Battle of Muong Khoua 1953
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 13 April 1953 – 18 May 1953 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1953 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | Post-1945 (1946 onwards) | derived from year |
| Location | Laos | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | First Indochina War | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 21.0775, 102.5050 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Muong Khoua took place between April 13 and May 18, 1953, in northern Laos during the First Upper Laos Campaign in the French Indochina War. A garrison of a dozen French and 300 Laotian troops occupied a fortified outpost in the hills above the village of Muong Khoua, across the Vietnamese border from Điện Biên Phủ. Muong Khoua was among the last French outposts in northern Laos following the decision of the French High Command to string isolated garrisons through the region in order to buy time to fortify the major Laotian cities against Việt Minh attack.
Many of these garrisons were given orders by radio to dig in and resist the approaching Việt Minh forces. Following the fall of a satellite strong point at Sop-Nao, the troops at Muong Khoua under Captain Teullier fought off a Việt Minh siege force for thirty-six days while supported by air-dropped supplies and air strikes. The small defending force repelled several direct attacks and endured a series of artillery bombardments. Two of the outpost's three strong points eventually fell in the early morning of May 18, and by midday the French force was defeated.
Four soldiers—two French and two Laotian—reached another French position 50 miles (80 km) away after six days of travel through the jungle; however, no one else escaped.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Muong Khoua (revision 1371477155), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
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- Battle of Nghĩa Lộ (1951) 1951 · 215 km
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Other battles of the First Indochina War
- Battle of Hanoi (1946) 1946
- Battle of Hòa Bình 1951
- Battle of Nghĩa Lộ (1951) 1951
- Battle of Nà Sản 1952
- Battle of Dien Bien Phu 1954
- Battle of Mang Yang Pass 1954
All 7 battles of the First Indochina War →
Browse more: battles in Laos · Asia · Post-1945 battles