(RARE) The Battle of Skyline Ridge (1971-72) Footage
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Published 2024-01-03
It was part of the greater Campaign Z where North Vietnamese in reaction to the South Vietnamese Invasion of Laos (Lam Son 719) retaliated by pushing pro-communist elements of Laos further into the Plain of Jars region, but over time lost their footing over the region.
It was the battle that saw NVA General Nguyen Huu An, the same one that commanded forces at Ia Drang in 1965, and Hmong general Vang Pao, who is the hero of the Hmong forces of the War, fight head to head in the one of the most intense battles of Laos.
North Vietnam also launched their largest offensive yet at the same time: the Easter Offensive, which was a multi-pronged invasion of the 17th Parallel, Central Highlands, and southern region near An Loc.
What's crazy about the footage is that it talks about rumors of Thai soldiers taking part of the battle under the Laotian army, which turned out to be true. The footage of Long Tieng, the area with largest concentration of Hmong during the War and the most secret spot of the Earth at the time, is a very compelling look into the civilian life in a military base. There were families of Hmong soldiers with them just like in the old days when families followed soldiers to live in their campsites before battle. Due to the highly classified US operations involved there such as giving aid to the Hmong and Laotian forces to hold the region from the encroaching Ho Chi Minh Trail expansion, it was known to be the most "remote" part of Indochina.
So much for the "Secret War". People at the time knew about it which makes this name obnoxious and disregarding of the larger Laotian conflict. The only thing secret was the US operations in the region, but nothing was secret about the Laotian civil tragedy that plagued the region for years to come, which featured multiple coups, Cold War meanderings, indigenous genocide, refugee crisis, and land filled with UXO.
Footage links:
LAOS: GOVERNMENT TROOPS AND IRREGULARS RECAPTURE VITAL RIDGE OVERLOOKING LONG CHENG AIR BASE. (1972)
www.britishpathe.com/asset/130827/
- Four battalions of Laotian troops new control almost all of the so-called "Skyline Ridge" which dominates the embattled military base of Long Cheng -- a former focal point of the American Central Intelligence Agency's (C.
NORTHERN: LAOS: BAN SON PROVIDES BACK-UP FOR PRO-GOVERNMENT GUERRILLA BASE AT LONG CHENG AND AID FOR HOMELESS REFUGEES. (1972)
www.britishpathe.com/asset/126140/
- The North Vietnamese offensive in Northern Laos this week has drawn attention to the remote base of Long Chen.
LAOS: MEO TRIBESMEN LEAVING VILLAGES NEAR LONG CHENG AS COMMUNISTS STEP UP PRESSURE. (1972)
www.britishpathe.com/asset/224918/
- In Northern Laos, North Vietnamese Units have stepped up bombardment of areas and villages around Long Cheng.
Read more:
www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/special-reports/36858…
The Erawan War: Volume 1: the CIA Paramilitary Campaign in Laos, 1961-1969 by Ken Conboy
Battle for Skyline Ridge: The CIA Secret War in Laos by James E. Parker Jr
All Comments (17)
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I'm so glad you uploaded this man, it means so much to me that someone else really cares about this front of the war lol
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To think that Vang Pao defeated the NVA general who fought at Ia Drang
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General Vang Pao, Commander of the Military Region 2, commanded all Royal Lao Forces in Military Region (MR2), he's an Hero and Laos Protector.
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:planet-orange-purple-ring::planet-orange-purple-ring::finger-red-number-one::thanksdoc::thanksdoc::medal-yellow-first-red:, Thank you for sharing my last memorial LS-20A God Bless everyone in the field.
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Great footage! Just wish I could find a lot more of it.
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GVP is the best General during Vietnam War
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Excellent find! What’s the camo pattern at 1:09?
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It's hard to know that
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แผ่นดินเรา
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That’s some Thai uncle with wrangler jeans in the base
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Like Vietnam, geography made the plight of the non communist forces in Lao hopeless. Lao is a mountainous country with undefendable borders, that at the time bordered North Vietnam. No amount of CIA aid was ever going to stop the North Vietnamese and their Pathet Lao clients prevailing in Lao. At least South Vietnam had a coastline, but even that wasn't enough in the end.
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ยังจะสู้รึ
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So it was the longest battle in vietnam but didn't involved the united states army huh?
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footage links: LAOS: GOVERNMENT TROOPS AND IRREGULARS RECAPTURE VITAL RIDGE OVERLOOKING LONG CHENG AIR BASE. (1972) www.britishpathe.com/asset/130827/ - Four battalions of Laotian troops new control almost all of the so-called "Skyline Ridge" which dominates the embattled military base of Long Cheng -- a former focal point of the American Central Intelligence Agency's (C. NORTHERN: LAOS: BAN SON PROVIDES BACK-UP FOR PRO-GOVERNMENT GUERRILLA BASE AT LONG CHENG AND AID FOR HOMELESS REFUGEES. (1972) www.britishpathe.com/asset/126140/ - The North Vietnamese offensive in Northern Laos this week has drawn attention to the remote base of Long Chen. LAOS: MEO TRIBESMEN LEAVING VILLAGES NEAR LONG CHENG AS COMMUNISTS STEP UP PRESSURE. (1972) www.britishpathe.com/asset/224918/ - In Northern Laos, North Vietnamese Units have stepped up bombardment of areas and villages around Long Cheng.
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This is the problem with main stream media… who cares where or if some fighters come from Thailand? So what? The North Vietnamese were invading Laos and exterminating the Meo tribesmen of Western Laos… why was that acceptable? The US, the report said, spent 350 million dollars supporting the pro American Vang Pao Army…the North Vietnamese spent 1.2 BILLION US dollars on supporting the Pathet Lao and their invasion forces between 1968 and 1972!! Why is THAT allowed!??
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the largest offhand US weapons trial and social programming test. ...of the year.
