Patriotic Neutralists

The Patriotic Neutralists were an armed political movement of the Laotian Civil War. Founded in April 1963 by a schism from Forces Armee Neutraliste (FAN) when the latter favored alliance with the Royal Lao Army, the Patriotic Neutralists allied themselves with the opposing Communist forces in the war. The most notable military action that involved them was a devastating air raid on 13 October 1969 that killed all its officers except commanding officer Colonel Deuane Sunnalath. Although retaining a nominally separate identity from the Pathet Lao, Patriotic Neutralist leaders Deuane Sunnalath and Khamouane Boupha would succeed to ministerial posts in the communist-dominated Provisional Government of National Union on 9 April 1974.

The Patriotic Neutralists were an indirect result of the 1960 coup d'état led by Kong Le. When the paratrooper captain captured control of the Kingdom of Laos in August 1960, he founded Forces Armee Neutraliste (Neutral Armed Forces) as a non-aligned third side in the Laotian Civil War; the other sides were the Communists and the Royalists. Captain Kong Le would subsequently lose both the Battle of Vientiane and control of Laos in December 1960, and retreat to the Plain of Jars. Once there, he was originally helped by the Pathet Lao communists, but turned away from them toward the Royalists. Dissatisfaction within his ranks would lead to a split in the neutralist movement in April 1963. The new pro-communist faction was the Patriotic Neutralists.

In April 1963, Lieutenant Deuane Sunnalath would lead a defection that established itself as a pro-communist neutralist force, the Patriotic Neutralists, as opposed to the pro-Royalist FAN. He founded the Patriotic Neutralists from units abandoning FAN. Deuan had about 250 troops under his command in Military Region 2; they allied themselves with General Khamouane Boupha's force of 1,500 in far northern Phongsali Province. The Phetsarath Artillery Battalion, which had downed an Air America resupply plane, was one of the units that joined Deuane. Battalion Parachutistes 1 (Battalion of Parachutists 1) was another, along with all of Khamouane's Neutralist Forces from Military Region 1. In the southern panhandle, the majority of Battalion Infanterie 4 (Battalion of Infantry 4) near Tchepone defected to the new movement, which allied itself with the Pathet Lao communists. On 6 April 1963, the Pathet Lao launched several simultaneous surprise attacks on the Neutralists on the Plain of Jars. On 10 April 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy approved U.S. military aid supply drops to bolster FAN. Although FAN was driven from its positions, it evacuated most of its vehicles and crew-served weapons to Muong Phanh.

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