Major-General Kouprasith Abhay ( lo, ກຸປຣະສິທທິ໌ ອະພັຍ; nicknamed 'Fat K'; 1926–1999?
[Stuart-Fox, pp. 169–170.]) was a prominent military leader of the
Kingdom of Laos during the
Laotian Civil War. Scion of a socially prominent family, his military career was considerably aided by their influence. In early 1960, he was appointed to command of
Military Region 5, which included Laos' capital city,
Vientiane
Vientiane ( , ; lo, ວຽງຈັນ, ''Viangchan'', ) is the capital and largest city of Laos. Vientiane is divided administratively into 9 cities with a total area of only approx. 3,920 square kilometres and is located on the banks of ...
. Removed from that command on 14 December for duplicitous participation in the
Battle of Vientiane, he was reappointed in October 1962. He would hold the post until 1 July 1971, thus controlling the troops in and around the capital. Over the years, he would be involved in one way or another in the coups of
1960
It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism.
Events
January
* Jan ...
,
1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...
,
[Conboy, Morrison, p. 107.][Anthony, Sexton, pp. 98–99.] 1965,
1966,
[Anthony, Sexton, pp. 206–209.] and
1973
Events January
* January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.
* January 15 – Vietnam War: ...
.
[Conboy, Morrison, pp. 406–407.] His service was marked by a deadly feud with another Laotian general,
Thao Ma
Brigadier-General Thao Ma (1931–1973) was a Laotian military and political figure of the Laotian Civil War and the Vietnam War (aka Second Indochina War). Thao Ma began his military career as a paratrooper in the French Union Army, when Fran ...
; the feud was largely responsible for the latter two coup attempts against the government.
After the
Royal Lao Government fell to the communists in 1975, Kouprasith retired to exile in France.
Rise to power
Kouprasith Abhay was the son of
Kou Abhay. The Abhays were an aristocratic family of Chinese-Lao heritage from
Khong Island
Khong may refer to:
* Khong District, Laos, a district of Champasak Province
** Khong Island, in Laos
* Khong District, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand
* Khong, Iran (disambiguation), places in Iran
People with the surname
* Lawrence Khong (born 19 ...
, which is sited on the
Mekong River
The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annual ...
near the Cambodian border in extreme southern Laos.
''Google maps Laos.'' Retrieved: 6 March 2015. Siho Lamphouthacoul, who was younger than Kouprasith, was raised as a protégé of the Abhay household. For unknown reasons, Siho resented this. Kouprasith Abhay was also related to the influential
Sananikone family,
[Conboy, Morrison, p. 33.] since his own mother came from that family. Kouprasith would also marry into the Sananikone family.
Kouprasith followed Colonel
Phoumi Nosavan Major General Phoumi Nosavan ( lo, ພູມີ ຫນໍ່ສວັນ; 27 January 1920 – 1985)Stuart-Fox, pp. 258–259. was a military strongman who was prominent in the history of the Kingdom of Laos; at times, he dominated its political life ...
and his
aide de camp Siho Lamphouthacoul to France, where they attended staff courses at the
School of Advanced Military Studies
The School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS) is one of four United States Army schools that make up the United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. This "enormously rigorous" graduate school com ...
(
French: ''Centre des hautes études militaires'') in Paris, followed by a posting as the
Royal Lao Government's first
military attaché to France. While in that post, Kouprasith procured two
Aérospatiale Alouette II
The Aérospatiale Alouette II (, " lark"; company designations SE 313 and SA 318) is a French light helicopter originally manufactured by Sud Aviation and later Aérospatiale. It was the first production helicopter powered by a gas turbine ...
helicopters for Laos. He returned to Laos early in 1960 to take command of the
Royal Lao Army
The Royal Lao Army (french: Armée royale du Laos – ARL), also designated by its anglicized title RLA, was the Land Component of the Royal Lao Armed Forces (FAR), the official military of the Kingdom of Laos during the North Vietnamese invasi ...
(RLA) troops in Military Region 5, headquartered in
Vientiane
Vientiane ( , ; lo, ວຽງຈັນ, ''Viangchan'', ) is the capital and largest city of Laos. Vientiane is divided administratively into 9 cities with a total area of only approx. 3,920 square kilometres and is located on the banks of ...
.
In command
When Captain
Kong Le
Captain (later Major General) Kong Le ( Lao: ກອງແລ; 6 March 1934 – 17 January 2014) was a paratrooper in the Royal Lao Army. He led the premier unit of the Royal Lao Army, ''2ème bataillon de parachutistes'' (Parachute Battalion 2), ...
seized power in his
August 1960 coup, Kouprasith made a weak offer of support to the new
satrap. He retained the command in Military Region 5, which included Vientiane. However, his sympathies actually lay with the deposed General, Phoumi Nosavan. When Phoumi's counter-coup
attacked Vientiane, Kouprasith sided with him. At one point during the counter-coup, Kouprasith made his own bid for power. Though he actually held the city for a short while, and announced a regime change, he named neither Phoumi nor himself as the new head of the nation. However, a distrustful Phoumi removed Kouprasith from command of MR 5 on 14 December 1960, and subordinated him to a Phoumi loyalist. Kouprasith's cause was not aided when he took to his sick bed upon relief from the command.
[Conboy, Morrison, pp. 38–42.]
During the ensuing standoff between Kouprasith and Phoumi, Kong Le and his
Neutralist Armed Forces (
French: ''Forces Armées Neutralistes'' – FAN) escaped to the
Plain of Jars
The Plain of Jars ( Lao: ທົ່ງໄຫຫິນ ''Thong Hai Hin'', ) is a megalithic archaeological landscape in Laos. It consists of thousands of stone jars scattered around the upland valleys and the lower foothills of the central plain of ...
on 16 December to establish an independent neutralist faction within the
Laotian Civil War.
[ A makeshift regiment, Mobile Group Vientiane ( French: ''Groupement Mobile Vientiane'' – GMV) was hastily formed to pursue Kong Le northwards up Route 13.]
''Google maps Laos.'' Retrieved: 6 March 2015. Kouprasith was appointed to command it, and between 7 and 17 January 1961, the GMV followed the retreating FAN as far as Vang Viang. Once there, he called for air support from the Royal Lao Air Force
The Royal Lao Air Force (french: Aviation Royale Laotiènne – AVRL), best known to the Americans by its English acronym RLAF, was the air force component of the Royal Lao Armed Forces (FAR), the official military of the Royal Lao Government an ...
(RLAF) before turning over his command and hastening back to the capital to safeguard his own interests. When the new GMV commander was unable to ward off counterattacks, Kouprasith was restored to his command on 27 January, and placed his troops in the south of Muang Kasi on Route 13. In his absence, on 22 April 1961, the regiment advanced northward into an ambush at Vang Viang. U.S. Special Forces (USSF) Team Moon was accompanying the move. Captain Walter Moon and Sergeant Orville Ballenger were captured, and Moon was later executed. Colonel Kouprasith helicoptered in and recovered the two surviving USSF team members.
Neutrality beckons
After the International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos
The International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos is an international agreement signed in Geneva on July 23, 1962 between 14 states, including Laos, as a result of the International Conference on the Settlement of the Laotian Question, which l ...
had been effectuated in October 1962, Kouprasith was once again in command of Military Region 5. Although MR 5 did not saw much fighting, under his command he had a regiment of regulars, Mobile Group 17 ( French: ''Groupement Mobile 17'' – GM 17), four volunteer battalions ( French: ''Batallions de Voluntaires''), the Directorate of National Coordination
The Directorate of National Coordination or DNC (french: Direction de Coordination Nationale – DCN) was the airborne-qualified paramilitary Security Agency and élite field force of the Royal Lao Police ( – PRL). Closely modelled after the R ...
(DNC) paramilitary Security Agency and its GMS airborne-qualified regiment, and nine ADC militia companies. His foster brother, Colonel Siho Lamphouthacoul, commanded the DNC/GMS special battalions, which was rated as the best military unit in Laos. GM 17 was also commanded by a Kouprasith protégé.
During the first half of April 1964, two Royal Lao Government missions flew to Saigon in order to secretly coordinate joint military operations in southern Laos.[Conboy, Morrison, p. 113 note 4.] GM 17 was posted away from Vientiane to the Plain of Jars
The Plain of Jars ( Lao: ທົ່ງໄຫຫິນ ''Thong Hai Hin'', ) is a megalithic archaeological landscape in Laos. It consists of thousands of stone jars scattered around the upland valleys and the lower foothills of the central plain of ...
in MR 2. At about the same time, Siho approached Kouprasith about using the DNC Security Agency to take over the kingdom
Kingdom commonly refers to:
* A monarchy ruled by a king or queen
* Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy
Kingdom may also refer to:
Arts and media Television
* ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
in a military coup. Kouprasith agreed, and on 18 April 1964, Siho seized the key national government buildings when he seized control of Vientiane. A new governing body, The "Revolutionary Committee of the National Army" took office, with Kouprasith as its head and Siho as deputy. Kouprasith withdrew GM 17 from the Plain of Jars to reinforce the coup, abandoning a defensive line on the Plain to the communists. On 23 April, however, U.S. Ambassador Leonard Unger intervened and ended the coup by restoring the legal government. Amid speculation about the early April missions, Kouprasith would subsequently claim to have patterned his coup after that of Nguyễn Khánh
Nguyễn Khánh (; 8 November 192711 January 2013) was a South Vietnamese military officer and Army of the Republic of Vietnam general who served in various capacities as head of state and prime minister of South Vietnam while at the head of a ...
.[
]
Operation Triangle and the coups
Operation Triangle
Operation Triangle was a military operation of the Laotian Civil War staged from 19—29 July 1964. Although planned by the General Staff of the Royal Lao Army, it was subject to American approval because the RLA depended on the Americans for f ...
, staged in July 1964, was the first combined arms operation of the Laotian Civil War. Commanded by Kouprasith, it was a three-pronged offensive against an isolated Pathet Lao garrison at the vital road intersection of Routes 7 and 13. The Government task-force were a mixture of Royal Lao Army
The Royal Lao Army (french: Armée royale du Laos – ARL), also designated by its anglicized title RLA, was the Land Component of the Royal Lao Armed Forces (FAR), the official military of the Kingdom of Laos during the North Vietnamese invasi ...
regulars, neutralist paratroopers, and hill tribes guerrillas, working in conjunction with a close air support effort. By 30 July, Kouprasith was victorious, as the columns converged on the objective.
On 4 August 1964, Phoumi attempted a coup using his training battalion. The trainees erected roadblocks throughout the streets of Vientiane, but they were promptly overrun by Kouprasith's troops. The training battalion was subsequently disbanded, and an antsy Phoumi was left with no troops to command.[Conboy, Morrison, p. 123.]
In January 1965, the Laotian Prime-Minister Prince Souvanna Phouma
Prince Souvanna Phouma (; 7 October 1901 – 10 January 1984) was the leader of the neutralist faction and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Laos several times (1951–1954, 1956–1958, 1960, and 1962–1975).
Early life
Souvanna Phouma was the so ...
convened a meeting of the RLA generals in Luang Prabang, where it made clear that he backed Kouprasith and Ouane Rattikone
Major-General Ouane Rattikone (Ouan Rathikoun), a Laotian senior military officer, was the commander-in-chief of the Royal Lao Armed Forces ( French: ''Forces Armées du Royaume'' – FAR), the official military of the Royal Lao Government and ...
rather than Siho and Phoumi. Thus the latter two officers remained sidelined, with no troops being assigned to them. On 27 January, Phoumi convinced the Military Region 2 commander that the RLA units stationed in Vientiane were about to stage a coup d'état, and therefore a rescue mission was launched from MR 2. Even without any troops under his command, Phoumi was managing to attempt a coup.[
On 31 January, while Phoumi's begged troops were still inbound, Colonel Bounleut Saycocie also tried his own coup by using three companies from Mobile Group 17. He was on the air long enough to broadcast five radio communiqués. In that time, Kouprasith turned out the remainder of GM 17; the dissidents promptly rejoined the ranks of the RLA as Bounleut made peace with Kouprasith. However, even though Siho was not involved in the coup, Kouprasith distrusted him. In a pre-emptive move, Kouprasith besieged the ]Directorate of National Coordination
The Directorate of National Coordination or DNC (french: Direction de Coordination Nationale – DCN) was the airborne-qualified paramilitary Security Agency and élite field force of the Royal Lao Police ( – PRL). Closely modelled after the R ...
's Border Police (formerly known as the GMS) headquarters in Vientiane with RLA infantry units backed by armored cars, light tanks and artillery. After the assault, both the DNC and its Border Police battalions were disbanded. Kouprasith then dealt with the troops coming to Phoumi's aid, attacking and dispersing them. By 4 February, the coups were over, with Phoumi and Siho escaping to exile in Thailand, their military careers at an end. A purge of Royal Lao Army officers loyal to Phoumi or Siho followed suit – during March and April 1965 many promising young officers were either murdered, imprisoned, or forced into exile, further weakening the RLA.
Ongoing career
However, one pro-Phoumi officer was too necessary to the war effort to be purged: Major-General Vang Pao
Vang Pao ( RPA: ''Vaj Pov'' , Lao: ວັງປາວ; 8 December 1929 – 6 January 2011) was a major general in the Royal Lao Army. He was a leader of the Hmong American community in the United States. He was also known as General Vang ...
, the leader of the CIA-sponsored Hmong
Hmong may refer to:
* Hmong people, an ethnic group living mainly in Southwest China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand
* Hmong cuisine
* Hmong customs and culture
** Hmong music
** Hmong textile art
* Hmong language, a continuum of closely related to ...
Special Guerrilla Units
Special or specials may refer to:
Policing
* Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force
* Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer
Literature
* ''Specia ...
(SGUs) operating in northeastern Laos. The resulting poor relationship between Kouprasith and Vang Pao was worsened by a murder incident which occurred that autumn. A Hmong SGU guerrilla fighter killed a Royalist regular soldier in a fit of rage and then sought refuge at Vang Pao's villa in Vientiane. When Kouprasith's Royalist soldiers surrounded the villa, Vang Pao strongly objected. The two generals became even more estranged because of this incident until 11 November 1965, when they were finally reconciled by an intermediary.
Brigadier-General Thao Ma
Brigadier-General Thao Ma (1931–1973) was a Laotian military and political figure of the Laotian Civil War and the Vietnam War (aka Second Indochina War). Thao Ma began his military career as a paratrooper in the French Union Army, when Fran ...
, the commander of the Royal Lao Air Force
The Royal Lao Air Force (french: Aviation Royale Laotiènne – AVRL), best known to the Americans by its English acronym RLAF, was the air force component of the Royal Lao Armed Forces (FAR), the official military of the Royal Lao Government an ...
(RLAF), was another Phoumi loyalist bereft of his support. By July 1965, Kouprasith began gossiping that Brig. Gen. Thao Ma was planning a coup. Major-General Ouane Rattikone
Major-General Ouane Rattikone (Ouan Rathikoun), a Laotian senior military officer, was the commander-in-chief of the Royal Lao Armed Forces ( French: ''Forces Armées du Royaume'' – FAR), the official military of the Royal Lao Government and ...
floated a scheme to split the C-47 transports and the T-28D fighter-bombers into separate contingents, allowing the RLAF commander to concentrate upon the latter. Brig. Gen. Thao Ma protested to U.S. Ambassador William H. Sullivan
William Healy Sullivan (October 12, 1922 – October 11, 2013) was an American Foreign Service career officer who served as ambassador to Laos from 1964 to 1969, the Philippines from 1973 to 1977, and Iran from 1977 to 1979.
Early life and ca ...
, claiming that the other generals wanted to seize control of the C-47 transports for their personal clandestine gold- and opium-smuggling operations, and for paid passenger services. Prince Souvanna Phouma
Prince Souvanna Phouma (; 7 October 1901 – 10 January 1984) was the leader of the neutralist faction and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Laos several times (1951–1954, 1956–1958, 1960, and 1962–1975).
Early life
Souvanna Phouma was the so ...
scotched the reorganization.
On 2 April 1966, during a strategy meeting of the American Embassy staff and the Royal Lao Army
The Royal Lao Army (french: Armée royale du Laos – ARL), also designated by its anglicized title RLA, was the Land Component of the Royal Lao Armed Forces (FAR), the official military of the Kingdom of Laos during the North Vietnamese invasi ...
's General Staff, Kouprasith and Ouane protested against Operation Barrel Roll
Operation Barrel Roll was a covert U.S. Air Force 2nd Air Division and U.S. Navy Task Force 77, interdiction and close air support campaign conducted in the Kingdom of Laos between 14 December 1964 and 29 March 1973 concurrent with the V ...
's schedule of air strikes that allotted a large percentage of the U.S. Air Force bombing raids to the Ho Chi Minh Trail in southern Laos. They wanted more air power used to support the RLA and SGU troops fighting in the Plain of Jars
The Plain of Jars ( Lao: ທົ່ງໄຫຫິນ ''Thong Hai Hin'', ) is a megalithic archaeological landscape in Laos. It consists of thousands of stone jars scattered around the upland valleys and the lower foothills of the central plain of ...
in northern Laos. Meanwhile, during Summer 1966, RLAF operations slowly grounded to a near standstill as Brig. Gen. Thao Ma was being pressured to move his headquarters from Seno Air Base, near Savannakhet
Savannakhet (ສະຫວັນນະເຂດ), officially named Kaysone Phomvihane ( lo, ໄກສອນ ພົມວິຫານ; th, ไกสอน พมวิหาน) since 2005 and previously known as ''Khanthaboury'' (ຄັນທະ ...
, to the vicinity of the RLA General Staff headquarters in Vientiane, so that they could keep a close eye on his activities.
More coups
Kouprasith wanted Royalist control of Kong Le's Neutralists. Some of Kong Le's subordinate officers, with the connivance of the RLA General Staff, deposed him on 17 October 1966, sending him into exile. Four days later, in a separate action, Thao Ma and Bounleut Saycocie launched an unsuccessful airborne coup against the government. After failing to kill Kouprasith with an air strike on the General Staff headquarters the Royal Lao Air Force general led ten of his T-28
The T-28 was a Soviet multi-turreted medium tank. The prototype was completed in 1931, and production began in late 1932. It was an infantry support tank intended to break through fortified defences. The T-28 was designed to complement the hea ...
fighter pilots in a flight into exile in Thailand.
On 24 November 1966, Pathet Lao troops captured government positions at Tha Thom in Military Region 2. However, since Kouprasith's MR 5 troops were closer to the scene, he flew in Royalist reinforcements while the RLAF bombed the enemy. Tha Thom was retaken on the 28th.
When the General Staff shuffled officers' assignments in July 1968, Kouprasith retained command of Military Region 5. In early March 1970, Kouprasith was charged with holding the vital Route 7/13 intersection with a four battalion force. At about the same time, the March 1970 change of government in Cambodia led to increased communist activity in the vicinity of Kouprasith's native Khong Island. By 18 July, the North Vietnamese had captured the eastern ferry landing on the mainland. The Military Region 4 commander was overwhelmed dealing with the communist offensive roaring forth from the Ho Chi Minh Trail. On the 20th, Kouprasith hastily forwarded two battalions and a pair of 105mm howitzers to defend the island. A third battalion was supplied from Military Region 3. A makeshift fourth battalion was thrown together from personnel drafted from all the MR 5 battalions; it too went to Khong Island.
Prince Sisouk na Champassak became the Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in August 1970. He began to revamp the Lao military. First, he engineered the retirements of Generals Ouane and Oudone from their posts as commander and deputy commander of the RLA in March 1971. He also placed constraints on Kouprasith's command of MR 5. When the high command was reorganized on 1 July 1971, Kouprasith was transferred to administration, becoming the deputy commander in chief of the Royal Lao Army.
When Khong Island was once again threatened by the communists in October 1972, Kouprasith took charge of the relief expedition. With little opposition, he defeated the Vietnamese in three weeks.
On 20 August 1973, Thao Ma again tried to kill Kouprasith with a bombing raid. Thao Ma returned from exile in a motorized column containing 60 adherents. Once they captured Wattay Airbase, Thao Ma returned to the sky in a commandeered T-28. Thao Ma and his wingman tried to kill Kouprasith by dive bombing; they demolished Kouprasith's brick villa, killing his nephew. However, the airfield was retaken from the coup force while the air strike was in progress. When they returned, a truck-mounted machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...
manned by a government soldier brought Thao Ma down. He was hauled wounded from his crash-landed plane and taken to Kouprasith's headquarters. There Thao Ma was executed on Kouprasith's order.
Fall from power
When the final Pathet Lao offensive drove through Vientiane in May 1975, Kouprasith resigned on the 11th and fled to Thailand.[Conboy, Morrison, p. 415.] In October 1978, he joined the Royal Lao Government in Exile in France, but retired shortly thereafter. He reportedly died in 1999.[
]
See also
* Laotian Civil War
* Royal Lao Army Airborne
*Royal Lao Armed Forces
The Royal Lao Armed Forces (french: Forces Armées du Royaume), best known by its French acronym FAR, were the official armed defense forces of the Kingdom of Laos, a state that existed from 1949 to 1975 in what is now the Lao People's Democra ...
Notes
References
* Anthony, Victor B. and Richard R. Sexton (1993). ''The War in Northern Laos''. Command for Air Force History. .
* Conboy, Kenneth and James Morrison (1995), ''Shadow War: The CIA's Secret War in Laos''. Paladin Press. .
* Steiglitz, Perry (1990). ''In a Little Kingdom''. M.E. Sharpe, 1990. ISBNs 0873326172, 9780873326179.
* Stuart-Fox, Martin (2008) ''Historical Dictionary of Laos''. Scarecrow Press. ISBNs 0810864118, 978-0-81086-411-5.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abhay, Kouprasith
Laotian military leaders
1926 births
1999 deaths
Place of birth missing
20th-century Laotian people
People of the Laotian Civil War