Tchepone Operation

Tchepone Operation
Part of Laotian Civil War; Vietnam War
Date 19 October – 13 November 1970 Location Tchepone; Moung Phine Result Unsuccessful Royalist attempt to capture Muong Phalane
Belligerents
Kingdom of Laos Supported by  United States	North Vietnam Supported by:  Soviet Union  People's Republic of China
Units involved
Green Battalion Red Bravo Battalion Brown Battalion Red Battalion Orange Battalion Black Battalion Raven Forward Air Controllers Royal Lao Air Force U.S. Air Force Air America	Group 559
Strength
Battalion-size	~50,000
Casualties and losses
91 killed 178 wounded or missing in action	Heavy

The Tchepone Operation (19 October – 13 November 1970) was an interdiction campaign by the Royal Lao Armed Forces aimed at disrupting the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) supply line, the Ho Chi Minh trail. The pair of three-battalion Central Intelligence Agency-sponsored Royalist irregular columns aimed at a communist garrison at Moung Phine, and the vital transshipment point of Tchepone. The Muang Phine thrust was fruitless. The Tchepone column stalled on Route 9 only 13 kilometers from the logistics center on 31 October. Between 1 and 10 November, the PAVN fiercely attacked while reinforced with nine antiaircraft guns and six mortars. The Royalist guerrillas retreated to base under cover of tactical air strikes by the Royal Lao Air Force and U.S. Air Force that inflicted heavy casualties on the PAVN, including close air support delivered within 20 meters of the Royalists. Analysis of the results of the Tchepone Operation convinced the CIA that regimental operations should replace multi-battalion ones.