A brief Communist Chronology, Villages, Roads & Battles in North Thailand

[DavidFL]

In the early fifties there was no government presence in the rugged forests which form Thailand's northern border with Laos and Burma.
The hill tribe people were ignored & left alone by the governments of the day to roam back and forth at will from Yunnan to Burma to Laos to Thailand.
Left alone & ignored by the governments of the day the people of the mountain areas were neglected, vulnerable, & so open to infiltration from communists who assisted them with health care & farming, and so gained their confidence.

The first villagers were Hmong tribesmen recruited from the Chiang Rai-Nan-Phetchabun area between I957 and I959 to serve with the Pathet Lao in Laos.

In 1962 the CPT Central Committee established four regional branches, for the North, the Northeast, the Central region, and the South.

In 1965 @ Mae Sot, Hmong were recruited & sent for training in Vietnam.

In 1965 @ Thung Chang in Nan, Hmong communists from Xayaboury in Laos started recruiting & propaganda training.

In 1965 @ Pua weapons training was being conducted.

In 1966 @ Tab Tao (R1155) communists began propaganda training.

Tap Tao Sub District Administration Organization · Q8MM+MR6, Tap Tao, Thoeng District, Chiang Rai 57160, Thailand

âââââ · City Hall

goo.gl

Tab Tao is 1 kms south of the Lao U Turn off

The Lao U Road - Sensational, Excitement Plus.

One of the joys of Chiang Khong is riding the Lao Border & roads R1155 & R1093, with the magnificent roads of Pha Tang Phu Chi Fah Singapore Road Huai Laeng The Big Dipper and then there's the little known Lao U Road....but where is Lao U.... 80 kms down R1155 from Chiang Khong is the small...

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In February 1967 @ Huai Poo Lai near Thung Chang, there was a small battle between police & some infiltrators.

On 8 May I967 @ Huai Chomphu, near Thoeng, officials engaged in a battle with Hmong villagers, resulting in 1 government force death, and the torching of the village as retribution.

The battle lines were drawn.

In October 1967 @ Doi Pa San Luang in Nan there was a clash with casualties on the Thai side.

24 December I967 @ Mae Lamao, near Mae Sot, 3 BPP soldiers were killed in a Hmong ambush.

A work in progress much more coming.

 

[DavidFL]

Napalm
The regular Thai army patrolling the border were not experienced in small-unit jungle operations, and had no hill-tribe language capability.
The result was they suffered even more casualties - principally from sniping and booby traps. They retaliated with the use of napalm, burning entire villages that they thought might be harbouring enemy soldiers!
Several incidents of this indiscriminate bombing and napalming are described in a series of articles in the Far Eastern Economic Review issues of 7 March, I I April and 25 April I968. The bombing of villages was reported frequently in the Bangkok papers until news of operations in the North was banned in late I969.

Phu Langkha
In the 60s-70s all this area was a communist sympathetic area & inhabited by hill tribes - the Yao & the Hmong - growing opium - what you had to do to survive & make some money, because the government wasn't that interested in the hill folks out there.
A few anthropologists though were researching the villagers & trying to assist with agriculture.
Some of them spent time with the villagers & got to know them reasonably well I guess.
One of them was in Phu Langkha 1968-69.
The Yao village of Phu Langkha had already been there for 50 years in 68-69, but in Feb 68 the Thai military government decided it was time to have a clean out & rid the area of the opium growers & their crops.

The village of Phu Langkha was bombed & everyone was evacuated. The army then came in &

"set fire to dwellings and ransacked outhouses (stables, granaries, pig pens etc) while other units manually planted mines in the vicinity of those constructions and in all swiddens at or above the minimum altitude (1000 metres) required by the poppy crop. Any likelihood of even a temporary return by the Yao fugitives appeared to have been totally eliminated. Poppy growing in the area had been permanently terminated by denying the crop the human labour essential for its cultivation."

Phu Langkka is nearby Doi Phachi Wildlife Sanctuary.

After the CPT surrendered, many were evicted, throughout the 1980s possibly, and at least as late as 1990 (by essentially the same outfits as had invited them earlier).
Near Phulangka, the Phachangnoi Wildlife Sanctuary was established to take land away from possible CPT use. There was no large scale logging, but the WS Director had a road built into the forest for the benefit of his “friends” for at least selective cutting of choice trees(there was also sporadic hunting by WS staff). Local farmers state that the forest was in much better shape prior to the WS being established. I find it plausible that napalm accounts for the lack of regrowth in that area of Phayao (formerly part of Ch.Rai), but don’t know how one would find out.

Source: New Mandala

Well worth reading: The violent suppression of opium cultivation - New Mandala

More to come.

 

[Guzzibs]

Good stuff look forward to the next chapter.

 

[DavidFL]

Doi Phachi / Doi Pha Chang Wildlife Sanctuary - an ex communist base

Communist Village & Natural Wonders Of Phayao...

..... plus a pretty tough dirt ride over the mountains. But it started with a search for a "Hanging Rock" at Bo Sipsong. North of Phayao is a ridge running roughly north-south. Access from the west is from a village road, east of highway 1. A brand new tarmac road in. Then came to a...

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There are graves & memorials to communist fallen fighters near Ban Santisuk.

 

[DavidFL]

Yang Hom - Huai Chomphu

On 8 May I967 @ Huai Chomphu, near Thoeng, officials engaged in a battle with Hmong villagers, resulting in 1 government force death, and the torching of the village as retribution. The town on the highway R1020, is Yang Hom , where the Khun Tan hospital is.

On Google maps this area

Yang Hom Sub District Administration Organization · W8C4+X6V, Yang Hom, Khun Tan District, Chiang Rai 57340, Thailand

âââââ · Government

goo.gl

The Ban Chomphu School is here

Ban Chomphu School · W8F4+WPP, Yang Hom, Khun Tan District, Chiang Rai 57340, Thailand

âââââ · Education

goo.gl

Tat Mok Waterfall is here, on the Huai Chomphu

Tat Mok Water Fall · Asian Highway 3 , Yang Hom , 57340 Khun Tan , Chiang Rai, 57340, Thailand

âââââ · Tourist attraction

goo.gl

So we could assume all the action place, further east up the mountain somewhere?

Of note is that this probable location is further north along the ridge line from Phaya Phipak.

A report on the action of the day goes like this.

Several foreigners closely associated with the government effort in the North independently reported that the burning of Huai Chom Poo grew out of a series of extortion attempts by local government officials in Thoeng district.

According to their swidden agricultural practice the Hmong of Huai Chom Poo began, probably in February I967, to fell trees in the vicinity of their village.

After a period of drying, the trees and brush were burned, and the resulting smoke apparently attracted the attention of local Thai officials. One of them arrived to demand payment for not reporting the burning to higher authorities, and as was customary was paid off by the Hmong. Later a second official arrived independently of the first, the foreign sources reported, and he too was paid off. Word then finally reached the Provincial Police office in Thoeng district, and a delegation was sent to extract yet a third payment (though without knowing that it was in fact the third).

This move was an ill-advised one, for the patience of the Hmong had worn thin) and the reception was a violent one.

The official police report of the violence at Huai Chom Poo omits mention of any extortion attempts, but it does record that on 8 May I967, a fifty-man group of Thai hiked to Huai Chom Poo, arriving at 2.00 pm.

They found no men, and only a few old women, in the village. The latter said that all the men had gone to the neighbouring village of Pa Daeng, and a Thai officer then told them to instruct their men to come to the village of Yang Hom (near the Thoeng-Chiang Khong road in the valley) to discuss the tree-cutting.

On the way back down to the valley the group was attacked by the Hmong, resulting in the death of one man, the wounding of four others, and the capture of three more.

Early the next day another group of 64 policemen set out from Thoeng, arriving and surrounding Huai Chom Poo at about noon.

The Hmong then opened fire and the fighting went on for the next 2I hours. Finally the Hmong withdrew, allowing the three captured men to escape.

Although the report did not say so directly, it was apparently at this point that the village was burned by the police.

A short time later a third group of police was sent in, who completed the job of destruction by burning the remaining huts, killing the animals, and destroying stored grain.

The Huai Chom Poo area then quieted down, but the police kept numerous patrols in the area.

 

[DavidFL]

Huai Chomphu an another report on that incident.

8 May 1967 that the first fighting between Hmong in the CPT and government forces ensued in northern Thailand. Huai Chomphu Village in Chiang Rai Province was the site of the start of the armed conflict.

Comrade Kham (Jong Teng Sae Vang) was providing basic political training to Hmong villagers at the time, but the CPT was still building its political base and had thus been avoiding direct confrontation with government forces (Interview with Jong Teng Sae Vang 2014).

However, conflict unexpectedly erupted between lowland Thai leaders and Hmong people at Huai Chomphu Village due to lowlander efforts to fine four Hmong families for conducting swidden cultivation in a watershed area above their village.
Crucially, the Border Patrol Police (BPP) became involved in the dispute.

On May 8, numerous BPP came to the village with lowland leaders, but the Hmong in the village hid in the forest when they heard that they were coming.
The BPP started breaking into Hmong houses to look for things to take.
A Hmong woman had forgotten a valuable silver necklace, and she went back to her house in the village to retrieve it.
Some BPP saw her and followed her from the village to where the rest of the Hmong were hiding. When the BPP saw the group, they started shooting at them.
The Hmong shot back with their flint rifles; during the ensuing firefight, one Hmong man was injured and one BPP officer was killed.
The BPP retreated, leaving the lowland village headman and the sub-district chief as hostages. The Hmong stated that they would not release the “hostages” until their valuables were returned.
The next day, however, the BPP came back but this time with much more personnel and firepower.
Just before the arrival of the BPP, the Hmong fled to the forest and abandoned the unharmed hostages.
The BPP were angry and shot their guns randomly in the village, killing domestic animals roaming around.
Then, they burned down all the houses, except for the one where the hostages had been held.
These events forced the Hmong from Huai Chomphu to join the CPT in the forest (Interview with Kamnan Booncheut Wongnaphapaisan (Jouavue Sae Fa) 2014).

Following the outbreak of violence in Huai Chomphu, the Thai military started burning down other Hmong villages, such as nearby Pha Daeng, that they assumed to be under the influence of communist agents.
At first, the BPP sent a helicopter into the village and whisked away the headman without explanation.
Many Hmong assumed that he had been killed, although he was eventually released years later unharmed.
Until then, most people in Pha Daeng had never heard of communism, let alone the CPT, because operatives had not yet arrived in the village.
Once attacked, however, the people had nowhere to turn but the CPT, who encouraged them to fight (Interview with Lo Meng Fa 2016).

Before long, most of the Hmong villages in that part of northern Thailand had been forced into the forest following pre-emptive attacks by the BPP and the Thai regular military.

Source: Baird. The Hmong and the Communist Party of Thailand

 

[DavidFL]

The heavy handed ruthless tactics and the use of napalm only caused more people to defect to the other non-government communist side.

Whole villages in the mountains were forcibly moved into the valleys, and anyone who stayed behind must be a communist.

These actions caused a significant refugee movement from Nan and Chiang Rai back into Laos.
Those of fighting age who remained behind would snipe and lay traps for the Thai army forces.

In June of I968 the Thai army was bogged down. Their tactics had seen extremely heavy casualties but the situation had stabilised in Nan and Chiang Rai; however there were now 4,000 refugees in the two provinces, plus there were more fighting against them in the mountains.

In four months the BPP lost their physical presence in I5 key villages, I2 schools, and three development centres which were all inhabited by hill tribe people friendly to the BPP; plus they had almost 500 government casualties!

The statistics for violent clashes in the North confirmed the escalating crisis:
1967 = I9.
1968 = I08.
1969 = 1I2.

The violence continued in the North, & the Nan-Chiang Rai area was the first to 'go up in flames'.

In 1970 a collation of reports indicated a total of about 2,000 men under arms.
Chiang Rai: 600-650 men
Nan: 700-800
Uttaradit: I50
Mae Sot: 200
The tri-province (Loei / Petchabun / area: 52

8 June I970 @ Chiang Klang, three Thai employed by the United States Information Service were shot on the valley road 3 miles from town.

On I5 July 1970 @ R1155, the first fatal ambush took place on the Thoeng- Chiang Khong road R1155.

On 20 September @ the Governor of Chiang Rai was assassinated near Ban Saew in Chiang Saen district.

Huay Gwan Memorial

This unusual structure is located in the village of Huay Gwan, Bahn Saew district of Chiang Saen. It is on a small flat plain surrounded by hills. Granite facia on the base, the tower is clad with stainless steel sheeting and topped with a brass finial. The plaque on this side tells the...

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[DavidFL]

By the early 1970s, most of the mountainous areas in northern Thailand where the Hmong people resided were CPT “liberated areas” or “strongholds” (than thi man in Thai).
The difficult access to these remote border areas served the Hmong well - they could get easily supplies across the border from China by Laos, plus their strongholds were easy to defend against approaching government forces.

The main Hmong communist stronghold areas were
1. Khet 8 - The Doi Yao Pha Mon area in the mountains of Thoeng and Wiang Kaen Districts.
2. Khet 7 - the Doi Phachi area in Pong District.
3. Khet 9 - a liberated area in Chiang Kham District.
4. Khets 1-6 - in the mountains of eastern Nan.
5. Two “liberated areas” in northern and southern Tak Province, to the west near the border with Burma.
6. Khet 3 - initially included two “liberated areas” (Khet #10 and #15) on the border between Phetchabun, Phitsanulok and Loei Provinces in the Khao Kho-Khao Ya and Phu Hin Rong Kla areas, and later the Phu Mieng and Phu Khat areas.
These areas remained exclusively under communist control between the late 1960s and the early 1980s.

Such was the concern of the government losing control, that in June 1972 they started closing off areas & trying to evacuate sparsely populated areas.
In Chiang Rai province 7 districts were cordoned off - Chiang Khong, Thoeng, Pong, Chiang Kham, and Chiang Muan.
In Phitsanulok - Nakhon Thai and Wang Thong were cordoned off.

more to come when i get time.

 

[Michael P]

Hello David,
I'm very interested in the Hmong people and the insurgency discussed here, particularly in the area along 4018, Phu Long Tang, and onto Phu Chi Fa.
I have visited and chatted (through a local interpreter) with Mr. Smarn (Samran?) but I have some questions regarding the timeline of the actual fighting. Perhaps you can clarify a few points:

1. "On 8 May I967 @ Huai Chomphu, near Thoeng, officials engaged in a battle with Hmong villagers......."
I have no doubt that the shooting started on May 8th, as the story I was told is that they called themselves the 85th Brigade or something like that. However, are you sure that the year was 1967 as opposed to 68 or 69?

2. When did the shooting stop? Surely it was years before Rama IX cast his footprints at Phaya Phiphak in 1982. Mr. Smarn indicated that it would have been when China stopped supporting the various SEA insurgencies, which would have been circa 1976.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Regards,
Michael Pollock

 

[DavidFL]

Hello David,
I'm very interested in the Hmong people and the insurgency discussed here, particularly in the area along 4018, Phu Long Tang, and onto Phu Chi Fa.
I have visited and chatted (through a local interpreter) with Mr. Smarn (Samran?) but I have some questions regarding the timeline of the actual fighting. Perhaps you can clarify a few points:

1. "On 8 May I967 @ Huai Chomphu, near Thoeng, officials engaged in a battle with Hmong villagers......."
I have no doubt that the shooting started on May 8th, as the story I was told is that they called themselves the 85th Brigade or something like that. However, are you sure that the year was 1967 as opposed to 68 or 69?

2. When did the shooting stop? Surely it was years before Rama IX cast his footprints at Phaya Phiphak in 1982. Mr. Smarn indicated that it would have been when China stopped supporting the various SEA insurgencies, which would have been circa 1976.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Regards,
Michael Pollock

Huai Chomphu
"The official police report of the violence at Huai Chom Poo omits mention of any extortion attempts, but it does record that on 8 May I967, a fifty-man group of Thai hiked to Huai Chom Poo, arriving at 2.00 pm."

"8 May 1967 that the first fighting between Hmong in the CPT and government forces ensued in northern Thailand. Huai Chomphu Village in Chiang Rai Province was the site of the start of the armed conflict."

The two sources I found both say 1967.
1. The War in Northern Thailand by Jeffrey Race
2. Baird. The Hmong and the Communist Party of Thailand

Phaya Phipak
It is home to the Hmong community, which began to fight alongside the communist party against the Thai government in 1967.
‘‘We fought for 15 years. Every day there were gunshots and explosions,’’ said a village headman Chaiyuth Anusornsil, who joined the rebels.
The battle ended in 1982 when Their Majesties the King and the Queen, as well as HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn made a royal visit to Phu Long Tang.

R4018 The Phaya Phipak road

The Big Dipper I first went up the Phaya Phipak road in 2004 with Silverhawk The asphalt only went as far as the forestry park on the top of the hill. Here's some pix of the road from 2004. All photos are on the west R1020 side. Huay Xai Mapping We never went any further because we...

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See also

Phu Phayak & The Communist History Of Nan

Tucked away in the far top, north-east corner of Nan is the ex communist stronghold of Phu Phayak. Phu Phayak has featured on GTR here Return to Nan & back to the future? It took me a few goes over several years 2006, 2008, & finally 2010 to find Phu Phayak; after I first heard of it in a...

www.gt-rider.com

 

[DavidFL]

An interesting bit of info. How did the early Hmong fighters arm themselves?

The arms and ammunition story is interesting and disturbing. Although a few are Japanese, Chinese, or French, weapons captured from armed terrorists are usually U. S. manufactured carbines, M-l rifles, M-3 sub-machine guns, 45 calibre pistols and native flintlock.
A few reports indicate mortar training is in process.
A careful report was done in 1965, based on interviews with Thai officers concerned with the Mekong border area.
It produced a collective opinion that in the first six months of 1965 between 2,500 and 3,000 small arms, with as much as 90,000 rounds of ammunition were smuggled illegally into Thailand.
It is generally believed in Thailand that much of this traffic originates with the U. S. supplied Royal Lao troops who conveniently "lose" their weapons to the nearest smuggler.
Officials consulted in Vientiane do not discount a certain traditional and commercial traffic in this direction, but insist that the estimates of leakage are exaggerated and, in any case, cannot be ascribed to the communist insurgency.
Whether traditional, commercial, or political in its organisation, the fact remains that the insurgents are able to satisfy their armament needs without undue difficulty and much more effective counter-measures will be required to alter this.

Source: A Profile Of Communist Insurgency--The Case Of Thailand, by Wilfred D. Koplowitz April 1967

 

[Ian Bungy]

An interesting bit of info. How did the early Hmong fighters arm themselves?

The arms and ammunition story is interesting and disturbing. Although a few are Japanese, Chinese, or French, weapons captured from armed terrorists are usually U. S. manufactured carbines, M-l rifles, M-3 sub-machine guns, 45 calibre pistols and native flintlock.
A few reports indicate mortar training is in process.
A careful report was done in 1965, based on interviews with Thai officers concerned with the Mekong border area.
It produced a collective opinion that in the first six months of 1965 between 2,500 and 3,000 small arms, with as much as 90,000 rounds of ammunition were smuggled illegally into Thailand.
It is generally believed in Thailand that much of this traffic originates with the U. S. supplied Royal Lao troops who conveniently "lose" their weapons to the nearest smuggler.
Officials consulted in Vientiane do not discount a certain traditional and commercial traffic in this direction, but insist that the estimates of leakage are exaggerated and, in any case, cannot be ascribed to the communist insurgency.
Whether traditional, commercial, or political in its organisation, the fact remains that the insurgents are able to satisfy their armament needs without undue difficulty and much more effective counter-measures will be required to alter this.

Source: A Profile Of Communist Insurgency--The Case Of Thailand, by Wilfred D. Koplowitz April 1967

Ha Ha, Follow the Money, Love it!
"U. S. supplied Royal Lao troops who conveniently "lose" their weapons to the nearest smuggler."

 

[Michael P]

"The two sources I found both say 1967.
1. The War in Northern Thailand by Jeffrey Race
2. Baird. The Hmong and the Communist Party of Thailand"

Thanks for the reply.

I'm reading Race at the moment, the same bit that Baird refers to in his work. I wonder if Baird had other sources or is just relying on Race for the year???

Had a chat with another local this morning at the 37th Army Circle Museum, he stated that the shooting started in 1969.........

Will keep digging.........

 

[DavidFL]

Nan Province - Pang Kop - Doi Phukha - A decisive inflammatory attack.

In early 1968, Hmong sources tell of an important event that caused serious a serious escalation of their dissatisfaction & the conflict.

Government soldiers in a military camp executed five Hmong men from Pang Kop Village, in Boklua District, Nan Province, along with one ethnic T’in or H’tin man from another nearby community.

They were apparently killed because the soldiers suspected that they were supporting the CPT, even though they were not. They had only travelled to the military camp to seek assistance from the soldiers to find the lost daughter of the deputy headman of Pang Kop Village.

Another T’in man who was initially arrested with the other T’in man, who was eventually executed, escaped from custody the night before the extrajudicial killings and informed people from a number of other Hmong and T’in villages in northeastern Nan Province that their compatriots were about to be executed. This caused considerable fear, leading many to flee into the forest.

TBC: Ban Pang Kop / Kop is north of Boklua on R1081 I think.

Doi Pang Kop is here

à¸à¸à¸¢à¸à¸²à¸à¸à¸ · Phu Kha, Bo Kluea District, Nan 55120, Thailand

Mountain peak

goo.gl

Source: The Hmong and the Communist Party of Thailand by I Baird.

 

[DavidFL]

"The two sources I found both say 1967.
1. The War in Northern Thailand by Jeffrey Race
2. Baird. The Hmong and the Communist Party of Thailand"

Thanks for the reply.

I'm reading Race at the moment, the same bit that Baird refers to in his work. I wonder if Baird had other sources or is just relying on Race for the year???

Had a chat with another local this morning at the 37th Army Circle Museum, he stated that the shooting started in 1969.........

Will keep digging.........

Hi Michael
Were you able to turn up anymore info?

 

[Michael P]

Hi Michael
Were you able to turn up anymore info?

Hello David,
My apologies for not returning to this thread months ago.

I no longer doubt that the fighting started in 1967.
My main issue was simply a translation error. Although having said that, I did come across a declassified CIA report that suggests the starting year of 1968 but that appears to be incorrect. Not surprising that the US government would get their facts wrong.

As for the second part of my question:
"When did the shooting stop?"
No, I've never come up with an exact (or approximate) date.

" It would have been when China stopped supporting the various SEA insurgencies, which would have been circa 1976.'
That date is wrong and I should have known this based on my other studies of the region.

From the book, "Hmong/ Miao in Asia" edited by Tapp, Michaud, Culas, Lee, pages 82 &83:

" In 1980, Thailand unofficially agreed with China to offer the Khmer Rouge-who, in spite of Beijing's support, were severely pressured by the Vietnamese in Cambodia after the 1979 Vietnamese invasion, the possibility of retreating on Thai soil, where the Vietnamese would not follow them. Consequently, as a gesture of support for its new Thai partner, China then totally cut its aid to the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT), which it had helped for decades. It moreover asked the Communist Party of Thailand to cease all military activities against the Thai state. Thus, Communist guerrilla warfare here was not ended by military means, but was suppressed as a result of an international concurrence of events that rendered it pointless (Dasse' 1993: 95)

"By 1982, Communist guerrilla activity had virtually ceased in northern Thailand."

Attached: A portrait of Samarn Saeli, Phu Long Tang, November 2021

A

 

[DavidFL]

Hello David,
My apologies for not returning to this thread months ago.

I no longer doubt that the fighting started in 1967.
My main issue was simply a translation error. Although having said that, I did come across a declassified CIA report that suggests the starting year of 1968 but that appears to be incorrect. Not surprising that the US government would get their facts wrong.

As for the second part of my question:
"When did the shooting stop?"
No, I've never come up with an exact (or approximate) date.

" It would have been when China stopped supporting the various SEA insurgencies, which would have been circa 1976.'
That date is wrong and I should have known this based on my other studies of the region.

From the book, "Hmong/ Miao in Asia" edited by Tapp, Michaud, Culas, Lee, pages 82 &83:

" In 1980, Thailand unofficially agreed with China to offer the Khmer Rouge-who, in spite of Beijing's support, were severely pressured by the Vietnamese in Cambodia after the 1979 Vietnamese invasion, the possibility of retreating on Thai soil, where the Vietnamese would not follow them. Consequently, as a gesture of support for its new Thai partner, China then totally cut its aid to the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT), which it had helped for decades. It moreover asked the Communist Party of Thailand to cease all military activities against the Thai state. Thus, Communist guerrilla warfare here was not ended by military means, but was suppressed as a result of an international concurrence of events that rendered it pointless (Dasse' 1993: 95)

"By 1982, Communist guerrilla activity had virtually ceased in northern Thailand."

Attached: A portrait of Samarn Saeli, Phu Long Tang, November 2021

AView attachment 146789

Thanks for the reply.

What a star that guy is. Amazing character.
He was one of the originals who walked to Phongsali, to go to school & be educated.

R4018 The Phaya Phipak road

The Big Dipper I first went up the Phaya Phipak road in 2004 with Silverhawk The asphalt only went as far as the forestry park on the top of the hill. Here's some pix of the road from 2004. All photos are on the west R1020 side. Huay Xai Mapping We never went any further because we...

www.gt-rider.com

The village headman, Khun Chalong at Doi Phachi / Santisuk went to school with him @ Phongsali. They walked there together.

Some more info I turned up on the end of the war, & why....... conflict for influence between the Vietnamese & Chinese communists parties.

However, the situation greatly shifted in 1979 as the CPT became embroiled in the ideological and political conflict between the Chinese and the Soviet-aligned Vietnamese and Lao governments, siding with the Chinese.
The Lao government ordered the CPT to remove all its facilities from Lao territory on short notice, and the border was closed to the CPT.
Thus, whereas being adjacent to the border had been a great advantage to the CPT for well over a decade, it suddenly became a potential liability.
In fact, political tensions between the Lao communists and the CPT became so tense that there were concerns that the Pathet Lao might attack CPT bases on the Thai side of the border.
Therefore, some CPT offices were relocated from eastern Nan Province to Khet #7 in Pong District, Phayao Province, located somewhat farther away from the border.

In 1979 and the early 1980s, the CPT suffered a number of additional blows, including China’s decision to shut down the CPT’s clandestine radio station in Kunming, China, and to cease providing material support to the CPT (Marks 1994; Baker 2003).
This decision was made to appease the Thai government, which supported China in transporting arms and other supplies to the Khmer Rouge, who had regrouped along the Thailand-Cambodia border after the Vietnamese had invaded Cambodia and ousted them from power soon after invading at the end of 1978.
In addition, a Thai government decision—first in 1980 and again in 1982—to offer amnesties to all people within the CPT who surrendered to the government, also took a heavy toll on the CPT.
Moreover, even after the Chinese stopped providing support, for ideological reasons the vast majority of the CPT still refused to realign themselves with Laos and Vietnam.
Together, all these circumstances undoubtedly led to increased tensions within the CPT leadership and rank-and-file.
By 1983, most of the CPT in northern Thailand had given up to the government.
The liberated areas in Nan Province, including Khet #6, were dissolved, and Bee Sae Vang, Chue Khai Xiong, and Ko Yang led most of the soldiers and civilian population to surrender.

However, one group of CPT, made up of over fifty soldiers, about seventy families, and approximately five-hundred people decided not to give up.
Although led by Comrade Su, who was Hmong, most members of the group were ethnic Lawa (Lua).
They relocated to a place called Na Mao, on the Thai-Lao border, and initially took refuge on the Lao side of the border.
However, the CPT was still not welcomed by the Pathet Lao, due to their previous support for China, and so they were forced to cross back over
to the Thai side of the border.
They held out in the border area until 1990 when they finally decided to surrender.

 

[Michael P]

"He was one of the originals who walked to Phongsali, to go to school & be educated."

That's a useful bit of intel.

So he did the Communist party training in Phongsali?

I'm also unclear (lost in translation) about his (near) encounter with Uncle Ho? That would have been in Phongsali?

I have a vague plan to return to Phongsali sometime. Will rent a 4x4 truck (same as I do here) and get up to the border area.

Where in Phonsali would these bases have been?

Thanks again for your help.

 

[DavidFL]

Some information supplied by JB, translated from a book "Klan Jaak Khwamsongjam กลั่นจากความทรงจำ" published by Book Republic Chiang Mai.

Prior to the 6th October massacre in 1976 the CPT in the North had 5 primary strongholds.
They were:
Area 8: Doi Yao - Doi Mon,
Area 7: Doi Pha Chi.
Area 4: Phu Phayak.
Area: _ Phu Hin Rong Kla.
Area: _ Tak.

After the massacre in 76 the CPT fanned out & were active in a total of 38 districts.
They were designated as
Area 7/1: Mae Hong Son Province: Mae Sariang District, Mae La Noi District, Khun Yuam District
Area 7/2: Chiang Mai Province: Mae Ai District, Fang, Chai Prakan, Wiang Haeng, Chiang Dao, Phrao, Mae Taeng, Mae Rim, San Sai, Doi Saket, San Kamphaeng, Saraphi, Mueang Mae On, Hang Dong, San Pa Tong, Mae Wang, Chom Thong, Mae Chaem.
Area 7/3: Lamphun Province: Muang District, Ban Thi, Mae Tha, Thung Hua Chang, Li
Area 8/1: Chiang Rai Province These are Phan District, Mae Lao, Mae Suai, Wiang Pa Pao, and Pa Daet.
Area 8/2: Phayao Province: Mae Chai District.

Area __ ??? 6. Lampang Province: Hang Chat District, Serm Ngam District, Ko Kha, Pan City, Chae Hom District

And some more info
Source: Becoming Marxist: Ethnic Hmong in the Communist Party of Thailand Ian G. Baird1

The Hmong were the main group living in the part of Chiang Rai Province adjacent to Xayaboury Province in northern Laos, known by the CPT as Khet 8 (Thoeng and Wiang Kaen districts), and also in the small base area of Khet (Chiang Khong, Chiang Saen and Phan districts).

Further south, in what is now Phayao Province, the Hmong also dominated Khet 7 (Pong District) and Khet 9 (Chiang Kham District).
Phayao was part of Chiang Rai Province until it was later established as a separate province.
Once separated, Khet 8 was in Chiang Rai Province and Khet 7 and 9 were in the CPT’s Phayao Province.

Further south, in Nan Province, there were six strongholds in the mountain range that constituted the border between Laos and Thailand.
The Hmong dominated two of these, Khet 1 in the far north of Thung Chang District and Khet 6 in the far south of Mae Jarim District.
Khet 2, 3, 4 and 5 were geographically in between, and were dominated by ethnic Lua and upland Thai Muang, rather than Hmong.
Khet 1 and 6 were both in Nan Province.
Technically, Khet 9 was in Nan Province, but it was under the management of the CPT in Phayao Province. It was a place for passing between provinces.
Savengsak Suriyaphadoongchai (Ja Fua Sae Xiong, Phu Kong Pheung), Pers. comm., Telephone call to Santisuk Village, Pong District, Thailand, Chiang Rai, Phayao and Nan provinces were the same CPT province until 1973, when they were separated into three provinces.

Lo Meng Sae Fa, Pers. comm., 2021.
There were no Hmong or Lua on the Nan Province party committee. Daeng Noi Sae Lee, Pers. comm., Telephone call to Wiang Kaen District, Thailand, April 2021. However, the Hmong also dominated Khet 10 and 15 in Phitsanulok, Loei and Phetchabun provinces to the south, and the Phu Khat (Khet 30, 561 or no number) stronghold as well. They were also in the three-provinces region.

Finally, the CPT set up another two strongholds in north-western Thailand adjacent to the border with Burma, known as Khet Tai (‘South Zone’) and Khet Neua (‘North Zone’).
Khet Tai was dominated by ethnic Karen people, while Khet Neua was dominated by Hmong, with a smaller number of Karen; both were in Tak Province.
Several Hmong were elevated to become samachik sapha tambon (‘district committee members’). Although districts were not created in all strongholds, they were established in many and were equivalent to ‘amphoe’ in Thai. For example, although there were no tambon in Tak strongholds, Khet 8 had four tambons and there were tambon in Khet 10, 15, 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7.
Walong Sae Lee (older brother of Wa Meng Sae Lee) was the head of the sapha tambon for Khet 15, which was generally responsible for organising the community and maintaining adherence to the rules.

Tambons were only established in places where it was believed the civilian population was ready to govern. In contrast, in Khet 9 and 52, there were just single villages, so tambon were not established in either zone.
Zone party committees generally had seven, nine or 11 members, depending on size.
There were three khet there.
There was initially just one khet in Tak, but later it was expanded to two.
Her Po Sae Xiong (Sahai Prasong), Pers. comm., Nam Juang Village, Chattakarn District, Thailand, July 2017; Sahai Lek and Sahai Narong, Pers. comm., Bangkok, April 2021.

One was centred on Lao Oo Village (Lor Yia Blia Sae Hang was village head), one on Phraya Phiphak Village (Sahai Pracha or Za Jia Sae Lee was head) and one on Saeng Maeng Village (Jooan Tsong Sae Yang was head).
There were nine Hmong villages, and two to three villages per district congress, each of which had five members. There was also a sapha tambon nitibanyat (‘legal district congress’) based in Huai Han village and led by Lo Nhia Por Sae Lee, with Lor Nor Her Sae Yang (Jim Sieu Village) as his deputy. Lo Meng Sae Fa, Pers. comm., April 2021; Mo Daeng (Nor Daeng Sae Lee), Pers. comm., Telephone call to Huai Han Village, Thailand, April 2021.
All three district committee members in Saeng Maeng Village in Khet 8—Jooan Tsong Sae Yang, Blia Yia Sae Hang and Pracha Sae Lee—were Hmong.
The district congress often worked to solve local village problems or would investigate when soldiers were accused of bad behaviour.

In 1971, the Phu Hin Rong Kla stronghold (Khet 15) established three districts within it: Phu Hin Rong Kla (District 1), Phu Khi Thao/Pa Wai (District 2) and Khao Kho/Khao Ya (District 3).
There may have been district congresses in Khet 2 and 3. Sahai Lek and Sahai Narong, Pers. comm. Sapha tambon generally had one representative per village. In individual villages, there were also kammakan moo ban (‘village committees’), which generally had five or seven members.

In Nan Province, for example, there were six kong roi (‘companies’), 301, 302, 303, 304, 306 and 309—one for each zone. Company 244, which was a rapid mobilisation unit, was also located there.
These forces together made up the provincial Kong Thap Rot Ek Prachachon Haeng Prathet Thai (Thai People’s National Army) of the CPT in Nan Province.
The leadership consisted of a political phu kong (‘zone commander’), a military phu kong and a phalithikan or phala (‘logistical leader’). Company 708, which was separate, was especially responsible for protecting the CPT headquarters at Phu Phayak (Khet 4).