Phou Khao Kham

Although it succeeded in taking the air base, it failed to remove a concentration of Communist troops at the Sala Phou Khoun intersection of Routes 7 and 13.

[6] The new offensive, code named Phou Khao Khouai ("White Buffalo Mountain") began at Moung Kassy on Route 13 on 5 August 1971, on the sole road between Vientiane and Luang Prabang.

[6] Moving north from Moung Kassy on 5 August 1971, the Royalist column crept through the rain for the following fortnight, meeting only sporadic Communist opposition.

[6] The stalled offensive force was removed from the ridge where it had encamped, and leapfrogged over the foe to be landed at a vacant Auto Defense de Choc (ADC) site, Xieng Dat.

They were refurbished for three days in preparation of a heliborne assault on Muang Soui; in the process, the operation was renamed Phou Khao Kham (meaning Gold Mountain).