Operation Lam Son 719 - Aftermath

Aftermath

During a 7 April televised speech, President Nixon claimed that "Tonight I can report that Vietnamization has succeeded." At Dong Ha, South Vietnam, President Thieu addressed the survivors of the incursion and claimed that the operation in Laos was "the biggest victory ever." Although Lam Son 719 had set back North Vietnamese logistical operations in southeastern Laos, truck traffic on the trail system increased immediately after the conclusion of the operation. The American command's claims of success were more limited in scope: MACV claimed that 88 North Vietnamese tanks had been destroyed during the operation, 59 by tactical air power. It also fully understood that the operation had exposed grave deficiencies in South Vietnamese "planning, organization, leadership, motivation, and operational expertise."

For the North Vietnamese, the Route 9 – Southern Laos Victory, was viewed as a complete success. The military expansion of the Ho Chi Minh Trail to the west which had begun in 1970 at the expense of Laotian forces, was quickly accelerated. Laotian troops were soon withdrawing toward the Mekong River and a logistical artery 60 miles in width was soon expanded to 90 miles. Another result of the operation was a firm decision by the Politburo of the Lao Dong Party to launch a major conventional invasion of South Vietnam in early 1972, paving the way for the Nguyễn Huệ Offensive, known in the west as the Easter Offensive.

During Lam Son 719, the U.S. planners had believed that any North Vietnamese forces that opposed the incursion would be caught in the open and decimated by the application of American aerial might, either in the form of tactical airstrikes or airmobility, which would provide ARVN troops with superior battlefield maneuvering capability. Firepower, as it turned out, was decisive, but "it went in favor of the enemy...Airpower played an important, but not decisive role, in that it prevented a defeat from becoming a disaster that might have been so complete as to encourage the North Vietnamese army to keep moving right into Quang Tri Province."

The number of helicopters destroyed or damaged during the operation shocked the proponents of U.S. Army aviation and prompted a reevaluation of basic airmobile doctrine. The 101st Airborne Division alone, for example, had 84 of its aircraft destroyed and another 430 damaged. Combined U.S./ARVN helicopter losses totaled 168 destroyed and 618 damaged. During Lam Son 719 American helicopters had flown more than 160,000 sorties and 19 U.S. Army aviators had been killed, 59 were wounded, and 11 were missing at its conclusion. South Vietnamese helicopters had flown an additional 5,500 missions. U.S. Air Force tactical aircraft had flown more than 8,000 sorties during the incursion and had dropped 20,000 tons of bombs and napalm. B-52 bombers had flown another 1,358 sorties and dropped 32,000 tons of ordnance. Seven U.S. fixed-wing aircraft were shot down over southern Laos: six from the Air Force (two dead/two missing) and one from the Navy (one aviator killed).