Thao Ty

Thao Ty
Allegiance Laos
Service/branch Royal Lao Army
Rank

Brigadier-General Thao Ty (sometimes confused with Colonel Thao Ly of the Royal Lao Air Force) was a Laotian Paratrooper officer and commander of the airborne forces of the Royal Lao Army (French: Armée Royale du Laos – ARL), the ground forces branch of the Royal Lao Armed Forces (French: Forces Armées du Royaume – FAR), the official military of the Kingdom of Laos 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 DNC's disbandement in February 1965, Thao Ty was transferred to the Royal Lao Army (RLA) and given command of the RLA's second airborne regiment, Mobile Group 21 (French: Groupement Mobile 21 Aeroportée – GM 21).[1] In 1970, he transferred again to the CIA-run guerrilla programme in Savannakhet and was posted in charge of all irregular Special Guerrilla Units (SGU) forces in the Military Region 3. During the following year he was promoted to Brigadier-General after its participation in retaking the town of Paksong in December 1972.[2] He then transferred back to the regular Army in order to head its new 2nd Strike Division (French: 2éme Division d’Intervention). In May 1975 Brig. Gen. Thao Ty was quickly arrested and executed by the Pathet Lao.[3]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Conboy and McCouaig, South-East Asian Special Forces (1991), pp. 17-18.
  2. ↑ Conboy and McCouaig, The War in Laos 1960-75 (1989), p. 10.
  3. ↑ Conboy and McCouaig, The War in Laos 1960-75 (1989), p. 46.

References


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/5/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.