The Ho Chi Minh trail through Laos was obviously essential for Northern victory in the Vietnam War; the conventional forces that conquered South Vietnam needed extensive logistical support, and and probably wouldn't have been able to penetrate a deeper, narrower front [i.e. Annamite mtns or the Mekong river to the coast, vs the entirety of the Laotian/Cambodian and Vietnamese border]. The North Vietnamese invested extensively in developing their supply route along the Annamite mountains, with paved roads, truck relays, and oil pipelines.
However, air campaigns against the HCMT were mostly insufficient, and the main group based attempt to cut it, Operation Lam Son 719, was a failure, as the ARVN column was outnumbered three to one, and the airmobile forces were a bridge too far, and were defeated separately. Still, I think the South Vietnamese would have been in a much stronger position had the Allies cut the HCMT and shortened the front.
Is there any PoD after 1954 where a joint operation between Thailand and South Vietnam or the U.S. to cut the HCMT in Laos would have been possible? Thailand definitely had an interest in keeping RVN from falling to communism, and I've heard the Royal Thai Army was considered quite an effective fighting force. They deployed a bit under two divisions in South Vietnam OTL; would they have been better used blocking the HCMT? I've been imagining something like Lam Son 719, but with a similar strength Royal Thai column coming out of the west, with the two pincers converging on Tchepone.
However, air campaigns against the HCMT were mostly insufficient, and the main group based attempt to cut it, Operation Lam Son 719, was a failure, as the ARVN column was outnumbered three to one, and the airmobile forces were a bridge too far, and were defeated separately. Still, I think the South Vietnamese would have been in a much stronger position had the Allies cut the HCMT and shortened the front.
Is there any PoD after 1954 where a joint operation between Thailand and South Vietnam or the U.S. to cut the HCMT in Laos would have been possible? Thailand definitely had an interest in keeping RVN from falling to communism, and I've heard the Royal Thai Army was considered quite an effective fighting force. They deployed a bit under two divisions in South Vietnam OTL; would they have been better used blocking the HCMT? I've been imagining something like Lam Son 719, but with a similar strength Royal Thai column coming out of the west, with the two pincers converging on Tchepone.