Brigadier general Thao Ty Lithilusa (? – May 1975), best known as Thao Ty (not to be confused with

Hmong Hmong may refer to: * Hmong people, an ethnic group living mainly in Southwest China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand * Hmong cuisine * Hmong customs and culture ** Hmong music ** Hmong textile art * Hmong language, a continuum of closely related ...

Colonel Thao Pao Ly, Chief-of-Staff of Military Region 3), was a Laotian

Paratrooper A paratrooper or military parachutist is a soldier trained to conduct military operations by parachuting directly into an area of operations, usually as part of a large airborne forces unit. Traditionally paratroopers fight only as light infa ...

officer and commander of the

Airborne Forces Airborne forces are ground combat units carried by aircraft and airdropped into battle zones, typically by parachute drop. Parachute-qualified infantry and support personnel serving in airborne units are also known as paratroopers. The main ...

and the

Special Forces Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

of the

Royal Lao Army The Royal Lao Army (; – ARL), also designated by its anglicized title RLA, was the land component of the Royal Lao Armed Forces (FAR), the official military of the Kingdom of Laos during the North Vietnamese invasion of Laos and the Laotian C ...

( French: ''Armée Royale du Laos'' – ARL), the land component of the Royal Lao Armed Forces ( French: ''Forces Armées du Royaume'' – FAR), the official military of the

Kingdom of Laos The Kingdom of Laos was the form of government in Laos from 1947 to 1975. Located in Southeast Asia at the heart of the Indochinese Peninsula, it was bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, North Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the sou ...

during the 1960s and 1970s.

Career

Lt. Col. Thao Ty rose to prominence in 1963 when he replaced Brigadier general Siho Lamphouthacoul as the commander of 1st Special Mobile Group ( French: ''Groupement Mobile Speciale 1'' – GMS 1), the para-commando regiment of the Directorate of National Coordination ( French: ''Direction de Coordination Nationale'' – DCN) Security Agency. After the forcible DNC's disbandment in February 1965, Thao Ty was transferred to the

(RLA) and given command of the RLA's second airborne regiment, Mobile Group 21 ( French: ''Groupement Mobile 21 Aeroportée'' – GM 21). In 1970, he transferred again to the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

-run guerrilla programme in

Savannakhet Savannakhet (, ; ), officially named Kaysone Phomvihane (); since 2005 and previously known as ''Khanthaboury'' (; ), is a city in western Laos. It is the capital of Savannakhet Province. With a population of 125,760 (2018), it is the second-l ...

and was posted in charge of all irregular Special Guerrilla Units (SGU) forces in the Military Region 3 (MR 3). During the following year he was promoted to Brigadier general after his participation in retaking the town of Paksong in December 1972. He then transferred back to the regular Army in order to head the newly formed 2nd Strike Division ( French: ''2éme Division d'Intervention'') and in that capacity, he created a new elite unit, the Special Commando Company ( French: ''Compagnie Commando Speciale'' – CCS) or SPECOM for short.

Death

In May 1975 Brig. Gen. Thao Ty was quickly arrested and executed by the

Pathet Lao The Pathet Lao (), officially the Lao People's Liberation Army, was a communist political movement and political organization, organization in Laos, formed in the mid-20th century. The group ultimately gained control over the entire country of ...

.Conboy and McCouaig, ''The War in Laos 1960-75'' (1989), p. 46.

Notes

References

*Kenneth Conboy and Don Greer, ''War in Laos 1954–1975'', Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1994. *Kenneth Conboy and Simon McCouaig, ''The War in Laos 1960-75'', Men-at-arms series 217, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1989. *Kenneth Conboy and Simon McCouaig, ''South-East Asian Special Forces'', Elite series 33, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1991. *Ken Conboy, ''The Erawan War – Volume 1: The CIA Paramilitary Campaign in Laos, 1961-1969'', Asia@War Volume 24, Helion & Company Limited, Warwick UK 2021. *Ken Conboy, ''The Erawan War – Volume 2: The CIA Paramilitary Campaign in Laos, 1969-1974'', Asia@War Volume 28, Helion & Company Limited, Warwick UK 2022a. *Ken Conboy, ''The Erawan War – Volume 3: The Royal Lao Armed Forces 1961-1974'', Asia@War Volume 37, Helion & Company Limited, Warwick UK 2022b. Year of birth missing Laotian military leaders Year of death missing Laotian anti-communists Executed military leaders People of the Laotian Civil War {{laos-mil-bio-stub

Career

Death

See also

Notes

References