Word: prabang
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Soui, an important garrison on the northwestern edge of the strategic Plain of Jars. It straddles vital Route 7, the only good east-west highway in Laos, and controls the gateway to the Upper Mekong as well as access to Route 13, which links the royal capital of Luang Prabang with the administrative capital of Vientiane. Before this year's Communist spring offensive, it was one of three major government outposts in Communist-controlled northeastern Laos. Then, last April, Communist forces began moving on Muong Soui. To relieve the pressure on the garrison, government troops under General Vang...
...Hasty Return. The Muong Soui setback, combined with smaller Communist strikes at other government outposts, caused a crisis in Vientiane, 110 miles to the south. Although neither Vientiane nor Luang Prabang was endangered by the Communist thrust, some right-wing Laotian politicians called for direct U.S. intervention. Souvanna Phouma, vacationing in France, at one point considered flying home but later decided against it-perhaps because a hasty return would have made the situation look even worse. When the U.S. State Department charged that North Viet Nam had "aggressive designs" on Laos, Hanoi immediately countercharged that the U.S. was keeping...
...State Department last week expressed "some serious concern" over this buildup, but the government of Prince Souvanna Phouma has much more reason for concern. It reported that North Vietnamese forces had launched a "general offensive" against several government villages: Ban Nam Bac, north of the royal capital of Luang-prabang, and Lao Ngam and Phalane...
Upriver, in the royal capital of Luang-prabang, Buddhist monks in orange robes gathered in the gold-spired temples to pray for the soul of King Sisavang Vong. who died 18 months ago. Since then, his corpse-preserved in formaldehyde and spices-has been sitting in a huge gilded coffin carved from a single, perfect sandalwood tree, awaiting a propitious time for cremation. Last week the time came. Military planes, which might usefully have airdropped munitions to isolated garrisons, were commandeered to fly in tons of food for expected funeral guests. The King's coffin was placed...
With the northeast securely in Communist hands, two Pathet Lao columns moved on the royal capital of Luang-prabang. routed government forces at Phou Khoun and drove to within 15 miles of the city. In central Laos the town of Kamkeut, which lies astride the strategic road running to Viet Nam, fell to the advancing Reds. Vientiane itself was closely ringed by six Pathet Lao companies which ambushed convoys and sent patrols ranging as far as a U.S. compound barely three miles from the center of the city...