This is an accepted version of this pageAir operations The Battle of Luang Namtha, fought between January 1962 and May 1963, was a series of clashes in the Laotian Civil War.

The slow motion battle began in far northwestern Laos, near its boundaries with the People's Republic of China, Burma, and Vietnam.

Luang Namtha would remain in communist hands except for a few days in late December 1967, when a surprise raid by Royalist irregulars would occupy it temporarily.

The US military attaché at that time deemed the topography of Luang Namtha too similar to that of Dien Ben Phu to be defensible.

[6] In September 1962, the Royal Lao Army formed an ad hoc regimental-size task force, Groupement Tactique 2 (GT2, Tactical Group 2) in Muong Houn, south of Muang Xay.

Groupement Tactique 2's mission was to advance southeast up the Nam Beng Valley 82 kilometres (51 mi) to Muang Xay.

In October, Bataillon Infanterie 2 (Infantry Battalion 2), accompanied by U.S. Field Training Team 2, made a three-day eastward march to occupy Ban Namo.

[6] GT 2, having undergone three months of training, kicked off its advance, but by 26 December had stalled halfway up the Pak Beng Valley.

While the Special Forces tried to coax the column forward, the infantry battalion on the high ground screening the western flank fled after light contact by the communists.

US advisers and the remaining Lao troops alike were left in a low-lying position that might easily be taken under plunging fire from the west.

His final deployment there, the elite Bataillon Parachutiste 11 (11th Paratroop Battalion), gave him a numerical advantage in manpower over his enemy's 2,500 troops.

[3][7] The communists, in a move they dubbed Operation XYZ, on 28 March detached seven battalions from the PAVN 305th, 339th, and 316th Brigades, as well as Pathet Lao supernumeraries.

[3][9] The leaderless Royalist troops abandoned Luang Namtha and fled south down the Nam Beng Valley.

The alarm spread by these deserters echoed back to the United States; President John F. Kennedy ordered 5,000 American troops to northern Thailand in response.

[11] The US Special Forces training team that had been attached to the Royalists at Luang Namtha was hastily evacuated via helicopter.

[12] In late December 1967, CIA case officer Tony Poe directed three battalions of Royalist irregulars in a raid upon Luang Namtha.