Undercover Armies - CIA FOIA - Central Intelligence Agency

I
c05303949
I II
A CONTENTIOUS CEASE-FIRED
ers again at the bUnk~picked up enemy grenades and hnrled them back
at the communists."U
The North Vietnamese fell back once again. But the defenders were nearly
surrounded, and their alternatives were limited: escape or be killed.c=Jand
the territorials' commander agreed to make a break for it, heading for a
wooded area that looked like the only spot on the perimeter not yet occupied
by the enemy. They alerted as many of the defenders as they could and dashed
out of their bunkers and foxholes.'0
North Vietnamese fire mowed down dozens of the desperate Hmong and
Lao, andl
IAn enemy party-unaccountably
unarmed-intercepted them before they reached the tree line and
seized [ 3hc men with him fought off the attackers with rifle butts and
pointblank fire, and the remaining defenders finally reached the relative safety
of the forest. There, the Hmong's endurance and superior knowledge of the
terrain allowed them to elude the pursuing enemy. Having been separated during
their escape, the survivingI land their Hmong guides headed for the
rallying point thatc==J!ad designated before the attack.'0
Two days later, they reached an outpost manned by Hmong irregulars.
Meanwhile, Bill Lair]
[alerted by an emergency message
fromc=Jon the morning of the attack, had spent the daylight hours in the
air, searching for survivors. They had begun early on 14 May, flying over the
eerily calm Muong Ngat, where the dead littering the landscape displayed the
ferocity of the previous day's battle. But it was not until 17 May, after a message
from the Hmong outpost harboringc:::=Jand his men, that Lair andD
Dfound and retrieved them."D
-.-----,,,--__,-_=;;-;----;-__-;--;-o-.---c-.-rJeanwhile, drew a lesson from
the disaster there. Bill Lair concluded that, in his eagerness to expand Vang
Pao's forces, he had given too little weight to the skill and determination of
the NVA, which he knew had perhaps the finest light infantry in the world.
Now, looking at the heavy casualties at Muong Ngat, he resolved never again
rs
36
37
38 Bill Lair.] I
SE~LTlfMR
1;9