Operation Silver Buckle

Operation Silver Buckle
Part of Laotian Civil War; Vietnam War
Date 5 January – 11 February 1971 Location Southeast of Tchepone Result Royalist attack repulsed; however, at least six North Vietnamese battalions diverted from Operation Lam Son 719
Belligerents
Kingdom of Laos Supported by  United States	North Vietnam
Units involved
Group Mobile 30	304th Division 308th Infantry Division 141st Regiment, 2nd Division 2nd Regiment, 324th Division Group 968
Strength
Regimental-size	~50,000
Casualties and losses
Heavy	Unknown

Operation Silver Buckle (5 January – 11 February 1971), an offensive staged in Military Region 4 of the Kingdom of Laos, was the deepest Royal Lao Armed Forces penetration to date of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Reaching the Trailside village of Moung Nong, the forward two companies attacked the rear of the 50,000 People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) garrison on 8 February 1971, just as Operation Lam Son 719 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.