Battle of Ban Houei Sane

The Battle of Ban Houei Sane was a battle of the Vietnam War that began on the night of 23 January 1968, when the 24th Regiment of the North Vietnamese 304th Division overran the small Laotian Army outpost at Ban Houei Sane. The fighting at Ban Houei Sane was one in a series of battles fought between Communist and Allied forces during the Tet Offensive. The small outpost, defended by the personnel of the 33rd Elephant Battalion (BV-33), was attacked and overwhelmed by the vastly superior North Vietnamese Army and their PT-76 light tanks. The failure of the 33rd Elephant Battalion to defend their outpost at Ban Houei Sane would have negative consequences only a few weeks later, when the North Vietnamese would strike again at Lang Vei.