Home»History and Legacy»Timeline»1969-1971: Vietnamization»Operation LAM SON 719

Operation LAM SON 719

February 8, 1971

1971-02-08_LamSon719_111_C_Box146_0001-B
1971-02-08_LamSon719_111_C_Box146_0001-B
Members of the South Vietnamese Army 1st Infantry Division wait for U.S. Army UH-1 helicopters at Khe Sanh, March 5, 1971. (National Archives)

Approximately 17,000 South Vietnamese soldiers and marines launch Operation LAM SON 719, along Highway 9 into Laos. Their objective is to interdict enemy supply efforts on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, west of Khe Sanh. Although the South Vietnamese are supported by U.S. Army helicopters and U.S. Air Force aircraft, American ground forces are not permitted to enter Laos. The operation is an important test of the progress of Vietnamization.

A much larger North Vietnamese force stalls and then reverses the assault, and the South Vietnamese suffer high casualties. LAM SON 719 ends on March 24.1

Spencer C. Tucker, ed., The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History (2nd edition; Santa Barbara, A: ABC-CLIO, 2011), 617–19; Graham A. Cosmas, MACV: The Joint Command in the Years of Withdrawal, 1968–1973, United States Army in Vietnam (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 2006), 326–38 (for “17,000” see p. 335); William M. Hammond, Public Affairs: The Military and the Media, 1968–1973, United States Army in Vietnam (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 1996), 432.