The Neutralist Armed Forces (French: Forces Armées Neutralistes; FAN) were a Laotian paramilitary rebel group and independent political movement active in the Laotian Civil War. It was founded in August 1960 in the wake of the August 1960 coup, led by mutinous Laotian National Army officers of the 2nd Parachute Battalion, that overthrew the military government of Phoumi Nosavan.
The rebel movement sought to establish Laos as a neutral state that would align with neither the US nor the Soviet bloc, and would end the rampant corruption of the Royal Lao government.
Following their defeat in the Battle of Vientiane in defeat on 16 December 1960, the FAN retreated to the Plain of Jars and the following year was spent in conflict with Royalist guerrillas. During 1961, FAN grew to a strength of 8,000; it had a company of tanks and a small air arm. However, it was hampered by inadequate supplies erratically passed along by the Pathet Lao communists.
By the spring of 1963, the Neutralists began to suffer defections as its members were either defected to the Communist and Royalist side of the Laotian Civil War. As a result, Kong Le, the Neutralists leader, struck an alliance with the Royalists. In response, in April 1963, Colonel Deuane Sunnalath split off several battalions into a new party, the Patriotic Neutralists, which allied itself with the Pathet Lao. The April 1963 casualty list for FAN was 85 dead, 43 wounded. Given all the losses and defections, FAN was down to 2,200 men and 50 PT-76 light tanks by month's end.
In the subsequent years, FAN's battle performance would range from undistinguished to poor, in such battles as Lak Sao. From 1961 through 1966, it launched numerous unsuccessful attacks on the Phou Khout ridgeline positions of North Vietnamese Army (PAVN) troops overlooking FAN positions at Muang Soui. On one occasion, Kong Le assumed the robes of Buddhist monkhood while his subordinates led the assaults. Resentment grew among both his subordinates and his troops concerning his leadership, and they mutinied and forced Kong Le into exile on 16 October 1966. After his departure, the Neutralist rebels were subsumed into the Royal Lao Army and faded into inconsequentiality.
Overview and background
Beginning on 23 December 1950, the United States began military aid to the French administration of the Kingdom of Laos as they fought the First Indochina War. U.S. support would increase to the point of underwriting the Lao budget in its entirety. The rationale behind the support was that it was in American interests to combat the communist insurrectionists in Laos as part of the Cold War. Banned by treaty from stationing an overt Military Assistance Advisory Group in Laos, in December 1955, the U.S. instead chose to establish a "civilian" military aid office within the U.S. embassy in Vientiane. The Programs Evaluation Office was charged with channeling war material to the Lao military.Castle, pp. 9–20.
Of the 68 ethnic minorities that comprised the Lao population, the Lao Loum numerically predominated. They dwelt along the Mekong River Valley along the southern border with the Kingdom of Thailand. The King of Laos and most of the ruling class of Laos were Lao Loum. About 20 of these influential lowland Lao families actually controlled Laos.Castle, pp. 5, 20, 141. With the PEO confined to office work, distribution of military goods took place without PEO followup. From 1955 to 1958, the U.S. would sink $202 million into Laos. This aid led to corruption as it was siphoned off by recipients.Anthony, Sexton, pp. 15, 19–20, 28–29.
As Bernard Fall noted from personal observation, the support of the Lao military was for political reasons and not necessarily for self-defense. The Lao soldiers were among the most highly paid in the world. They cost an average of about $1,000 apiece annually; the global average for a soldier was $848 per capita. Many Lao soldiers were fictional recruits, with their pay being siphoned off by Lao officers. Junior Lao officers afforded expensive villas. More disheartening to PEO, there were thievish Americans in the program.Fall, pp. 163–166.
The basic Laotian economy was so underdeveloped that an artificial economy developed. U.S. dollars funded imports that were sold commercially on the open market. The resultant Lao kips went to underwrite the Lao military. These payments were also subsequently turned over into foreign goods. With no controls on the imports, the quality and utility of provisions were often ignored.
Fall summarized the result by quoting a pro-American Lao officer, Sisouk na Champassak: "Black market deals in American aid dollars reached such proportions that the Pathet Lao needed no propaganda to turn the rural people against the townspeople."Fall, p. 165.
The 1960 Laotian coups brought about a pivotal change of government in the Kingdom of Laos. General Phoumi Nosavan established himself as the strongman running Laos in a bloodless coup on 25 December 1959. He would be himself overthrown on 10 August 1960 by the young paratrooper captain who had backed him in the 1959 coup. When Captain Kong Le impressed the American officials underwriting Laos as a potential communist, they backed Phoumi's return to power in November and December 1960. In turn, the USSR backed Kong Le as their proxy in this cold war standoff. After the Battle of Vientiane ended in his defeat, Kong Le withdrew his paratroopers northward to the strategic Plain of Jars on 16 December 1960,Conboy, Morrison, pp. 31–42. there to form Neutralist Armed Forces (FAN).Library of Congress country study of Laos: Royal Lao Army Retrieved 20 February 2015.
Formation and role of the Neutralist Armed Forces
Kong Le had led his 2nd Parachute Battalion into the 10 August 1960 coup. The battalion suffered only 17 killed in the Battle of Vientiane, before being forced from the city by Phoumi's troops. As the defeated paratroopers withdrew northward to the Plain of Jars on 16 December, about 400 neutralist adherents joined the column as new recruits, upping the column's strength to about 1,200 men.Library of Congress country study of Laos: Battle of Vientiane Retrieved 5 February 2015. The revolutionists' withdrawal along Route 13 distracted attention from the nascent Operation Momentum starting up at nearby Ban Padong.Ahern, p. 34. In early 1961, French intelligence sources reported at a SEATO meeting in Bangkok that 20 Soviet aircraft were ferrying military aid to the coup force,Ahern, pp. 27–28. which had burgeoned to 4,000 men.Ahern, p. 74. At about this time, the Joint Chiefs of Staff estimated that unilateral intervention in Laos by the United States would require 60,000 American troops; the intervention option was then rejected.Ahern, p. 53. On 3 April 1961, FAN paratroopers were dropped by Soviet aircraft west of Vang Vieng. Coordinating their action with the Pathet Lao, they captured the town from the Royalists on Route 13 on 23 April.Anthony, Sexton, p. 48. Though the way lay open before them, the victorious Neutralists did not extend their offensive toward Vientiane.Anthony, Sexton, p. 51.
Vang Pao's Hmong irregulars—raised through Operation Momentum—were then equipped with 82mm mortars on 1 March 1961. These weapons, with a range greater than 7,000 meters, when emplaced on high points surrounding the Plain of Jars could hit Kong Le's forces almost anywhere on the Plain. Meanwhile, the Royal Lao Army, which was expected to defeat the Neutralists "...distinguish(ed) itself primarily by its lassitude and incompetence."Ahern, p. 52.
At this point, both Phoumi and Kong Le reorganized their forces. However, while both sides were reorganizing, the communists launched attacks. On 12 April, Kong Le met with Vang Pao and agreed on cooperation between their forces.Ahern, p. 152. The PAVN 19th Border Defense Battalion overran Khamkeut and Lak Sao, nearly severing the lower panhandle from northern Laos by the second week in April 1961. In a second offensive, the PAVN stalemated four of Phoumi's new regiments that were strung out along Route 13 between Luang Prabang and Vientiane. It was during this action that U.S. Special Forces Team Moon was ambushed, and the first Americans killed in action. As a result of PAVN success in these actions, PEO head General Andrew J. Boyle remarked that the communists were poised to take any of the Lao towns along the Mekong River.Conboy, Morrison, pp. 52–54.
By 5 May 1961, the term Forces Armées Neutralistes came into use to describe Kong Le's military.Library of Congress country study of Laos: Expansion of Pathet Lao Influence Retrieved 5 February 2015. Kong Le recruited enough new soldiers to split BP 2 into six companies. Although designated as airborne units, only the veteran cadre had parachute training. By October 1961, FAN was in conflict with the Royalist guerrillas surrounding the Plain; the effect was to push FAN into cooperation with the communists.Ahern, pp. 111–113. After a 23 December 1961 battle between FAN and the guerrillas, a FAN defector and a Vietnamese prisoner verified Vietnamese communist backing for FAN.Ahern, p. 115.
By the time the International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos agreed upon on 23 July 1962 came into effect, FAN had ramped up to a strength of 8,000 troops. Three battalions under Brigadier General Khoumane Boupha were occupying far northern Phongsaly Province. There were two new infantry battalions outposted in Vang Vieng on Route 13, threatening Vientiane from the north. Three battalions moved southward into the panhandle, to occupy Tchepone, Nhommarath, and Mahaxay. FAN's center of gravity on the Plain of Jars was four paratroop battalions and two artillery battalions. The new artillery battalions were not the only heavy weapons units added to FAN. There was a company of PT-76 amphibious tanks formed from the 45 tanks given to FAN by the PAVN. There was also a small air arm, consisting of two C-47s and two Beavers flown north from Vientiane during the retreat to the Plain.Conboy, Morrison, pp. 95–98.
Dissension began between FAN and the communists. PAVN insisted on supplying military trainers to FAN, despite Kong Le's preference for cadre from the French military mission. After FAN tank crews were trained by PAVN, the Neutralists had to seize the PT-76 tanks they had been promised; the PAVN response was to withhold ammunition from FAN. In general, the Pathet Lao's help to FAN was sporadic; the Lao communists were an untrustworthy conduit of Soviet aid. On 27 September, U.S. ambassador Leonard Unger visited Kong Le on the Plain of Jars. They agreed on an American airdrop of blankets and food. On 22 November, as an Air America C-123 prepared to land the aid, pro-communist Neutralist antiaircraft gunners of the Phetsarath Artillery Battalion shot it down, killing the pilots.
On 4 December 1962, the FAN air arm was augmented by three Li-2s given by the USSR, as the Russians ended their logistic support.Castle, p. 56, Also in December, a contingent of FAN pilot candidates went to the Soviet Union for aviation training. To command this growing army, Kong Le promoted himself to Major General. He could muster 4,500 Neutralist soldiers at this time.Anthony, Sexton, p. 79. By contrast, at this time, the PAVN had 9,000 troops stationed in Laos; the Pathet Lao could muster about 19,500 men. The opposing Royal Lao Army reportedly mustered a strength of 51,000.