Undercover Armies - CIA FOIA - Central Intelligence Agency

C05303949
Chapter Fourteen
Concentrated air action inflicted grievous damage on the North Vietnamese,
but the communists pressed the attack. Communist prisoners asserted that
reinforcements were advancing from the south, but the defenders, again with
massive air support, held their own until 27 June. At 0600 hours, the neutralist
troops finally broke and scattered.l Iwith 50
Hmong irregulars flown in to add perimeter support, was taking both mortar
and small arms fire. The weather had closed in, preventing accurate bombing
runs, and the army attache advised I
Ito
prepare for helicopter evacuation. In theafternoon, nine Air America and
seven USAF helicopters took advantage of suppressing fire from A-lEs and
jet bombers to cvacuat~
~undreds of Lao combatants
and civilians.'D
The fall of Muong Soui, following the action at Xieng Khouang town, left
the initiative with the NVA, and the station tried to anticipate what might happen
next. The COS wanted more help from the Laotian regulars, and he urged
acting FAR commander Gen. Oudone Sananikone to transfer an MR 4 battalion
to the Moung Soui front to block further enemy advance to the west. "No,"
said Sananikone, "MR 4 commander Gen. Phasouk would never permit it."
Devlin then suggested moving a battalion from MR 3, then quiescent, but Sananikone
assured him that General Bounpone would likewise refuse."D
To get the Lao to make hard decisions, Devlin sighed, was "like trying to
drive nails with ripe bananas." Diplomatic action was no easier, with Vientiane
and its allies inhibited, as usual, by hopes that gentle persuasion might
get the Soviets to restrain Hanoi. The Indian member of the International Control
Commission; meanwhile, despaired even of being allowed to inspect the
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