Operation White Star
The Operation White Star was a commando operation of the US Army in Laos from 1959 to 1962. The goal was the training of the Laotian army and later members of the indigenous Meo in anti-guerrilla tactics in the fight against the communist Pathet Lao .
The operation
The mission began in July 1959 as "Operation Hotfoot" with the deployment of 107 Special Forces of the 77th Special Forces Group under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Arthur "Bull" Simons . The instructors initially appeared as civilians. In September the training of an initially 1138 Laotian soldiers began. From 1961, when the US began to openly support the Laotian government with military aid, the Special Forces wore uniform and the operation was renamed the White Star . The number of Special Forces rose to 433 in the course of the mission. After Lao neutrality was declared in July 1962, Operation White Star was officially ended. The CIA continued the mission later renamed "Project 404" until 1973.
literature
- Asa Baber: Land of a Million Elephants . Hutchinson Books, London 1971, ISBN 0-09-106940-8 .
- Tom Clancy , John Gresham: Special Forces. The special forces of the US Army (“Special Forces”) Heyne, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-453-86912-5 .
- Kenneth J. Conboy: The War in Laos. 1954-1975 . Squadron Books, Carrollton, Tx. 1994, ISBN 0-89747-315-9 .
- Joe Garner: Code name Copperhead. My true-life exploits as a special forces soldier . Simon & Schuster, New York 1994, ISBN 0-671-86435-1 .
- Richard Sutton: Operation White Star. Was stories . Daring Books, Canton, Ohio 1990, ISBN 0-938-93691-3 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kenn Finlayson: Operation White Star: Prelude to Vietnam. (pdf) In: Special Warfare. John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, June 2002, p. 48 , archived from the original January 31, 2015 ; accessed on January 31, 2015 (English).