Operation Counterpunch

BelligerentsLaos
Thailand
Supported by
United StatesNorth Vietnam
Supported by:
Soviet Union
People's Republic of ChinaCommanders and leadersUnits involved

Groupements Mobile 22
Bataillon Guerrier 227
Auto Defense Choc militia
Groupement Mobile 23
A battalion-sized Special Guerrilla Unit
Commando RaidersForces Armées NeutralistesBataillon Infanterie 17
United States21st Special Operations Squadron

15th Infantry Bataillon Six companies plus scattered garrisons

Operation Counterpunch, waged 26 September 1970 to 7 January 1971, was a military offensive of the Laotian Civil War. Royalist General Vang Pao's guerrilla army regained the vital all-weather forward fighter base at Muang Soui on the Plain of Jars from the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). The preemptive Counterpunch was credited with delaying an imminent PAVN wet season offensive for a month. The guerrilla army survived, though still heavily outnumbered by the PAVN.