralist faction disintegrated with their members joining either the Pathet Lao or the Royalists. At this moment the Laotian civil war was inevitable, it was waiting for the right cause, which was to occur with the Royalist Leader Prince Boun Oum recognising the looming conflict withdrew from the capital and unilaterally declared Champasak to be an independent state. The basis for his declaration was due to the increasing amounts of Communist Chinese advisors and although initially greeted with skepticism by many in the West, recent releases from the Chinese Politburo indicate that there was truth to his claim. Unfortunately he overestimated the ability of his forces and the estimates provided by the Vietnamese and Thai ‘advisers’ was that the Kingdom of Champasak would not survive without foreign intervention.
The Vietnamese General Staff had war gamed a similar situation several months earlier when a Laotian Civil War had emerged as a possibility. Vietnam did not relish a Chinese proxy state on their long porous border with Laos and the possibility of another safe area for the Viet Cong guerillas. Accordingly, the confluence of events was right for Vietnamese incursion. Their intervention was predicated on two goals the first to stop the Communist advance and the second to stabilise the front. Their recommendation was to intervene in the dry season to facilitate their advance due to lower temperatures and with rainfall. The logistical hub for the Vietnamese advance was a smaller output located at Khe Sanh the main arm would thrust into Lao Bao, Ban Dong with the Airborne Regiment used to secure the bridges at Xepon. The operation was dubbed ‘Gio Dong’ or ‘Eastern Wind.’ Ultimately the planning for ‘Gio Dong’ was assisted by American advisors, who also provided access to additional jump support with C – 119 Boxcars in concert with the venerable DC – 3.
For the most part the Gio Dong stabilized the southern kingdom and was largely achieved without bloodshed with the exception of the C Company 3rd Airborne Battalion at Xepon.
Xepon, Laos 4 November 1958
Charlie Company (C Coy) of the 3rd Airborne Battalion moved towards Xepon in a classic ‘two up, one back’ formation with 8 and 9 platoons leading and 7 platoon in support. As C Coy moved through the valley they were observed from the Pathet Lao force in the village and came under heavy machine gun fire and briefly indirect fire from mortars. Without any organic indirect fire support the OC of the Company Major Trinh launched an immediate attack.
8 platoon moved into a fire support position with 9 platoon performing a right hand flanking attack into the village with 7 platoon in support. The maneuver element then struck headlong into the Pathet Lao fighting positions and promptly stalled, due to the excellent layout and camouflage of the fighting positions.
The Platoon Commander of 9 Platoon 2LT Le identifying that he needed to keep the attack moving, crawled through the withering enemy fire and towards the fighting positions. He crawled up to the lip of the fighting position and threw a grenade. Afterwards the grenade exploded, he then personally led the attack on the remaining fighting positions. By 16:45 the village of Xepon and the bridges were in Vietnamese hands. During the fighting they had captured several prisoners to their horror, they realised one of the Pathet Lao officers was Chinese.
The following day C Coy was attacked by three T-34 tanks, one was incapacitated with a sticky bomb and at which stage the other two withdrew. The attack into fortified positions and the T-34 atack illustrated the need for organic fire support to be available for any Airborne operation. The Battle of Xepon is still celebrated in the Airborne regiment today.
