Kouprasith Abhay

Major-General Kouprasith Abhay (ກຸປຣະສິທທິ໌ ອະພັຍ; nicknamed 'Fat K'; 1926–1999? ) was a prominent military leader of the Kingdom of Laos during the Laotian Civil War.

Scion of a socially prominent family, his military career was considerably aided by their influence.

In early 1960, he was appointed to command of Military Region 5, which included Laos' capital city, Vientiane.

Over the years, he would be involved in one way or another in the coups of 1960, 1964, 1965, 1966, and 1973.

His service was marked by a deadly feud with another Laotian general, Thao Ma; the feud was largely responsible for the latter two coup attempts against the government.

He returned to Laos early in 1960 to take command of the Royal Lao Army (RLA) troops in Military Region 5, headquartered in Vientiane.

When Captain Kong Le seized power in his August 1960 coup, Kouprasith made a weak offer of support to the new satrap.

He retained the command in Military Region 5, which included Vientiane.

However, his sympathies actually lay with the deposed General, Phoumi Nosavan.

When Phoumi's counter-coup attacked Vientiane, Kouprasith sided with him.

At one point during the counter-coup, Kouprasith made his own bid for power.

Though he actually held the city for a short while, and announced a regime change, he named neither Phoumi nor himself as the new head of the nation.

However, a distrustful Phoumi removed Kouprasith from command of MR 5 on 14 December 1960, and subordinated him to a Phoumi loyalist.

Kouprasith's cause was not aided when he took to his sick bed upon relief from the command.

During the ensuing standoff between Kouprasith and Phoumi, Kong Le and his Neutralist Armed Forces (French: Forces Armées Neutralistes – FAN) escaped to the Plain of Jars on 16 December to establish an independent neutralist faction within the Laotian Civil War.

A makeshift regiment, Mobile Group Vientiane (French: Groupement Mobile Vientiane – GMV) was hastily formed to pursue Kong Le northwards up Route 13.

Kouprasith was appointed to command it, and between 7 and 17 January 1961, the GMV followed the retreating FAN as far as Vang Viang.

Once there, he called for air support from the Royal Lao Air Force (RLAF) before turning over his command and hastening back to the capital to safeguard his own interests.

When the new GMV commander was unable to ward off counterattacks, Kouprasith was restored to his command on 27 January, and placed his troops in the south of Muang Kasi on Route 13.

In his absence, on 22 April 1961, the regiment advanced northward into an ambush at Vang Viang.

U.S. Special Forces (USSF) Team Moon was accompanying the move.

Captain Walter Moon and Sergeant Orville Ballenger were captured, and Moon was later executed.

Colonel Kouprasith helicoptered in and recovered the two surviving USSF team members.

Removed from that command on 14 December for duplicitous participation in the Battle of Vientiane, he was reappointed in October 1962.

After the International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos had been effectuated in October 1962, Kouprasith was once again in command of Military Region 5.

Although MR 5 did not saw much fighting, under his command he had a regiment of regulars, Mobile Group 17 (French: Groupement Mobile 17 – GM 17), four volunteer battalions (French: Batallions de Voluntaires), the Directorate of National Coordination (DNC) paramilitary Security Agency and its GMS airborne-qualified regiment, and nine ADC militia companies.

His foster brother, Colonel Siho Lamphouthacoul, commanded the DNC/GMS special battalions, which was rated as the best military unit in Laos.

GM 17 was also commanded by a Kouprasith protégé.

During the first half of April 1964, two Royal Lao Government missions flew to Saigon in order to secretly coordinate joint military operations in southern Laos.

GM 17 was posted away from Vientiane to the Plain of Jars in MR 2.

He would hold the post until 1 July 1971, thus controlling the troops in and around the capital.

After the Royal Lao Government fell to the communists in 1975, Kouprasith retired to exile in France.

Kouprasith Abhay was the son of Kou Abhay.

The Abhays were an aristocratic family of Chinese-Lao heritage from Khong Island, which is sited on the Mekong River near the Cambodian border in extreme southern Laos.

Siho Lamphouthacoul, who was younger than Kouprasith, was raised as a protégé of the Abhay household.

For unknown reasons, Siho resented this.

Kouprasith Abhay was also related to the influential Sananikone family, since his own mother came from that family.

Kouprasith would also marry into the Sananikone family.

Kouprasith followed Colonel Phoumi Nosavan and his aide de camp Siho Lamphouthacoul to France, where they attended staff courses at the School of Advanced Military Studies (French: Centre des hautes études militaires) in Paris, followed by a posting as the Royal Lao Government's first military attaché to France.

While in that post, Kouprasith procured two Aérospatiale Alouette II helicopters for Laos.