Undercover Armies - CIA FOIA - Central Intelligence Agency

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C05303949
Chapter Seven
Other irregulars were wounded and at least one unit
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broke and scattered. The damage was compounded by the loss of the weapons
for lOa new volunteers who had not yet arrived at the bivouac."D
The enemy attacked also in the north. In the four weeks after the Geneva
signing, Hanoi prepared a new gambitto exploit both the shaky fire discipline
of the Hmong and the American suspension of ammunition deliveries. The
new tactic appeared on 18 August, when North Vietnamese troops occupied
high ground near the Hmong base at Phou Koup, in Sam Neua Province. The
irregulars at this forward position had received relatively little training, and
only from a Hmong Special Operations Team, I IExploiting their
inexperience, the communists dug "spider holes" under cover of darkness, out
of range of small arms fire. Emerging after the morning fog burned off, they
deliberately exposed themselves to heavy weapons fire, ducking for cover
when the Hmong opened up. The irregulars exhausted their mortar and rocket
ammunition, to little effect, after which the North Vietnamese launched a
frontal attack. 0
16
Despite the paucity of training, the Hmong held off the enemy with smallarms
fire long enough to evacuate their families. But their new refuge was
equally vulnerable to attack, and the station asked for permission to drop
ammunition. This came within hours, so quickly that Harriman seemed to
fear that his State Department subordinates would think him indifferent to
good-faith implementation of the cease-fire. He cabled Ambassador Unger
I
Ito assure him that he "had no feeling of guilt in approving
this resupply and that our conscience is clear because these Meo troops
are clearly being attacked illegally by enemy forces in violation of the
Geneva accords."17D
It might be self-defense, but Headquarters still wanted to conceal the proposed
ammunition delivery from the ICC.I
After the 18 August incident at Phou Koup, Harriman liberalized the rules
to the extent Of authorizing Ambassador Unger to send one-time resupply
flights to units under attack and in danger of being overrun. But the most deli-
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