Word: prabang
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...campaign. "We have not been surprised," said Navarre. "The situation is just what we expected ..." The Communists had not taken their current major objectives: the rice-rich Red River Delta around Hanoi, and the encircled French strongpoint at Dienbienphu. And their heavily headlined offensive against Luang Prabang, the royal Laotian capital, "may be considered blocked...
...Communist port of Tuyhoa. Among his principal objectives: to recover the headline initiative, revalorize the folks back home and convince the U.S. that his army was worth more aid. Two weeks ago, the Communists moved one division in three lightly equipped columns toward the royal Laotian capital of Luang Prabang (pop. 15,000). Presumably they could not hold the capital long with their extended supply lines. Their objective: to win headlines, increase the war weariness of the French Cabinet and public, and synchronize with the Big Four talks...
...French did not want to lose a capital, however unimportant. They flew in reinforcements, swept the outskirt junglebrush to clear their field of fire, and borrowed the royal elephants to haul wood for their entrenchments. The French believed they could hold Luang Prabang, but the Communists had already loped 100 miles toward the city from their start line-a headline that went round the world. Men died in these skirmishes, but the fact remains that Indo-China is not primarily a real-estate war. So far, Navarre has denied the Communists what they most want-the rice-rich delta around...
...Theories. At this stage of the battle, Ho's military intentions are not clear. From Thakhek, he could move northwest against Luang Prabang, the Laotian royal capital; he could move south towards Savannakhet and its important nearby airfield. He could dig in at Thakhek and wait for the French to send reinforcements from the decisive delta against him. At Thakhek, too, he could pose a threat to neutral but strongly anti-Communist Siam. The Siamese were taking no chances: they declared nine provinces an emergency zone and moved troops and artillery to the Mekong, directly opposite the Communist positions...
...Salan: "My decisions are made within a certain framework established in France before I took command. The framework is secret and personal." Salan described how he had stopped the Communists short of the Mekong River in Laos by creating hedgehog positions in the Plaine des Jarres and at Luang Prabang, reinforcing them by air: "The enemy had 40 divisions: I had twelve. I had to wage a cautious war of maneuver...