Complex sentence: They returned to barracks outside Vientiane on 5 August 1960; on 8 August they were ordered back into the field to attack a group of Pathet Lao 48 kilometers outside the capital.
Split into simpler sentences: They returned to barracks outside Vientiane on 5 August 1960; on 8 August they were ordered back into the field. One source says they were ordered to attack a group of Pathet Lao 48 kilometers outside the capital.