Battle of Lang Vei - Aftermath

Aftermath

The fight for Lang Vei, though short in duration, was a costly endeavor for both sides. In their efforts to hold the camp, the combined Montagnard and South Vietnamese CIDG soldiers suffered 309 killed, 64 wounded, and 122 captured. Of the original 24 Americans who took part in the battle, seven were killed in action, 11 sustained injuries, and three were captured. Nearly all of the camp’s weaponry and equipment were either destroyed or captured by enemy forces. In contrast, for North Vietnam, the battle for Lang Vei marked the first successful use of armor in the war. In terms of human casualties, the North Vietnamese claimed to have lost 90 soldiers killed in action, and 220 wounded. On the evening of February 7, though the fight was over for the military forces, the ordeal continued for the civilians who were caught in the fighting. An estimated 6,000 survivors from the old Lang Vei Camp that included South Vietnamese soldiers and their families, Montagnard tribesmen and the Laotians, followed the Americans and descended on the Khe Sanh Combat Base.

However, when they reached the American compound, Lownds refused to give them entry because he feared that North Vietnamese soldiers may have mingled with the crowd. Instead, Lownds ordered his soldiers to herd the civilians into bomb craters, disarmed the local soldiers, and kept them under guard even though North Vietnamese artillery shells continued to rain down on the base. No food or medical aid was given to the civilians as they were kept outside the wires of the American compound. Frustrated by the lack of support and poor treatment by the Americans, Phetsampou complained that his people were being treated more like an enemy. On 10 February, Laotian civilian refugees started walking back to Laos along Highway 9, because they feared for their lives and preferred to die in their own country. On February 15, through arrangements made by the Laotian embassy in Saigon, the Laotian commander and his soldiers were flown back to their country on a Royal Laotian Air Force C-47 transport aircraft.