| Campaign 972 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofLaotian Civil War,Vietnam War | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 North Vietnam Pathet Lao |  Kingdom of LaosSupported by:  United States | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
| Two provincial battalions 4th Battalion of the 270th RegimentPT-76 tanks Three companies | 21st Brigade Infantry Battalion 233 2SPECOM teams Mobile Group 34 Bataillon Guerrier 308 Bataillon Guerrier 311 Mobile Group 31 1AC-130B-52 Stratofortresses | ||||||||
Campaign 972 (28 October 1972 – 22 February 1973) was the final offensive in the south of theKingdom of Laos by thePeople's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). After fending off a score ofRoyal Lao Government attacks against theHo Chi Minh Trail between June 1969 and late 1972, the PAVN attacked and essentially cut Laos in two at Khong Sedone by November 1972. Sporadic ongoing fighting, especially for control ofPaksong, continued until 8 February 1973. Although a ceasefire officially ended theLaotian Civil War at noon on 23 February withSalavan,Thakhek, andLao Ngam in Communist hands, the PAVN launched another successful assault on Paksong 15 minutes later.
TheHo Chi Minh Trail was central to the PAVN strategy for the conquest ofSouth Vietnam during theSecond Indochina War. Over the course of theLaotian Civil War, theCentral Intelligence Agency directed a series of offensive attacks by Laotian irregulars against the Trail, which the Communists opposed.Operation Lam Son 719 was a larger and more forceful failed attempt at interdiction of the Trail by the South Vietnamese military in February 1971.[1][2][3]
In 1972, the PAVN took the offensive.[4]
Planning for Campaign 972 began as early as February 1972. The Communist leaders in Hanoi ordered increased assistance to thePathet Lao stationed near the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The PAVN Military Region 4 inVinh was charged with planning an offensive to increase the Pathet Lao holdings inKhammouane andBorikhane Provinces of Laos. Each of the Lao provinces would be invaded by a PAVN provincial battalion. The 4th Battalion of the PAVN 270th Regiment was assigned as additional force. The operation was named Campaign 972 because it would take place in the ninth month of 1972.[4]
On 25 September 1972, the Pathet Laopolitical commissar for Borikhane Province arrested his PAVN adviser before deserting to the Royalists. He took over 300 troops of the Pathet Lao 24th Battalion with him. There was a month's delay while PAVN and loyalist Pathet Lao pursued the dissidents, then regrouped for the assault.[5]
On 28 October, the two PAVN columns launched their attacks. In the wake of the defections, the PL contributed just three companies to the offensive. TheRoyal Lao Army (RLA) struggled to resist, fielding the 21st Brigade from Thakhek.Bataillon Infanterie 233 (BI 233) and twoSPECOM teams were rushed north fromSavannakhet to aid in the resistance. Despite their efforts, the PAVN probes neared theMekong River, essentially cutting Laos in two while threatening theKingdom of Thailand. One of the Communist columns threatened Thakhek. The other neared the Mekong in the vicinity of the Nam Kading tributary andPakxan.[5]
On 17 November, two Royalist irregular battalions fromGroupement Mobile 34 (GM 34),Bataillon Guerrier 308 (BG 308) andBataillon Guerrier 311 (BG 311), were airlifted north to Thakhek. They moved southeast along Route 13 on the Mekong riverbank until they ran into the PAVN 42nd Provincial Battalion. The engagement would last until 5 December, when the PAVN broke contact. They then attacked back eastward 20 kilometers, inundating RLA forces on Route 12. BG 311 moved to halt the PAVN thrust 11 kilometers east of Thakhek. When GM 308 showed up, they forced the PAVN troops back another 10 kilometers.[5]
Having quieted that sector, the two irregular battalions returned to Route 13. However, on 22 December, the PAVN again struck. Their infantry now backed up byPT-76 tanks, they ejected a RLA garrison from a Route 13 bridge 40 kilometers south of Thakhek. On the 27th, the GM 34 battalions moved down Route 13 to attack the Communists. The next day, the retreating Vietnamese brought down a highway bridge behind them.[5]
On 5 January 1973, the GM 34 irregulars began an anticlockwise sweep back towards Thakhek, searching for any stray Vietnamese units. After some skirmishes, the irregular force dispersed, to rendezvous in Thakhek for further deployment. However, during January, the Royalist held positions at Thateng, Salavan, andLao Ngam fell to the Communists.[5]
By 6 February,Groupement Mobile 31 (GM 31) with its 1,444 soldiers had returned from duty inOperation Maharat II. They joined the GM 34 battalions in defending Thakhek for the next couple of weeks until the ceasefire ended the war.[5]
On 8 February, six PAVN tanks backed by infantry assaulted Paksong. When theAC-130 gunship flying support had difficulty getting clearance to strike the Vietnamese, the Communists overran the town. U.S. Air Force GeneralJohn W. Vogt, Jr. laid on an air campaign to recapture Paksong. He directed 76 preliminaryB-52 Stratofortress strikes in the area. Tactical air support for the Royalist counter-attackers amounted to 254 sorties expended. On 12 February, the Royalists retook Paksong.[6]
The ceasefire ending the war came into effect at noon 22 February 1973. U.S. air power was grounded at that time. Fifteen minutes into the truce, a Communist offensive began to retake Paksong from the Royalists.[7] On 23 February 1973, nine B-52s dropped a retaliatory strike on the Communists. These were the last American combat sorties of the war in southern Laos.[7]