Operation Silver Buckle
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Operation Silver Buckle (5 January11 February 1971), an offensive staged in Military Region 4 of the Kingdom of Laos, was the deepest
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 ...
penetration to date of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Reaching the Trailside village of Moung Nong, the forward two
companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...
attacked the rear of the 50,000 People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) garrison on 8 February 1971, just as
Operation Lam Son 719 Operation Lam Son 719 or 9th Route – Southern Laos Campaign ( vi, Chiến dịch Lam Sơn 719 or Chiến dịch đường 9 – Nam Lào) was a limited-objective offensive campaign conducted in the southeastern portion of the Kingdom of Laos ...
was launched by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). Overrun and scattered while suffering serious casualties, the ''Groupement Mobile 30'' irregular regiment of Silver Buckle had tied up at least six PAVN battalions, preventing them from opposing Lam Son 719.


Overview

"In short, the
North Vietnamese North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
campaign to overthrow the government at Saigon and establish a unified, Communist Vietnam ruled from
Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
depended on the Ho Chi Minh Trail."
Given the strategic importance of the Trail, there were numerous attempts by Royal Lao Government (RLG) forces—in most cases, irregular military units—to harass and interdict the Trail during the course of the war. Beginning with offensives such as Operation Left Jab and Operation Junction City Jr. in 1969, the
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
(CIA) continued to direct attacks on the Trail in 1970 in Operation Maeng Da,
Operation Honorable Dragon Operation Honorable Dragon (also known as Operation Gauntlet) was an offensive of the Second Indochina War. The Central Intelligence Agency, which equipped and trained the needed troops, aimed at disruption of the North Vietnamese communist supp ...
, Operation Diamond Arrow, and the Tchepone Operation.


Background

As 1970 turned into 1971, several events occurred to drastically change the military situation in Military Region 3 (MR 3) of the Kingdom of Laos. First, in November 1970, popular Pathet Lao General Phomma Douangmala, who had been at odds with the Vietnamese communists, died in one of their hospitals. A couple of separatist PL officers had recently been killed. The general's disgruntled bodyguard led the first of a series of Pathet Lao defections.Conboy, Morrison, p. 286.Ahern, p. 415. South of MR 3, in MR 4, Project Copper began on 1 January 1971 as Khmer Republic troops moved against the Trail's southern extension, known as the Sihanouk Trail. The home base for Project Copper was Pakse Strip 22 (PS 22). It was garrisoned by a CIA sponsored paramilitary organization, 1 Special Guerrilla Unit battalion (1 SGU).
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
(USAF) fighter-bombers struck communist threats with tactical air strikes.
AC-130 gunship The Lockheed AC-130 gunship is a heavily armed, long-endurance, ground-attack variant of the C-130 Hercules transport, fixed-wing aircraft. It carries a wide array of ground-attack weapons that are integrated with sophisticated sensors, n ...
s also helped fend off any communist threats through January and February 1971 as the Khmer tried to cut off supplies from Sihanoukville.


Operation Silver Buckle

Operation Silver Buckle was the first Royal Lao Government test of organizing its CIA sponsored guerrilla battalions in MR3 into regiment-sized units called ''Groupements Mobile'' (GM). For the first time, the CIA arranged air support with the USAF well in advance of the operation, and secured a commitment of 18 daily tactical air sorties, with four
Nail Nail or Nails may refer to: In biology * Nail (anatomy), toughened protective protein-keratin (known as alpha-keratin, also found in hair) at the end of an animal digit, such as fingernail * Nail (beak), a plate of hard horny tissue at the tip ...
airborne
forward air controller Forward air control is the provision of guidance to close air support (CAS) aircraft intended to ensure that their attack hits the intended target and does not injure friendly troops. This task is carried out by a forward air controller (FAC). ...
s for visual reconnaissance and air strike direction. A pair of
C-123 Provider The Fairchild C-123 Provider is an American military transport aircraft designed by Chase Aircraft and then built by Fairchild Aircraft for the U.S. Air Force. In addition to its USAF service, which included later service with the Air Force Re ...
flareships supplied night time battlefield illumination for the guerrillas. In the event, thunderstorms, haze, and foul weather would seriously limit air support during the operation.Nalty, pp. 149–150. Designed to achieve the same interdictory results desired from the Tchepone Operation but by different means, Silver Buckle kicked off on 5 January 1971. Instead of aiming directly at Tchepone, its objective was an interdiction point some 50 kilometers southeast of that transshipment point.Conboy, Morrison, pp. 289–290. On 12 January 1971, helicopters escorted by
A-1 Skyraider The Douglas A-1 Skyraider (formerly known as the AD Skyraider) is an American single-seat attack aircraft in service from 1946 to the early 1980s. The Skyraider had an unusually long career, remaining in front-line service well into the Jet Age ...
s set the 1,100 troops of ''Groupement Mobile 30'' (GM 30) on a hilltop near the vital PAVN line of communication, Route 92. GM 30 then split in half. Two battalions moved northeastward 20 kilometers toward a village on the edge of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Muong Nong. This was the deepest penetration yet into the Trail complex. The other two battalions of the regiment headed southeast toward Route 92, met resistance, but still gained the road. In a rare show of inter-theater cooperation, MACV-SOG landed four of their
long-range reconnaissance patrol A long-range reconnaissance patrol, or LRRP (pronounced "lurp"), is a small, well-armed reconnaissance team that patrols deep in enemy-held territory.Ankony, Robert C., ''Lurps: A Ranger's Diary of Tet, Khe Sanh, A Shau, and Quang Tri,'' revised ...
s from South Vietnam on the northern fringe of Tchepone as a diversion, also on 5 January. The teams reported any PAVN troop movements toward the Silver Buckle units. Additionally, from 12 to 17 January, MACV-SOG staged diversions south of Tchepone by faked recon team insertions and resupply drops at 11 locations. The actual recon teams would hang on north of Tchepone until 22 January.Conboy, Morrison, p. 289. While the MACV-SOG activity took place, the southern column of Silver Buckle laid mines on Route 92. It then turned north to join the other column. In the meantime, on 27 January, the northern column from GM 30 neared Muong Nong. Previous Royalist irregular military offensives during 1970 had drawn the PAVN high command into defending this logistics base. In and around Tchepone resided the equivalent of a PAVN
Army Corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...
—the 304th Division, 308th Division, 141st Regiment of the 2nd Division, the 2nd Regiment of the 324th Division, and other smaller detachments. Two
companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...
from GM 30 sallied into this communist concentration of 50,000 enemy troops, laying mines, calling in air support, and ambushing PAVN trucks. On 8 February 1971, the ARVN struck at the Ho Chi Minh Trail from the east with Operation Lam Son 719. Just how expected this offensive was to the RLG is uncertain. It is said that Silver Buckle was planned as a diversion to Lam Son 719. It is also claimed that the RLG was totally surprised by the South Vietnamese offensive.Castle, pp. 108–109. While Royalist intent was unclear, PAVN reaction to Silver Buckle was not. On the night of 9 February, two PAVN infantry regiments backed by tanks, antiaircraft guns, and artillery overran the vastly outnumbered Royalists at Moung Nong. Royalist survivors filtered back 80 kilometers to regroup at Ban Houei Mun's airstrip. Meanwhile, PAVN Group 968 came down from the Bolovens Plateau and attacked northward. They dispersed the other column of Silver Buckle, which also headed for Ban Houei Mun. By 11 February, Operation Silver Buckle ended in a full retreat.Conboy, Morrison, p. 290.


Results

By 22 February, the muster at the airstrip showed that GM 30 had taken heavy casualties. On the other hand, they had tied down six or more PAVN battalions and kept them from combating Lam Son 719.


Aftermath

Operation Lam Son 719 was still being fought in heavy engagements. There was still opportunity for a diversion from the Laotian side of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, such as the upcoming
Operation Desert Rat Operation Desert Rat (16 February – 3 April 1971) was a diversionary attack by a Laotian irregular regiment upon the crucial communist supply line, the Ho Chi Minh trail. Carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency sponsored ''Groupement ...
.


References

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Silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...