Air operations Operation Junction City Jr. was a major Laotian offensive of the Vietnam War; initially aimed at temporary disruption of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, it was extended into an attempt to isolate the major North Vietnamese communist transshipment point at Tchepone from the units it was supposed to supply.

After capturing Moung Phine, the Royalists extended the campaign in an attempt to neutralize Tchepone during September, foreshadowing the future Operation Lam Son 719.

By 17 October 1969, Operation Junction City Jr. had been pushed back to its point of departure; however, it had destroyed supplies sufficient to have kept a communist division in the field.

Following the French defeat at Dien Ben Phu and the subsequent 1954 Geneva Agreements a neutral Laos gained its independence.

When France withdrew most of its military in conformity with the treaty, the United States filled the vacuum with purportedly civilian paramilitary instructors.

[2] As the Laotian Civil War flared from 1961 onward, the CIA carried out a paramilitary program designed to foster a guerrilla army to support the Royal Lao Government (RLG).

In turn, the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) forces guarding the Trail were strong enough to launch serious attacks against the Savannakhet Plains and the Mekong Valley if they wished.

On 23 March, two of Red Battalion's companies, with 115 men apiece, were tasked with the Operation Duck raid on an enemy complex housed in a cave southeast of Mahaxay.

As Tang Vai lay 31 kilometers from friendly forces, on the edge of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the lack of opposition was surprising.

[8] On 28 August, the offensive operation was extended, with the aim of occupying Moung Phine for a week and blocking the intersection of Routes 9 and 23 nine kilometers west of the town.

As Moung Phine was the only Pathet Lao-held town in the Laotian panhandle, and served as a communist sanctuary, it was a prime target because it had been off limits to air strikes.

Although the Royalists realized that capturing the actual town was unlikely, they planned to occupy another road junction, Routes 9/91 ten kilometers northwest of Tchepone.

[16] On 4 October, an approaching crowd of refugees was mistaken for PAVN by BC 203; the Royalist regulars fled to Moung Phalan.

Scavenging four M60 machine guns from the crashed helicopters to beef up their defense, the fliers and the Red Battalion soldiers held off the PAVN all day.

After being reduced to using sidearms for defense, the surrounded detachment was rescued at 18:30 by two helicopters swooping in under cover of an airdropped tear gas barrage.

[18][19] Operation Junction City Jr. was credited with depriving an entire PAVN division of supplies, causing its withdrawal from the field.

A battered Brown Battalion returned from operations in Military Region 2 and was assigned as security guards at Prince Boun Oum's personal tin mine.