Project Hotfoot (also known as Operation Hotfoot, originally known as Operation Ambidextrous)
[Jacobsen, p. 112] was a secretive military training mission from the United States in support of the
Kingdom of Laos. It ran from 22 January 1959 through 19 April 1961. Working in civilian clothing in conjunction with a French military mission, it concentrated on technical training 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 ...
.
Background
In March 1945, in the waning days of World War II, the Japanese occupiers of the
Kingdom of Laos forced Lao independence from France. However, the French reasserted themselves in
French Indochina
French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...
after war's end. During the ensuing
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...
, the
Vietnamese Communist revolutionists invaded Laos in March 1953. After occupying large portions of
Phongsaly
Phongsali or Phongsaly ( lo, ຜົ້ງສາລີ) is the capital of Phongsaly Province, Laos. It is the northernmost provincial capital in Laos, opposite Attapeu in the south. The town has about 8,000 inhabitants. It lies at approximately 1,4 ...
,
Houaphanh Province
Houaphanh province ( Laotian: ຫົວພັນ ; Romanization of Lao: ''Houaphan'') is a province in eastern Laos. Its capital is Xam Neua.
Houaphanh province covers an area of . The province is bordered by Vietnam to the north, east, and so ...
, and mountainous terrain that would become the
Ho Chi Minh Trail, the Vietminh moved south 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 ...
and in a column menacing
Luang Prabang. The Plain of Jars offered the French forces the advantages of attacking the Viet Minh in the open with artillery and air strikes; that assault was halted. The column near Luang Prabang was also stopped when it was ambushed. A third Vietminh force captured
Thakhek
Thakhek (Lao language: ທ່າແຂກ), the capital of Khammouane Province, is a town in south-central Laos on the Mekong River. The Third Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge, linking Thakhek and Nakhon Phanom, Thailand, across the river, started ...
on 25 December 1953, cutting Laos in two. This force would not be evicted until February 1954.
As France departed Laos after losing the First Indochina War, the United States moved in to support the
Royal Lao Government. In the wake of the
1954 Geneva Conference
The Geneva Conference, intended to settle outstanding issues resulting from the Korean War and the First Indochina War, was a conference involving several nations that took place in Geneva, Switzerland, from 26 April to 20 July 1954. The part ...
and its treaties, the U.S. embassy 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 ...
established the
Programs Evaluation Office The Programs Evaluation Office was a covert paramilitary mission to the Kingdom of Laos, established on 13 December 1955 by the United States Department of Defense. The 23 July 1962 International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos would cause it t ...
to oversee military aid to Laos. It was established on 13 December 1954. Purportedly staffed by civilians, its personnel were U.S. military retirees, veterans, and reservists. Because the PEO personnel were not serving on active military duty, they were not in violation of the terms of the Geneva treaty.
The Heintges Plan
In September 1958, Brigadier General
John A. Heintges left the U.S. Army. In November, he flew to Laos to evaluate the Programs Evaluation Office, with a mandate to take charge of it. Heintges concluded that the staff of the PEO was too small, and seemed intent only on delivering equipment. There was a suspicion that some military aid to Laos was diverted for French use in the
Algerian War.
[Conboy, Morrison, p. 20.]
Returning to Washington, DC, Heintges lobbied for a larger PEO. He pointed to the sad shape 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 ...
as proof of need of U.S. military materiel and training. He was granted an increase in staff. Also, on 22 January 1959,
CINCPAC
United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) is a unified combatant command of the United States Armed Forces responsible for the Indo-Pacific region.
Formerly known as United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) since its inception in 1947, ...
levied a requirement for 12
Special Forces Mobile Training Teams of eight men each; they were slated to start six months temporary duty in Laos on 1 April.
[ The operation was kept secret from the American public and, in fact, U.S. commandos that were sent to Laos were given written orders stating they were going to Vietnam.] A cover story was arranged; the U.S. mission was purportedly from the U.S. National Geodetic Survey
The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) is a United States federal agency that defines and manages a national coordinate system, providing the foundation for transportation and communication; mapping and charting; and a large number of applications ...
.[ U.S. commandos were disguised as ]civilian
Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not " combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant ...
s and carried civilian identifications. General Donald Blackburn
Brigadier General Donald Dunwody Blackburn (September 14, 1916 – May 24, 2008) was a United States Army Special Forces officer, best known for his significant command and developmental roles in the U.S. Army Special Forces.
He was also the co ...
was charged with command of the mission. He prepared his men by requiring tutoring in both French and Lao, and insisting that all hands read the nonfiction book '' Street Without Joy'', as well as the novel ''The Ugly American
''The Ugly American'' is a 1958 political novel by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer that depicts the failures of the U.S. diplomatic corps in Southeast Asia.
The book caused a sensation in diplomatic circles and had major political implic ...
'', before departure.[Guardia, pp. 155–156.]
However, negotiations with the French government delayed things. It was finally decided that the French instructors in Laos under the Geneva treaty would continue to teach tactics, while the American trainers would teach technical subjects. On 24 July 1959, the Mobile Training Teams arrived 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 ...
. Augmented by a control team 11 strong, the force was dubbed Project Hotfoot (Operation Hotfoot for security purposes); it was also known by the official but little-used title of the Laos Training Advisory Group. They were to work for the PEO as a training arm, teaching Lao soldiers the use of the M1 Garand
The M1 Garand or M1 rifleOfficially designated as U.S. rifle, caliber .30, M1, later simply called Rifle, Caliber .30, M1, also called US Rifle, Cal. .30, M1 is a semi-automatic rifle that was the service rifle of the U.S Army during World War ...
, Browning Automatic Rifle
The Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) is a family of American automatic rifles and machine guns used by the United States and numerous other countries during the 20th century. The primary variant of the BAR series was the M1918, chambered for the . ...
, M1 Carbine
The M1 carbine (formally the United States Carbine, Caliber .30, M1) is a lightweight semi-automatic carbine that was a standard firearm for the U.S. military during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The M1 carbine was produced ...
, bazooka
Bazooka () is the common name for a man-portable recoilless anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the "stovepipe", the innovative bazooka was among the ...
, M18 recoilless rifle
The M18 recoilless rifle is a 57 mm shoulder-fired, anti-tank recoilless rifle that was used by the U.S. Army in World War II and the Korean War. Recoilless rifles are capable of firing artillery-type shells at reduced velocities comparable to t ...
, and both 60mm and 81mm mortars
Mortar may refer to:
* Mortar (weapon), an indirect-fire infantry weapon
* Mortar (masonry), a material used to fill the gaps between blocks and bind them together
* Mortar and pestle, a tool pair used to crush or grind
* Mortar, Bihar, a villag ...
. The Green Berets were commanded on site by Lieutenant Colonel Arthur D. Simons.
Hotfoot at work
Having been delayed in arrival, the Hotfoot contingent now found itself balked by Lao internal politics. While waiting for the local political situation to clear, the Hotfoot specialists hunkered in training centers at Luang Prabang, Savannakhet
Savannakhet (ສະຫວັນນະເຂດ), officially named Kaysone Phomvihane ( lo, ໄກສອນ ພົມວິຫານ; th, ไกสอน พมวิหาน) since 2005 and previously known as ''Khanthaboury'' (ຄັນທະ ...
, Pakse
Pakse (or ''Pakxe''; French: ''Paksé''; Laotian: ປາກເຊ 'mouth of the river'; th, ปากเซ) is the capital and most populous city of the southern Laotian province of Champasak, and the second most populous city in Laos. Loc ...
, and Vientiane. They surveyed the Royal Lao Army as they waited. By the time they were free to begin training at the beginning of September 1959, they had an excellent idea of the retraining task before them. Nine of the Mobile Training Teams were matched with French training teams at regional training camps. Three teams were assigned to build a new training facility northeast of Vientiane on Route 13 at Kilometer 22. This center would be an all-Hotfoot operation, with no French involved. Nearby, at Kilometer 17, they built a ranger training center.
On 25 November 1959, one of the Green Beret teams moved from Savannakhet into Military Region 2. They co-located at Khang Khay with a French training team and began building a clinic, rifle range, and demolitions practice area. As 1960 began, training of both regular and irregular military
Irregular military is any non-standard military component that is distinct from a country's national armed forces. Being defined by exclusion, there is significant variance in what comes under the term. It can refer to the type of military orga ...
troops began. The latter were Auto Defense Choc guerrillas.
The original Hotfoot contingent rotated out of Laos in February 1960, to be replaced by Hotfoot II. The new crew began ranger training for the RLA's ''1 Bataillon Parachutistes'' (1st Paratroop Battalion) and ''2 Bataillon Parachutistes'' (2d Paratroop Battalion). As Hotfoot II left Laos on 29 June 1960, to be replaced by Hotfoot III, 2nd BP began erecting a new battalion encampment for itself at KM 22. On 9 August, the 2nd BP commander, 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), ...
, would stage his coup from there, commanding his loyal paratroopers.
Hotfoot becomes White Star
Under incoming American President John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
, Hotfoot was rapidly expanded. Andrew Jackson Boyle had just been appointed as chief of the PEO; on 31 January 1961, just after the 19 January inauguration, he requested nine more training teams. His rationale was that every existing or forming battalion in the Royal Lao Army should have an American advisor. The Pentagon signed off on the request, with three packets each consisting of three teams staggering their arrivals in Laos from March through May 1961. The Operation Hotfoot moniker changed to Operation Monkhood.
On 19 April 1961, President Kennedy made a symbolic gesture in allowing the PEO to publicly become a MAAG; PEO members were allowed to don uniforms and resume usual public military courtesies. At the same time, the Hotfoot V teams were also renamed as Operation White Star
Project Hotfoot (also known as Operation Hotfoot, originally known as Operation Ambidextrous)Jacobsen, p. 112 was a secretive military training mission from the United States in support of the Kingdom of Laos. It ran from 22 January 1959 through ...
. Operation Hotfoot had suffered five killed in action during its duties. When Lieutenant Colonel Simons later organized the Raid on Son Tay, he would call upon men who served with him in Laos, such as Richard Meadows and Elliott P. Sydnor, Jr.[Hall, pp. 411–413.]
Notes
References
* Anthony, Victor B. and Richard R. Sexton (1993). ''The War in Northern Laos''. Command for Air Force History. OCLC 232549943.
* Castle, Timothy (1993). ''At War in the Shadow of Vietnam: U.S. Military Aid to the Royal Lao Government 1955–1975''. .
* Conboy, Kenneth and James Morrison (1995). ''Shadow War: The CIA's Secret War in Laos''. Paladin Press. .
* Gillespie, Robert M. (2011). ''Black Ops, Vietnam: The Operational History of MACVSOG''. Naval Institute Press. .
* Guardia, Mike (2011). ''SHADOW COMMANDER: The Epic Story of Donald D. Blackburn-Guerrilla Leader and Special Forces Hero''. Casemate. .
* Hall, Ross (2007). ''The Ranger Book: A History 1634 – 2006''. Booksurge. .
* Jacobsen, Annie (2019). "Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins," New York: Little, Brown and Company.
{{ISBN, 978-0316441421
Laotian Civil War
1959 in Laos
1960 in Laos
1961 in Laos
Laos–United States relations