Royal Lao Army

Royal Lao Army Armée royale du Laos
Royal Lao Army Service Banner (1952-1975)
Active	1 July 1949 – 2 December 1975
Country	Kingdom of Laos
Allegiance	Royal Lao Government
Branch	Ground forces
Size	35,000 (at height)
Garrison/HQ	Vientiane
Nickname(s)	RLA (ARL in French)
Anniversaries	1 July
Engagements	First Indochina War Laotian Civil War Vietnam War
Commanders
Notable commanders	Phoumi Nosavan Ouane Rattikone Kouprasith Abhay

The Royal Lao Army (French: Armée royale du Laos – ARL), also designated by its Americanized title RLA, was the ground forces branch of the Royal Lao Armed Forces (FAR), the official military of the Kingdom of Laos during the North Vietnamese invasion of Laos and the Laotian Civil War between 1960 and 1975.

See also Battle of Luang Namtha, Battle of Lak Sao

The ARL traced back its origins to World War II, when the first entirely Laotian military unit, the 1st Laotian Rifle Battalion (French: 1ér Bataillon de Chasseurs Laotiens – BCL), was raised early in 1941 by the Vichy French colonial authorities. Intended to be used on internal security operations to bolster the local colonial constabulary force, the "Indigenous Guard" (French: Garde Indigène), the 1er BCL did not see much action until after March 9, 1945, when the Japanese Imperial Army forcibly seized control of French Indochina from France, including Laos. The battalion then retreated into the mountains, where they linked with the Laotian irregular guerrilla fighters (French: Maquis) operating there. These guerrillas were supplied, trained, and led by teams of Free French agents who had been trained in special jungle warfare by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) in India and were subsequently parachuted into Indochina in December 1944 with the aim of creating a local anti-Japanese resistance network. Under the command of their Free French cadres, the battalion's Laotian soldiers engaged in guerrilla actions alongside the irregular "Maquisards" against the Japanese occupation forces in Laos until Japan's surrender on August 15, 1945. In November of that same year, the various Laotian guerrilla groups were consolidated into four regular light infantry battalions and, together with the 1er BCL, integrated into the newly founded French Union Army.