Battle for Skyline Ridge
The CIA Secret War in Laos
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Battle for Skyline Ridge
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Narrated by:
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Joe Barrett
About this listen
In late 1971, the People's Army of Vietnam launched Campaign "Z" into northern Laos, escalating the war in Laos with the aim of defeating the last Royal Lao Army troops. The NVA troops numbered 27,000 and brought with them 130mm field guns and T-34 tanks, while the North Vietnamese air force launched MiG-21s into Lao air space. General Giap's specific orders to this task force were to kill the CIA army under command of the Hmong war lord Vang Pao and occupy its field headquarters in the Long Tieng valley of northeast Laos.
They faced the rag-tag army of Vang Pao, fewer than 6,000 strong and mostly Thai irregulars, recruited by the Thai army to fight for the CIA in Laos. Despite the odds being overwhelmingly in the NVA's favor, the battle did not go to plan. It raged for more than 100 days, the longest in the Vietnam War, and it all came down to Skyline Ridge. As at Dien Bien Phu, whoever won Skyline, won Laos. Against all odds, the NVA lost, their 27,000-man invasion force decimated.
James E. Parker, Jr., served in Laos. Over many years he pieced together his own knowledge with CIA files and North Vietnamese after-action reports in order to tell the full story of the battle of Skyline Ridge.
©2019 Morgen Witzel and Marilyn Livingstone (P)2019 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Battle for Skyline Ridge
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Toby Anderson
- 10-08-24
Worth the time
This is pretty similar to most of the histories of CIA involvement in Laos. Not much new in the general telling of the story, but the new first-person accounts from fresh sources add a lot of value, in particular those from the NVA perspective. Letting the recording down a little is the narrator. He sounds rather more suited to “come on, kids. Gather round the fire and I’ll tell you a story.” I’m sorry but you’d expect a voice with a bit more vigour telling this kind of a story.
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