COMMUNIST ROADNET IN THE LAOS PANHANDLE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84-00825R000100070001-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 26, 2002
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: July 1, 1966
• Content Type: IM

CONFIDE I ('Acted For Release 2002/05/09 : CIA-RDP84-00825R000100070001-8
INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM
COMMUNIST ROADNET
IN THE
LAOS PANHANDLE
CIA/BI GM 67-I
July 1966
DIRECTORATE OF INTELLIGENCE
WARNING
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within
the meaning of the espionage laws, Title 18, USC, Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or
revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
CONFIDENTIAL
App
25X1
 Approved For ReleaseSU0 Or',- 1-111 A I
57 CI - 84-00825R000100070001-8
COMMUNIST ROADNET IN THE LAOS PANHANDLE *
The Communist roadnet in the panhandle of
Laos has been the major overland route for the
movement of men and supplies from North Viet-
nam to combat areas of South Vietnam. Since
February 1965 the Communists more than dou-
bled the mileage of this roadnet (see Map A).
The new construction extended the road system
and also provided alternate routes and bypasses
within the panhandle, most notably an alternate
to Route 23, which had been a major north-south
segment of the roadnet during the 1964-65 dry
season (see Map B). The Communists now have
a continuous north-south route that extends from
Mu Gia Pass southward about 300 miles to the
vicinity of the Cambodian border. Roads built
between January and May 1966 also give the
Communists two new access routes into the pan-
handle: 1) Route 1371/912, which extends from
North Vietnam into Laos, providing an alternate
to the Mu Gia Pass route; and 2) Route 110, the
so-called Sihanouk Trail from Cambodia into
Laos, which joins the southern end of Route 96.
The Communists are now taking advantage of
the prevailing dry season in southern North Viet-
nam to construct a strategic alternate route that
will join Route 137/912 (see Map B). The new
route is at a higher elevation than Route 1A on
the wet coastal lowlands, and it will have fewer
interdiction targets such as bridges and ferry
sites.
New road construction and major repairs are
usually done during the dry season, October into
May (see Map A); during the 1965-66 dry season
the extensive work done by the Communists in-
dicated their intent to keep the expanded roadnet
open through the 1966 summer rainy season.
Many sections were corduroyed, and logs and
gravel for contingencies were piled beside the
roads throughout the network. In their haste to
complete the roadnet, however, the Communists
did not construct the necessary retaining walls
and drainage facilities on Routes 92 and 96 from
Route 9 south to the Cambodian border. Con-
sequently, the heavy monsoonal rainfall has
caused landslides along this route, and road em-
bankments in a number of locations have col-
lapsed (see photograph). These landslides and
the bomb craters resulting from aerial interdic-
tion efforts have closed the route to through ve-
hicular traffic during the present rainy season.
The major areas of landslides and cratering are
shown on Map B. The multiple craters and col-
lapsed road embankments together with the con-
tinuing heavy rainfall-some 96 to 112 inches,
about 80 percent of the annual total, occurs dur-
ing the summer-are major obstacles to repairing
the roadnet.
The limiting effect of the summer monsoon
rains on Communist logistics in the Laos pan-
handle is a seasonal phenomenon, as shown in
the following tabulation of estimated figures on
truck traffic since December 1964.
1964-65 Dry Season 17 trucks (estimated average
for 180 days, Dee 64-May
65) carrying at least 2 tons
each moved south daily on
fit 23.
1965 Rainy Season No through truck traffic be-
tween Mu Cia Pass and Rt
92. Rt 23 impassable to
through traffic, beginning
June 1965. Some truck
traffic on Rt 92 from Rt 9
to Rt 922.
1965-66 Dry Season 24 trucks (estimated average
for 210 days, mid-Nov 65-
mid-June 66) carrying at
least 3 tons each moved
south daily on Rt 911 and
Rt 23. 4 additional trucks
(estimated average) carried
troops daily.
1966 Rainy Season Combination of landslides
and bomb craters prevent
through truck traffic from Rt
9 southward. Local truck
traffic supplemented by
coolie portage moves some
supplies.
Despite the present closure to through traffic,
reports indicate that there is some truck traffic
between intermediate points on the main infiltra-
tion route. Since the Communists apparently are
not making any significant attempt to repair the
damaged roads or to construct bypasses during
the rainy season, coolie portage is almost cer-
tainly being used to bypass the unusable stretches
of road.
The logistical capacity of the Communist road-
net in Laos has been significantly reduced during
the current rainy season, but even so it probably
is still in excess of the greater requirements cur-
rently forced on it by the increased numbers of
troops and the expanded scale of combat in South
Vietnam. If the Communists fail to make an all-
out road repair effort, the combined effects of
weather and air interdiction will probably con-
tinue to reduce the Laotian roadnet's capacity
until at least the end of the rainy season in Octo-
ber. Consequently, withdrawals from caches
and, possibly, attempts to increase movement by
other means such as water transport or direct
movement across the Demilitarized Zone may be
expected. Recent preliminary construction on the
southern terminus of North Vietnam Route 102
may presage the latter possibility.
* This report was prepared in the Office of Basic
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 Rclcacc 900,2101 !f RDP84-00825R000100070001-8
1 137
Jan-May
Ban Som Peng j
914
Dec '65-
Mor '66
92
Jan-Mor'65
96
Jul-Dec '66
96
S.p '65 -Mar 66
ADDITIONS TO MAIN
COMMUNIST ROADNET
February 1965-May 1966
Motorable roads available to
Communist on 1 Feb 1965
0 25 50 75 100 Miles
r-r
0 25 50 75 100 Kilometers
25X1
110
Dec '65-Mor '66
ROUTE 96 AT 15?40'N., 106?54'E. SHOWING COLLAPSE OF ROAD EMBANKMENT (3
JUNE 1966). Landslides and bomb craters effected by air interdiction have
temporarily closed Routes 92 and 96 as well as Route 110 to through truck traffic.
Approved For Release(faRpit3E[84-00825R000100070001-8
 Ban
-n Poum
Dassak
afay
ung Treng
JFMAMJJASOND
TOTAL: 137.0 Inches
uang Khe
em Pang
,1 94t
Ban
Watt
5 " am
Lao Lo
Bao
an '?-l ?
n :- Huong Hoa
(Khe Sanh)
JFMAMJJASOND
TOTAL 101.5 Inches
*04
Boung Long
ttopeu
uong May
Lomphat
Pho
HUB
Bien Dien
0 JFMAMJJAS? ND
TOTAL: 127.7 Ines
23/16
Approv jl rprLR ea?e X002/05
T O NKI N
HON GIO
Linh
108
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COMMUNIST INFILTRATION
ROUTES, JULY 1966
Main Communist truckable roadnet
Road constructed 1965-66 (Laos only)
Bomb craters A Landslides
Other road ....N1. Trail
........ Unusable road Railroad (Most Vietnam
sections inoperable)
JFMAMJJASOND
TOTAL: 65.1 Inches---
25
0
0 T25 50
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Average monthly precipitation (inches)
Month
Average annual precipitation
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 C I NHAL
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Consideration of the Revision of GM 66-4, May 1966
1. The GM is dated May 1966, but roughly 5 weeks later, it has
been outdated by subsequent developments, notably the effects of the
rainy season. Its readers -- including the White House -- may be
laboring under the belief that the information in the GM is still entirely
valid. I believe there is an obligation to use the same publication
.vehicle -- a revised GM -- to update the information for these readers,
? ,rl-s
2. These t-must be made:
a) Some stretches of road which had been estimated to be
all-weather have become impassable due to major washouts.
b) Some stretches have been effectively interdicted by bomb
craters.
3. Little if any effort is being made by the Communists to repair
the natural washouts or the cratering. This lack of action on the part
of the Communists should be called to the attention of higher levels:
does it mean that the Communists already hate ample caches in South
Vietnam, does it mean they are depending on ocean LOC, or are they "hurting"?
Possibly, Transportation Branch, ERA, should be asked to estimate the total
amount of supplies that have moved down the road net during the last dry
season.
4. We now believe, contrary to what was stated in the GM, that Route
15 is probably no longer the main access route from North Vietnam into Laos.
The'riew route 137/912 is now probably equally important,
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