Battle of Muong Khoua

The three French positions at Muong Khoua. Alpha fell first, followed by the Mousetrap, while Pi held until midday.

Date	April 13 – May 18, 1953
Location	21°04′41″N 102°30′18″E / 21.078°N 102.505°E / 21.078; 102.505Coordinates: 21°04′41″N 102°30′18″E / 21.078°N 102.505°E / 21.078; 102.505 Muong Khoua, French Indochina (Phongsaly Province, Laos)
Result	Việt Minh victory

Belligerents

Việt Minh

French Union

Commanders and leaders

Captain Teullier

Strength

300 to 315

Casualties and losses

One battalion and
supporting mortar detachment.

~310, four known survivors.

Sources give the strength of the French force as 300 Laotians, and a “dozen” French. Four are known to have made it to a second French outpost.

French Union

The Battle of Muong Khoua took place between April 13 and May 18, 1953, in northern Laos during the French Indochina War. A garrison of a dozen French and 300 Laotian troops occupied a fortified outpost in the hills above the village of Muong Khoua, across the border from Điện Biên Phủ. Muong Khoua was among the last French outposts in northern Laos following the decision of the French High Command to string several isolated garrisons through the region in order to buy time to fortify the major Laotian cities against Việt Minh attack.

Many of these garrisons were given orders by radio to dig in and fight the approaching Việt Minh forces. Following the fall of a satellite strong point at Sop-Nao, the troops at Muong Khoua under Captain Teullier resisted a Việt Minh siege force for thirty-six days while supported by air-dropped supplies and air strikes. The small French force repelled several direct attacks and endured a series of artillery bombardments. Two of the three strong points of the outpost eventually fell in the early morning of May 18, and by midday the French force lay defeated.

Four soldiers—two French and two Laotian—reached another French position 50 miles (80 km) away after six days of travel through the jungle, however no one else escaped. The resistance of the French garrison became a popular rallying cry for French troops in Indochina as well serving as a precursor to French and Việt Minh strategies at the decisive Battle of Điện Biên Phủ the following year.

In early 1953, the Việt Minh under Võ Nguyên Giáp commenced an invasion of Laos to exert additional pressure on Paris and on the French forces stationed in Indochina. In the area of Muong Khoua were the Việt Minh 308th, 312th and 316th divisions, whose long supply lines were maintained by a veritable army of 200,000 porters. The French command—headed then by Raoul Salan—ordered the establishment of a series of French outposts in northern Laos to resist the Việt Minh invading forces for as long as possible to buy time for the fortification of Luang Prabang and Vientiane, the capital cities of Laos. The King of Laos, Sisavang Vong, remained in Luang Prabang, which added greater impetus to French efforts. The terrain of northern Laos, and the local climate, isolated many of the outposts with a night-time fog known as crachin, thick jungle, a lack of roads, and steep terrain. Each outpost was given a certain number of days to withstand Việt Minh forces, including Muong Khoua which was issued orders on April 13 to hold for fourteen days—until April 27.

...
Wikipedia