In late 1971, the People's Army of Vietnam launched Campaign "Z" into
northern Laos, escalating the war in Laos with the aim of defeating the
last Royal Lao Army troops. The NVA troops numbered 27,000 and brought
with them 130mm field guns and T-34 tanks, while the North Vietnamese
air force launched MiG-21s into Lao air space. General Giap's specific
orders to this task force were to kill the CIA army under command of the
Hmong war lord Vang Pao and occupy its field headquarters in the Long
Tieng valley of northeast Laos.
They faced the rag-tag army of Vang Pao, fewer than 6,000 strong and
mostly Thai irregulars, recruited by the Thai army to fight for the CIA
in Laos. By the time the NVA launched their first attack, 4,000 Tahan
Sua Pran had been recruited, armed, trained and rushed in position in
Laos to defend against the impending NVA invasion. They reinforced Vang
Pao's indigenous army of 1,800 Lao hillstribe guerrillas.
Despite the odds being overwhelmingly in the NVA's favor, the battle did
not go to plan. It raged for more than 100 days, the longest in the
Vietnam War, and it all came down to Skyline Ridge. As at Dien Bien Phu,
whoever won Skyline, won Laos.
Against all odds, against all WDC expectations, the NVA lost, their
27,000-man invasion force decimated.
James Parker served in Laos. Over many years he pieced together his own
knowledge with CIA files and North Vietnamese after-action reports in
order to tell the full story of the battle of Skyline Ridge.
