This is an accepted version of this page Royal Lao loyalistsSupported by Thailand United States South Vietnam Neutralist Armed Forces North Vietnam Pathet LaoSupported by Soviet Union Air operations The Battle of Vientiane was a major and decisive battle of the 1960 Laotian coups, that occurred amid the Laotian Civil War.

Fought between 13 and 16 December 1960, the battle ended with General Phoumi Nosavan regaining control of the Kingdom of Laos with the aid of the Royal Thai Government and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

The losing Neutralist Armed Forces under Captain Kong Le retreated onto the strategic Plain of Jars, to begin an uneasy coexistence with the Pathet Lao and the invading North Vietnamese Army.

With the northeastern quarter of Laos under communist control, the United States and the Kingdom of Thailand deepened their involvement in the Laotian Civil War.

Beginning on 23 December 1950, the United States began military aid to the French administration of the Kingdom of Laos as they fought the First Indochina War.

[3] When matters worsened for the airborne troops, Kong Le led his mutinous paratroop battalion in a nearly bloodless coup on 9 August 1960.

Its mission was to march northward on Route 13 along the eastern bank of the Mekong River some hundreds of kilometers and seize the capital.

[4] On 22 November, the Central Intelligence Agency flew in five five-man commando teams from the Thai Police Aerial Reinforcement Unit (PARU).

They supplied added communication and control capability to the column and advised on ways to circumvent any opposing strong points.

At the same time, the BP 1 paratroopers who were on Phoumi's side were airdropped on the Royal Lao Army headquarters at Chinimao, on the verge of the capital.

Suspicious of Kouprasith's ambitions, Phoumi appointed Brigadier General Bounleut Sanichanh as commander-in-chief of the counter-coup forces.

Both sides failed to close for combat, settling on direct fire by crew served weapons and point-blank artillery.

[11] Wattay Airbase fell under Phoumi's control, and the Soviet military aid airlifts to Kong Le's forces halted.

[14] Based on reports of the fighting, American Joint Task Force 116, afloat in the South China Sea, was placed on a four-hour alert.

At 11:30 on 15 December, GMS 1 entered Vientiane from the north, only to be stopped by PAVN artillery and small arms fire from Wattay.

At 13:30, Kouprasith sent 80 troops in an attempted amphibious landing to cut off Kong Le's retreat, but the waterborne force overshot its objective.

Instead, Kong Le loaded up his 1,200 troops and retreated northwards toward the Plain of Jars, accompanied by the PAVN artillerists, a single tank, and a few captives.

His Pathet Lao allies sent 1,000 men southward on Route 13 to Moung Kassy, some 40 kilometers north of his position at Vang Vieng.

However, Kong Le drove his convoy of vehicles past them to capture the Route 13/7 intersection at Sala Phou Khoun, leaving the Pathet Lao at Vang Vieng as a rear guard.

As FAN approached the all-weather airfield at Muang Soui, the Hmong guerrilla company that had felled the trees dispersed into the countryside.

[17] Not knowing that FAN had departed from the Route 7/13 junction, Phoumi planned to have columns closing in on it from all three directions: from Luang Prabang to the north; from Vientiane on the south; from the Plain of Jars to the east.

Further east on Route 7, on 31 December, at Nong Het on the Vietnamese border, 60 Pathet Lao soldiers backed by PAVN cadre attacked a single company Royalist garrison from Bataillon Volontaires 21 (Volunteer Battalion 21).

[22] The central position of the Plain of Jars in northeastern Laos granted Kong Le effective control of the countryside from Vang Vieng to Xam Neua.