Template:Did you know nominations/Operation Off Balance

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Miyagawa (talk) 18:42, 7 February 2015 (UTC)

Operation Off Balance

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... that Operation Off Balance was staged in only three days in hopes of keeping the opposition off balance?

Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/1981 Meenakshipuram conversion.
Comment: A series of battles were fought on the Plain of Jars in Laos during 1969. Escalation of force on both sides led to this desperate attempt by the Royal Lao Government to regain the crucial all-weather airfield at Moung Soui. This desperate attack by hill tribe guerrillas, a battalion of paratroopers, and their Neutralist allies was sunk by defection of the latter and the serious loss of a hero. The communist riposte by battle-hardened troops depended on only the second use of tanks in northern Laos, and it was covered by heavy artillery. They won.

Created by Georgejdorner (talk). Self nominated at 22:03, 28 December 2014 (UTC).

I tweaked the formatting on the image so it would show up. This was the only image in the article. I don't know about the wording since it refers to Operation Barrel Roll, rather than Operation Off Balance. — Maile (talk) 00:58, 1 January 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for the note. Barrel Roll was the ongoing air campaign that parceled out support to ground operations such as Off Balance. Of course, I neglected to explain this in the caption (not that there's room), so I changed the caption to conform. And I don't know what you did to clean the bars off the photo, but I also thank you for that.Georgejdorner (talk) 16:19, 1 January 2015 (UTC)

Full review needed. BlueMoonset (talk) 15:13, 1 February 2015 (UTC)

Article is interesting and length/creation is verified. The article is within policy. However, the hook fact is never stated/cited in the article; the closest you get is the (sarcasm-tinged) assertion that, "Nevertheless, dubbed Operation Off Balance, the plan tried to live up to its name by kicking off hurriedly on 1 July 1969, three days after it was proposed". While catchy, the hook is rather questionable from my read of the article; it seems that this operation was planned in retaliation to opposition gains from the day before, and furthermore it seems General Vang Pao's forces were the ones constantly "off-balance". Astro interest (talk) 06:14, 6 February 2015 (UTC)

Upon re-reading the article, I realized that I had neglected one elementary requirement of DYK; I amended that when I dubbed in the needed cite at the end of the hook sentence. And while the reviewer may believe that Vang Pao's forces were off balance, the source insists that the origin of the operation's code name was based on keeping the communists off balance. To quote the source (Anthony, Sexton, p. 304, top): "Colonel Tyrrell sought sixty sorties a day starting on June 30 to support the operation which was called Off Balance. The allies hoped this prompt organized action would catch the communists by surprise." And, in this case, sarcasm is in the eye of the reviewer, as the sentence in question merely states facts.Georgejdorner (talk) 15:57, 6 February 2015 (UTC)

OK, the citation you give eliminates all ambiguity. The sentence you cited doesn't mention motivation which is a central part of the hook, but since it's obvious from the quote you provided, it's silly to hold this article up just for that. I've gone ahead and added it. Length, hook, and citation verified. Offline source OK. Astro interest (talk) 23:01, 6 February 2015 (UTC)