Battles of Bouamlong
Defended by Auto Defense Choc troops led by Major Cher Pao Moua, Bouamlong held out against the Communist forces even after the War ended in a ceasefire in February 1973.
Beginning in 1946, France fought the Viet Minh insurrection in French Indochina, including the Kingdom of Laos.
When France withdrew most of its military in conformity with the treaty, the United States filled the vacuum with purportedly civilian paramilitary instructors.
[1][2] As the Laotian Civil War began, the Central Intelligence Agency established a secret guerrilla army in the Plain of Jars to oppose this insurgency.
[3] A force of 500 Hmong guerrillas began training at Bouamlong in December 1961, as it became one of the Royalist outposts scattered in and around the Plain of Jars.
[4] Commanded by a doughty veteran Hmong officer, Major Cher Pao Moua, the fortified village was garrisoned by its few hundred Auto Defense Choc (ADC) militia.
[6] As nearby Nakhang fell and the Royalist Operation Raindance neared its end, the Communist Pathet Lao and PAVN 148th Regiment attacked Bouamlong.
[8] Boumalong would become a Royalist base for one of the attacking columns during the Kou Kiet offensive launched during early August 1969.
[11] As the PAVN main force laid siege to Long Tieng and Sam Thong, a smaller column branched off to attack Bouamlong on 23 February 1970.
On 13 April, the PAVN threw a heavy barrage of artillery fire at Bouamlong while Dac Cong sappers tunneled into its inner perimeter.
On 24 May, Bataillon Commando 205 (BC 205) was choppered in to replace the makeshift battalion; on the return trips, the departing troops were flown out.
[14] At the start of May 1971, the Communists withdrew at the end of Campaign 74B; in the process, units of the battle-hardened PAVN 316th Division attacked Bouamlong from three sides.
[15] On 18 June, Bouamlong's commanding officer, Cher Pao Moua, was wounded and temporarily medically evacuated.
[16] At the end of July, the Bouamlong guerrillas staged a diversionary attack on the Communist Route 72 supply line.
[20] Bouamlong would continue its armed resistance for years after the ceasefire ended the Laotian Civil War in February 1973.
