*omnia*
vieng xai
a lake formed from a bomb crater in Vieng Xai, Laos
This is one of the most densely bombed places on earth. There was long campaign by the US government to bomb it when the communists took over. Other bomb craters have been turned into ornamental pools etc
Vieng Xai is close to the border of Vietnam. The communists hid out in massive caves here, and located their centre of command from this area. It was like the capital city before they re-located. It was bombed daily, as it was considered the most strategically important to communist control.
"In this undeclared dirty war, the tonnage of bombs dropped by US bombers on the northern Lao provinces of Xieng Khuang, Sam Neua, the Phong Saly between 1964 and 1973 exceeded the entire tonnage dropped over Europe by all sides during WWII. It is estimated that US forces flew almost 600,000 sorties – the equivalent of one bombing run every eight minutes around the clock for nine years. This air assault was shrouded in secrecy, since under the terms of the Geneva Accord of 1962 no foreign personnel were supposed to operate on Laotian territory."
www.visit-laos.com/sabbaidee/history.htm
www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/54/057.html
vieng xai
a lake formed from a bomb crater in Vieng Xai, Laos
This is one of the most densely bombed places on earth. There was long campaign by the US government to bomb it when the communists took over. Other bomb craters have been turned into ornamental pools etc
Vieng Xai is close to the border of Vietnam. The communists hid out in massive caves here, and located their centre of command from this area. It was like the capital city before they re-located. It was bombed daily, as it was considered the most strategically important to communist control.
"In this undeclared dirty war, the tonnage of bombs dropped by US bombers on the northern Lao provinces of Xieng Khuang, Sam Neua, the Phong Saly between 1964 and 1973 exceeded the entire tonnage dropped over Europe by all sides during WWII. It is estimated that US forces flew almost 600,000 sorties – the equivalent of one bombing run every eight minutes around the clock for nine years. This air assault was shrouded in secrecy, since under the terms of the Geneva Accord of 1962 no foreign personnel were supposed to operate on Laotian territory."
www.visit-laos.com/sabbaidee/history.htm
www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/54/057.html