cambodian civil war

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Cambodian Civil War 1

Cambodian Civil War

The Cambodian Civil War was a conflict that pitted the forces of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (known as

the Khmer Rouge) and their allies the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the Viet Cong against

the government forces of Cambodia (after October 1970, the Khmer Republic), which were supported by the United

States (U.S.) and the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam).

The struggle was exacerbated by the influence and actions of the allies of the two warring sides. People's Army of

Vietnam (North Vietnamese Army) involvement was designed to protect its Base Areas and sanctuaries in eastern

Cambodia, without which the prosecution of its military effort in South Vietnam would have been more difficult.

Then following the Cambodian coup of 1970, the North Vietnamese Army's attempt to overrun the entire country in

MarchApril 1970 plunged Cambodia into civil war.[1] The U.S. was motivated by the desire to buy time for its

withdrawal from Southeast Asia, to protect its ally in South Vietnam, and to prevent the spread of communism to

Cambodia. American and both South and North Vietnamese forces directly participated (at one time or another) in

the fighting. The central government was mainly assisted by the application of massive U.S. aerial bombing

campaigns and direct material and financial aid.

After five years of savage fighting that brought about massive casualties, the destruction of the economy, the

starvation of the population, and grievous atrocities, the Republican government was defeated on 17 April 1975

when the victorious Khmer Rouge proclaimed the establishment of Democratic Kampuchea. Thus, it has been

argued that the US intervention in Cambodia contributed to the eventual seizure of power by the Khmer Rouge, that

grew from 14,000 in number in 1970 to 70,000 in 1975.[2] This view has been disputed,[3][4][5] with documents

uncovered from the Soviet archives revealing that the North Vietnamese invasion of 1970 was launched at the

explicit request of the Khmer Rouge following negotiations with Nuon Chea.[1]

The conflict, although an indigenous civil war, was considered to be part of the larger Vietnam War (19591975)

that also consumed the neighboring Kingdom of Laos, South Vietnam, and North Vietnam. This civil war led to the

Cambodian Genocide, one of the bloodiest in history.

Setting the stage (19651970)

Background

During the early-to-mid-1960s, Prince Norodom Sihanouk's leftist policies had protected his nation from the turmoil

that engulfed Laos and South Vietnam.[6] Neither the People's Republic of China (PRC) nor North Vietnam disputed

Sihanouk's claim to represent "progressive" political policies and the leadership of the prince's domestic leftist

opposition, the Pracheachon Party, had been integrated into the government.[7] On 3 May 1965, Sihanouk broke

diplomatic relations with the U.S., ended the flow of American aid, and turned to the PRC and the Soviet Union for

economic and military assistance.[7]

By the late 1960s, Sihanouk's delicate domestic and foreign policy balancing act was beginning to go awry. In 1966,

an agreement was struck between the prince and the Chinese, allowing the presence of large-scale People's Army of

Vietnam (PAVN) and NLF troop deployments and logistical bases in the eastern border regions.[8] He had also

agreed to allow the use of the port of Sihanoukville by communist-flagged vessels delivering supplies and materiel to

support the PAVN/NLF military effort in Vietnam.[9] These concessions made a sham of Cambodia's neutrality,

which had been guaranteed by the Geneva Conference of 1954.
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Meeting in Beijing: Mao Zedong (l), Prince Sihanouk (c), and Liu

Shaoqi (r)

Sihanouk was convinced that the PRC, not the U.S.,

would eventually control the Indochinese Peninsula and

that "our interests are best served by dealing with the

camp that one day will dominate the whole of Asia

and coming to terms before its victory in order to

obtain the best terms possible."

[8]

During the same year, however, he allowed his

pro-American minister of defense, General Lon Nol, to

crack down on leftist activities, crushing the

Pracheachon by accusing its members of subversion

and subservience to Hanoi.[10] Simultaneously,

Sihanouk lost the support of Cambodia's conservatives

as a result of his failure to come to grips with the deteriorating economic situation (exacerbated by the loss of rice

exports, most of which went to the PAVN/NLF) and with the growing communist military presence.[11]

On 11 September, Cambodia held its first open election. Through manipulation and harassment (and to Sihanouk's

surprise) the conservatives won 75 percent of the seats in the National Assembly.[12][13] Lon Nol was chosen by the

right as prime minister and, as his deputy, they named Sirik Matak, an ultraconservative member of the Sisowath

branch of the royal clan and long-time enemy of Sihanouk. In addition to these developments and the clash of

interests among Phnom Penh's politicized elite, social tensions created a favorable environment for the growth of a

domestic communist insurgency in the rural areas.[14]

Revolt in Battambang

The prince then found himself in a political dilemma. To maintain the balance against the rising tide of the

conservatives, he named the leaders of the very group he had been oppressing as members of a

"counter-government" that was meant to monitor and criticize Lon Nol's administration.[15]

One of Lon Nol's firstpriorities was to fix the ailing economy by halting the illegal sale of rice to the communists. Soldiers were dispatched

to the rice-growing areas to forcibly collect the harvests at gunpoint, and they paid only the low government price.

There was widespread unrest, especially in rice-rich Battambang Province, an area long-noted for the presence of

large landowners, great disparity in wealth, and where the communists still had some influence. [16][17] On 11 March

1967, while Sihanouk was out of the country in France, a rebellion broke out in the area around Samlaut in

Battambang, when enraged villagers attacked a tax collection brigade. With the probable encouragement of local

communist cadres, the insurrection quickly spread throughout the whole region.[18] Lon Nol, acting in the prince's

absence (but with his approval), responded by declaring martial law.[15] Hundreds of peasants were killed and whole

villages were laid waste during the repression.[19] After returning home in March, Sihanouk abandoned his centrist

position and personally ordered the arrest of Khieu Samphan, Hou Yuon, and Hu Nim, the leaders of the "countergovernment", all of whom escaped into the northeast.[20]

Simultaneously, Sihanouk ordered the arrest of Chinese middlemen involved in the illegal rice trade, thereby raising

government revenues and placating the conservatives. Lon Nol was forced to resign, and, in a typical move, the

prince named new leftists to the government to balance the conservatives.[20] The immediate crisis had passed, but it

engendered two tragic consequences. First, it drove thousands of new recruits into the arms of the hard-line maquis

of the Cambodian Communist Party (which Sihanouk labelled the Khmer Rouge or "Red Khmers"). Second, for the

peasantry, the name of Lon Nol became associated with ruthless repression throughout Cambodia.[21]
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Communist regroupment

While the 1967 insurgency had been unplanned, the Khmer Rouge tried, without much success, to organize a more

serious revolt during the following year. The prince's decimation of the Prachea Chon and the urban communists

had, however, cleared the field of competition for Saloth Sar (also known as Pol Pot), Ieng Sary, and Son Senthe

Maoist leadership of the maquisards.[22] They led their followers into the highlands of the northeast and into the

lands of the Khmer Loeu, a primitive people who were hostile to both the lowland Khmers and the centralgovernment. For the Khmer Rouge, who still lacked assistance from the North Vietnamese, it was a period of

regroupment, organization, and training. Hanoi basically ignored its Chinese-sponsored allies, and the indifference of

their "fraternal comrades" to their insurgency between 1967 and 1969 would make an indelible impression on the

Khmer Rouge leadership.[23][24]

On 17 January 1968, the Khmer Rouge launched their first offensive. It was aimed more at gathering weapons and

spreading propaganda than in seizing territory since, at that time, the adherents of the insurgency numbered no more

than 45,000.[25][26] During the same month, the communists established the Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea as

the military wing of the party. As early as the end of the Battambang revolt, Sihanouk had begun to reevaluate his

relationship with the communists.[27] His earlier agreement with the Chinese had availed him nothing. They had not

only failed to restrain the North Vietnamese, but they had actually involved themselves (through the Khmer Rouge)

in active subversion within his country.[18] At the suggestion of Lon Nol (who had returned to the cabinet as defense

minister in November 1968) and other conservative politicians, on 11 May 1969, the prince welcomed the

restoration of normal diplomatic relations with the U.S. and created a new Government of National Salvation with

Lon Nol as his prime minister.[28] He did so "in order to play a new card, since the Asian communists are already

attacking us before the end of the Vietnam War."[29] Besides, PAVN and the NLF would made very convenient

scapegoats for Cambodia's ills, much more so than the minuscule Khmer Rouge, and ridding Cambodia of their

presence would solve many problems simultaneously.[30] The Americans took advantage of this same opportunity to

solve some of their own problems in Southeast Asia.

OperationMenu

Although the U.S. had been aware of the PAVN/NLF sanctuaries in Cambodia since 1966, President Lyndon B.

Johnson had chosen not to attack them due to possible international repercussions and his belief that Sihanouk could

be convinced to alter his policies.[31] Johnson did, however, authorize the reconnaissance teams of the highly

classified Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations Group (SOG) to enter Cambodia and

gather intelligence on the Base Areas in 1967.[32] The election of Richard M. Nixon in 1968 and the introduction of

his policies of gradual U.S. withdrawal from South Vietnam and the Vietnamization of the conflict there, changed

everything. On 18 March 1969, on secret orders from Nixon, the U.S. Air Force carried out the bombing of Base

Area 353 (in the Fishhook region opposite South Vietnam's Tay Ninh Province) by 59 B-52 Stratofortress bombers.

This strike was the first in a series of attacks on the sanctuaries that lasted until May 1970. During Operation Menu,the Air Force conducted 3,875 sorties and dropped more than 108,000 tons of ordnance on the eastern border

areas.[33] During this operation, Sihanouk remained quiet about the whole affair, possibly hoping that the U.S. would

be able to drive PAVN and NLF troops from his country. Hanoi too, remained quiet, not wishing to advertise the

presence of its forces in "neutral" Cambodia. The Menu bombings remained secret from the U.S. Congress and

people until 1973.
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Overthrow of Sihanouk (1970)

Lon Nol coup

While Sihanouk was out of the country on a trip to France, anti-Vietnamese rioting (which was semi-sponsored by

the government) took place in Phnom Penh, during which the North Vietnamese and NLF embassies were

sacked.[34][35]

In the prince's absence, Lon Nol did nothing to halt these activities.[36]

On 12th, the prime ministerclosed the port of Sihanoukville to the North Vietnamese and issued an impossible ultimatum to them. All

PAVN/NLF forces were to withdraw from Cambodian soil within 72 hours (on 15 March) or face military action.[37]

Sihanouk, hearing of the turmoil, headed for Moscow and Beijing in order to demand that the patrons of PAVN and

the NLF exert more control over their clients.[28] On 18 March 1970, Lon Nol requested that the National Assembly

vote on the future of the prince's leadership of the nation. Sihanouk was ousted from power by a vote of 920.[38]

Heng Cheng became president of the National Assembly, while Prime Minister Lon Nol was granted emergency

powers. Sirik Matak retained his post as deputy prime minister. The new government emphasized that the transfer of

power had been totally legal and constitutional, and it received the recognition of most foreign governments. There

have been, and continue to be, accusations that the U.S. government played some role in the overthrow of Sihanouk,

but conclusive evidence has never been found to support them.[39]

The majority of middle-class and educated Khmers had grown weary of the prince and welcomed the change of

government.[40] They were joined by the military, for whom the prospect of the return of American military and

financial aid was a cause for celebration.[41] Within days of his deposition, Sihanouk, now in Beijing, broadcast an

appeal to the people to resist the usurpers.[28] Demonstrations and riots occurred (mainly in areas contiguous to

PAVN/NLF controlled areas), but no nationwide groundswell threatened the government. [42] In one incident at

Kompong Cham on 29 March, however, an enraged crowd killed Lon Nol's brother, Lon Nil, tore out his liver, and

cooked and ate it.[41] An estimated 40,000 peasants then began to march on the capital to demand Sihanouk's

reinstatement. They were dispersed, with many casualties, by contingents of the armed forces.

Massacre of the Vietnamese

Most of the population, urban and rural, took out their anger and frustrations on the nation's Vietnamese population.

Lon Nol's call for 10,000 volunteers to boost the manpower of Cambodia's poorly equipped, 30,000-man army,

managed to swamp the military with over 70,000 recruits.[43] Rumours abounded concerning a possible PAVN

offensive aimed at Phnom Penh itself. Paranoia flourished and this set off a violent reaction against the nation's

400,000 ethnic Vietnamese.[41]

Lon Nol hoped to use the Vietnamese as hostages against PAVN/NLF activities, and the military set about rounding

them up into detention camps.[41] That was when the killing began. In towns and villages all over Cambodia, soldiers

and civilians sought out their Vietnamese neighbors in order to murder them.[44] On 15 April, the bodies of 800

Vietnamese floated down the Mekong River and into South Vietnam.

The South Vietnamese, North Vietnamese, and the NLF harshly denounced these horrendous actions.[45]

Significantly, no Cambodiansnot even those of the Buddhist communitycondemned the killings. In his apology

to the Saigon government, Lon Nol stated that

it was difficult to distinguish between Vietnamese citizens who were Viet Cong and those who were not. So it

is quite normal that the reaction of Cambodian troops, who feel themselves betrayed, is difficult to control.[46]
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NUFK and RGNUK

From Beijing, Sihanouk proclaimed that the government in Phnom Penh was dissolved and his intention to create the

Front Uni National du Kampuchea or NUFK (National United Front of Kampuchea). Sihanouk later said "I had

chosen not to be with either the Americans or the communists, because I considered that there were two dangers,

American imperialism and Asian communism. It was Lon Nol who obliged me to choose between them."[41]

The North Vietnamese reacted to the political changes in Cambodia by sending Premier Phm Vn ng to meetSihanouk in China and recruit him into an alliance with the Khmer Rouge. Saloth was also contacted by the

Vietnamese who now offered him whatever resources he wanted for his insurgency against the Cambodian

government. Saloth and Sihanouk were actually in Beijing at the same time but the Vietnamese and Chinese leaders

never informed Sihanouk of the presence of Saloth or allowed the two men to meet. Shortly after, Sihanouk issued

an appeal by radio to the people of Cambodia to rise up against the government and support the Khmer Rouge. In

May 1970, Saloth finally returned to Cambodia and the pace of the insurgency greatly increased. After Sihanouk

showed his support for the Khmer Rouge by visiting them in the field, their ranks swelled from 6,000 to 50,000

fighters.

The prince then allied himself with the Khmer Rouge, the North Vietnamese, the Laotian Pathet Lao, and the NLF,

throwing his personal prestige behind the communists On 5 May, the actual establishment of NUFK and of the

Gouvernement Royal d'Union Nationale du Kampuchea or RGNUK (Royal Government of National Union of

Kampuchea), was proclaimed. Sihanouk assumed the post of head of state, appointing Penn Nouth, one of his most

loyal supporters, as prime minister.[41]

Khieu Samphan was designated deputy prime minister, minister of defense, and commander in chief of the RGNUK

armed forces (though actual military operations were directed by Pol Pot). Hu Nim became minister of information,

and Hou Yuon assumed multiple responsibilities as minister of the interior, communal reforms, and cooperatives.

RGNUK claimed that it was not a government-in-exile since Khieu Samphan and the insurgents remained inside

Cambodia. Sihanouk and his loyalists remained in China, although the prince did make a visit to the "liberated areas"

of Cambodia, including Angkor Wat, in March 1973. These visits were used mainly for propaganda purposes andhad no real influence on political affairs.[47]

For Sihanouk, this proved to be a short-sighted marriage of convenience that was spurred on by his thirst for revenge

against those who had betrayed him.[48][49] For the Khmer Rouge, it was a means to greatly expand the appeal of

their movement. Peasants, motivated by loyalty to the monarchy, gradually rallied to the FUNK cause. [50] The

personal appeal of Sihanouk, the overall better behavior of the communist troops, and widespread allied aerial

bombardment facilitated recruitment. This task was made even easier for the communists after 9 October 1970, when

Lon Nol abolished the loosely federalist monarchy and proclaimed the establishment of a centralized Khmer

Republic.[51]

Widening war (1970

1971)

Opposing sides

In the wake of the coup, Lon Nol did not immediately launch Cambodia into war. He appealed to the international

community and to the United Nations in an attempt to gain support for the new government and condemned

violations of Cambodia's neutrality "by foreign forces, whatever camp they come from."[52] His hope for continued

neutralism availed him no more than it had Sihanouk.

As combat operations quickly revealed, the two sides were badly mismatched. Government troops, were now

renamed the Forces Armees Nationales Khemeres or FANK (Khmer National Armed Forces) and thousands of

young urban Cambodians flocked to join it in the months following the removal of Sihanouk. With the surge ofrecruits, however, FANK expanded well beyond its capacity to absorb the new men. [53] Later, given the press of

tactical operations and the need to replace combat casualties, there was insufficient time to impart needed skills to
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individuals or to units, and lack of training remained the bane of FANK's existence until its collapse.[54]

Cambodian officers and U.S. officials, 1971

During the period 19741975, FANK forces officially

grew from 100,000 to approximately 250,000 men, but

probably only numbered around 180,000 due to payroll

padding by their officers and due to desertions.[55] U.S.

military aid (ammunition, supplies, and equipment) wasfunneled to FANK through the Military Equipment

Delivery Team, Cambodia (MEDTC). Authorized a

total of 113 officers and men, the team arrived in

Phnom Penh in 1971,[56] under the overall command of

CINCPAC Admiral John S. McCain, Jr.[57] The attitude

of the Nixon administration could be summed up by the

advice given by Henry Kissinger to the first head of the

liaison team, Colonel Jonathan Ladd: "Don't think of

victory; just keep it alive."[58] Nevertheless, McCain

constantly petitioned the Pentagon for more arms,equipment, and staff for what he proprietarily viewed

as "my war".[59]

There were other problems. The officer corps of FANK was generally corrupt and greedy.[60] The inclusion of

"ghost" soldiers allowed massive payroll padding; ration allowances were kept by the officers while their men

starved; and the sale of arms and ammunition on the black market (or to the enemy) was commonplace. [61][62]

Worse, the tactical ineptitude among FANK officers was as common as their greed.[63] Lon Nol frequently bypassed

the general staff and directed operations down to battalion-level while also forbidding any real coordination between

the army, navy, and air force.[64]

The common soldiers fought bravely at first, but they were saddled with low pay (with which they had to purchasetheir own food and medical care), ammunition shortages, and mixed equipment. Due to the pay system, there were

no allotments for their families, who were, therefore, forced to follow their husbands/sons into the battle zones.

These problems (exacerbated by continuously declining morale) only increased over time.[60]

At the beginning of 1974, the Cambodian army inventory included 241,630 rifles, 7,079 machine guns, 2,726

mortars, 20,481 grenade launchers, 304 recoilless rifles, 289 howitzers, 202 APCs, and 4,316 trucks. The Khmer

navy had 171 vessels; the Khmer air force had 211 aircraft, including 64 North American T-28s, 14 Douglas AC-47

gunships and 44 helicopters. American embassy military personnel who were only supposed to coordinate the

arms aid programsometimes found themselves involved in prohibited advisory and combat tasks.

Initially arrayed against an armed force of such limited capabilitythe People's Army of Vietnam was arguably one

the best light infantry armies in the world at the time . [65] When their forces were supplanted, it was by the tough,

rigidly indoctrinated peasant army of the Khmer Rouge with its core of seasoned leaders, who now received the full

support of Hanoi. Khmer Rouge forces, which had been reorganized at an Indochinese summit held in Conghua,

China in April 1970, would grow from 1215,000 in 1970 to 3540,000 by 1972, when the so-called

"Khmerization" of the conflict took place and combat operations against the Republic were handed over completely

to the insurgents.[66]

The development of these forces took place in three stages. 1970 to 1972 was a period of organization and

recruitment, during which Khmer Rouge units served as auxiliaries to PAVN. From 1972 to mid-1974, the

insurgents formed units of battalion and regimental size. It was during this period that the Khmer Rouge began to

break away from Sihanouk and his supporters and the collectivization of agriculture was begun in the liberated areas.Division-sized units were being fielded by 19741975, when the party was on its own and began the radical
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transformation of the country.[67]

With the fall of Sihanouk, Hanoi became alarmed at the prospect of a pro-Western regime that might allow the

Americans to establish a military presence on their western flank. To prevent that from happening, they began

transferring their military installations away from the border regions to locations deeper within Cambodian territory.

A new command center was established at the city of Krati and the timing of the move was propitious. President

Nixon was of the opinion that:"We need a bold move in Cambodia to show that we stand with Lon Nol...something symbolic...for the

only Cambodian regime that had the guts to take a pro-Western and pro-American stand."[68]

Cambodian incursion

Earlier, on 29 March 1970, the Vietnamese had taken matters into their own hands and launched an offensive against

the Cambodian army. A force of North Vietnamese quickly overran large parts of eastern Cambodia reaching to

within 15 miles (24 km) of Phnom Penh before being pushed back. In these battles the Khmer Rouge and Saloth

played a very small role.

On 29 April 1970, South Vietnamese and U.S. units (alarmed at the North Vietnamese attempt to overrun the entire

country) unleashed a limited, multi-pronged Cambodian Campaign that Washington hoped would solve three other

problems: First, it would provide a shield for the American withdrawal (by destroying the PAVN logistical system

and killing enemy troops); second, it would provide a test for the policy of Vietnamization; third, it would serve as a

signal to Hanoi that Nixon meant business.[69] Despite Nixon's appreciation of Lon Nol's position, the Cambodian

leader was not even informed in advance of the decision to invade his country. He learned about it only after it had

begun from the head of the U.S. mission, who had himself learned about it from a radio broadcast.[68]

Extensive logistical installations and large amounts of supplies were found and destroyed, but as reporting from the

American command in Saigon disclosed, still larger amounts of material had already been moved deeper into the

countryside.[70] According to Republican General Sak Sutsakhan, the withdrawal of U.S. forces, after only a 30-day

campaign, created "a void so great on the allied side that neither the Cambodian nor the South Vietnamese armieswere ever able to fill it."[71]

On the day the incursion was launched, the North Vietnamese launched an offensive (Campaign X) of its own

against FANK forces at the request of the Khmer Rouge[72] and in order to protect and expand their Base Areas and

logistical system.[73] By June, three months after the removal of Sihanouk, they had swept government forces from

the entire northeastern third of the country. After defeating those forces, the North Vietnamese turned the newly won

territories over to the local insurgents. The Khmer Rouge also established liberated areas in the south and the

southwestern parts of the country, where they operated independently of the North Vietnamese.[25]
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Chenla II

Areas under government control, August 1970

During the night of 21 January 1971, a force of 100 PAVN/NLF

commandos attacked Pochentong airfield, the main base of the

Republican Air Force. In this one action, the raiders destroyed

almost the entire inventory of government aircraft, including all of

its fighter planes. This may have been a blessing in disguise,however, since the air force was composed of old (even obsolete)

Soviet aircraft. The Americans soon replaced the airplanes with

more advanced models. The attack did, however, stall a proposed

FANK offensive. Two weeks later, Lon Nol suffered a stroke and

was evacuated to Hawaii for treatment. It had been a mild stroke,

however, and the general recovered quickly, returning to

Cambodia after only two months.

It was not until 20 August that FANK launched Operation Chenla

II, its first offensive of the year. The objective of the campaign

was to clear Route 6 of enemy forces and thereby reopen

communications with Kompong Thom, the Republic's second

largest city, which had been isolated from the capital for more than

a year. The operation was initially successful, and the city was

relieved. The PAVN and Khmer Rouge counterattacked in November and December, annihilating government forces

in the process. There was never an accurate count of the losses, but the estimate was "on the order of ten battalions of

personnel and equipment lost plus the equipment of an additional ten battalions."[74] The strategic result of the

failure of Chenla II was that the offensive initiative passed completely into the hands of PAVN and the Khmer

Rouge.

Agony of the Khmer Republic (19721975)

Struggling to survive

From 1972 through 1974, the war was conducted along FANK's lines of communications north and south of the

capital. Limited offensives were launched to maintain contact with the rice-growing regions of the northwest and

along the Mekong River and Route 5, the Republic's overland connections to South Vietnam. The strategy of the

Khmer Rouge was to gradually cut those lines of communication and squeeze Phnom Penh. As a result, FANK

forces became fragmented, isolated, and unable to lend one another mutual support.

The main U.S. contribution to the FANK effort came in the form of the bombers and tactical aircraft of the U.S. Air

Force. When President Nixon launched the incursion in 1970, American and South Vietnamese troops operated

under an umbrella of air cover that was designated OperationFreedom Deal. When those troops were withdrawn, the

air operation continued, ostensibly to interdict PAVN/NLF troop movements and logistics.[75] In reality (and

unknown to the American Congress and public), they were utilized to provide tactical air support to FANK.[76] As a

former U.S. military officer in Phnom Penh reported, "the areas around the Mekong River were so full of bomb

craters from B-52 strikes that, by 1973, they looked like the valleys of the moon."[77]
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mekong_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kampong_Thom_Cityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AAreas_of_Cambodia_under_government_control_August_1970.jpg


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Memorial in Cambodia: a Soviet-built T-54 tank

On 10 March 1972, just before the newly renamed Constituent

Assembly was to approve a revised constitution, Lon Nol announced

that he was suspending the deliberations. He then forced Cheng Heng,

the chief of state since Sihanouk's deposition, to surrender his authority

to him. On the second anniversary of the coup, Lon Nol relinquished

his authority as chief of state, but retained his position as primeminister and defense minister.

On 4 June, Lon Nol was elected as the first president of the Khmer

Republic in a blatantly rigged election.[78] As per the new constitution

(ratified on 30 April), political parties formed in the new nation,

quickly becoming a source of political factionalism. General Sutsakhan stated: "the seeds of democratization, which

had been thrown into the wind with such goodwill by the Khmer leaders, returned for the Khmer Republic nothing

but a poor harvest."[64]

In January 1973, hope sprang into the breasts of the Republic's government, army, and population when the Paris

Peace Accord was signed, ending the conflict (for the time being) in South Vietnam and Laos. On 29 January, Lon

Nol proclaimed a unilateral cease-fire throughout the nation. All U.S. bombing operations were halted in hopes of

securing a chance for peace. It was not to be. The Khmer Rouge simply ignored the proclamation and carried on

fighting. By March, heavy casualties, desertions, and low recruitment had forced Lon Nol to introduce conscription

and, in April, insurgent forces launched an offensive that pushed into the suburbs of the capital. The U.S. Air Force

responded by launching an intense bombing operation that forced the communists back into the countryside after

being decimated by the air strikes.[79] The US Seventh Air Force argued that the bombing prevented the fall of

Phnom Penh in 1973 by killing 16,000 of 25,500 Khmer Rouge fighters besieging the city.[80]

By the last day of Operation Freedom Deal (15 August 1973), 250,000 tons of bombs had been dropped on the

Khmer Republic, 82,000 tons of which had been released in the last 45 days of the operation.[81] Since the inception

of Operation Menu in 1969, the U.S. Air Force had dropped 539,129 tons of ordnance on Cambodia/KhmerRepublic.[82]

Shape of things to come

As late as 19721973, it was a commonly held belief, both within and outside Cambodia, that the war was

essentially a foreign conflict that had not fundamentally altered the nature of the Khmer people. [83] By late 1973,

there was a growing awareness among the government and population of the fanaticism, total lack of concern over

casualties, and complete rejection of any offer of peace talks which "began to suggest that Khmer Rouge fanaticism

and capacity for violence were deeper than anyone had suspected."[83]

Reports of the brutal policies of the organization soon made their way to Phnom Penh and into the population

foretelling a violent madness that was about to consume the nation. There were tales of the forced relocations of

entire villages, of the summary execution of any who disobeyed or even asked questions, the forbidding of religious

practices, of monks who were defrocked or murdered, and where traditional sexual and marital habits were

foresworn.[84][85] War was one thing, the offhand manner in which the Khmer Rouge dealt out death, so contrary to

the Khmer character, was quite another.[86] Reports of these atrocities began to surface during the same period in

which North Vietnamese troops were withdrawing from the Cambodian battlefields. This was no coincidence. The

concentration of the PAVN effort on South Vietnam allowed the Khmer Rouge to apply their doctrine and policies

without restraint for the first time.[87]
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paris_Peace_Accordhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paris_Peace_Accordhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Constituent_Assemblyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Constituent_Assemblyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ACambodian_Civil_War-era_T-54_or_Type_59.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=T-55


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Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia visiting Communist

Romania in 1972.

The Khmer Rouge leadership was almost completely

unknown by the public. They were referred to by their

fellow countrymen as peap prey the forest army.

Previously, the very existence of the communist party

as a component of GRUNK had been hidden.[84]

Within the "liberated zones" it was simply referred toas "Angka" the organization. During 1973, the

communist party fell under the control of its most

fanatical members, Pol Pot and Son Sen, who believed

that "Cambodia was to go through a total social

revolution and that everything that had preceded it was

anathema and must be destroyed."[87]

Also hidden from scrutiny was the growing antagonism

between the Khmer Rouge and their North Vietnamese

allies.[87][88] The radical leadership of the party could never escape the suspicion that Hanoi had designs on building

an Indochinese federation with the North Vietnamese as its master. [89] The Khmer Rouge were ideologically tied to

the Chinese, while North Vietnam's chief supporters, the Soviet Union, still recognized the Lon Nol government as

legitimate.[90] After the signing of the Paris Peace Accords, PAVN cut off the supply of arms to the Khmer Rouge,

hoping to force them into a cease-fire.[87][91] When the Americans were freed by the signing of the accords to turn

their air power completely on the Khmer Rouge, this too was blamed on Hanoi.[92] During the year, these suspicions

and attitudes led the party leadership to carry out purges within their ranks. Most of the Hanoi-trained members were

then executed on the orders of Pol Pot.[93]

As time passed, the need of the Khmer Rouge for the sinecure of Prince Sihanouk lessened. The organization

demonstrated to the people of the 'liberated' areas in no uncertain terms that open expressions of support for

Sihanouk would result in their liquidation.[94]

Although the prince still enjoyed the protection of the Chinese, whenhe made public appearances overseas to publicize the GRUNK cause, he was treated with almost open contempt by

Ministers Ieng Sary and Khieu Samphan.[95] In June, the prince told Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci that when "they

[the Khmer Rouge] have sucked me dry, they will spit me out like a cherry stone."[96]

By the end of 1973, Sihanouk loyalists had been purged from all of GRUNK's ministries and all of the prince's

supporters within the insurgent ranks were also eliminated.[87] Shortly after Christmas, as the insurgents were

gearing up for their final offensive, Sihanouk spoke with the French diplomat Etienne Manac'h. He said that his

hopes for a moderate socialism akin to Yugoslavia's must now be totally dismissed. Stalinist Albania he said, would

be the model.[97]

Fall of Phnom Penh

By the time the Khmer Rouge initiated their dry-season offensive to capture the beleaguered Cambodian capital on 1

January 1975, the Republic was in chaos. The economy had been gutted, the transportation network had been

reduced to air and water systems, the rice harvest had been reduced by one-quarter, and the supply of freshwater fish

(the chief source of protein) had declined drastically. The cost of food was 20 times greater than pre-war levels and

unemployment was not even measured anymore.[98]
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Albaniahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yugoslaviahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Etienne_Manac%27hhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ieng_Saryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sinecurehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3A1972_Norodom_Sianuk_visiting_Romania.jpg


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The final offensive against Phnom Penh, April 1975

Phnom Penh, which had a pre-war population of around 600,000,

was overwhelmed by refugees (who continued to flood in from the

steadily collapsing defense perimeter), growing to a size of around

two million. These helpless and desperate civilians had no jobs

and little in the way of food, shelter, or medical care. Their

condition (and the government's) only worsened when KhmerRouge forces gradually gained control of the banks of the Mekong.

From the riverbanks, their mines and gunfire steadily reduced the

river convoys bringing relief supplies of food, fuel, and

ammunition to the slowly starving city (90 percent of the

Republic's supplies moved by means of the convoys) from South

Vietnam. After the river was effectively blocked in early February,

the U.S. began an airlift of supplies. This became increasingly

risky, however, due to communist rocket and artillery fire, which

constantly rained down on the airfields and city.

Desperate, yet determined, units of Republican soldiers, many ofwhom had run out of ammunition, dug in around the capital and

fought until they were overrun as the Khmer Rouge advanced. By

the last week of March 1975, approximately 40,000 communist troops had surrounded the capital and began

preparing to deliver the coup de grace to about half as many Republican forces.[99]

Lon Nol resigned and left the country on 1 April, hoping that a negotiated settlement might still be possible if he was

absent from the political scene.[100] Saukam Khoy became acting president of a government that had less than three

weeks to live. Last-minute efforts on the part of the U.S. to arrange a peace agreement involving Sihanouk ended in

failure. When a vote in the U.S. Congress for a resumption of American air support failed, panic and a sense of doom

pervaded the capital. The situation was best described by General Sak Sutsakhan (now FANK chief of staff):

"The picture of the Khmer Republic which came to mind at that time was one of a sick man who

survived only by outside means and that, in its condition, the administration of medication, however

efficient it might be, was probably of no further value."[101]

Saukham Khoy, successor to Lon Nol as President of

the Khmer Republic arrives on board the USS Okinawa

on 12 April 1975 after being evacuated from Phnom

Penh.

On 12 April, concluding that all was lost (and without notifying

the Khmer government), the U.S. evacuated its embassy personnel

by helicopter during Operation Eagle Pull. The 276 evacuees

included U.S. Ambassador John Gunther Dean, other American

diplomatic personnel, Acting President Saukam Khoy, senior

Khmer Republic government officials and their families, and

members of the news media. In all, 82 U.S., 159 Cambodian, and35 third-country nationals were evacuated.[102] Although invited

by Ambassador Dean to join the evacuation (and much to the

Americans' surprise), Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak, Long Boret,

Lon Non (Lon Nol's brother), and most members of Lon Nol's

cabinet declined the offer.[103] All of them chose to share the fate

of their people. Their names were not published on the death lists

and many trusted the Khmer Rouge's assertions that former government officials would not be murdered, but would

be welcome in helping rebuild a new Cambodia. Later, they were all executed by the Khmer Rouge.

After the Americans (and Saukam Khoy) had departed, a seven-member Supreme Committee, headed by GeneralSak Sutsakhan, assumed authority over the collapsing Republic. By 15 April, the last solid defenses of the city were

overcome by the communists. In the early morning hours of 17 April, the committee decided to move the seat of
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lon_Nonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Long_Borethttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sisowath_Sirik_Matakhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Acting_Presidenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Gunther_Deanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Operation_Eagle_Pullhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ASaukham_Koy_arrives_on_USS_Okinawa.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Saukam_Khoyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ACambodian_Civil_War_map.jpg


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government to Oddar Meanchay Province in the northwest. Around 10:00, the voice of General Mey Si Chan of the

FANK general staff broadcast on the radio, ordering all FANK forces to cease firing, since "negotiations were in

progress" for the surrender of Phnom Penh.[104] The war was over but the terrible dreams of the Khmer Rouge were

about to come to fruition in the newly proclaimed Democratic Kampuchea. Khmer Rouge troops immediately began

to forcibly empty the capital city, driving the population into the countryside and killing thousands in the process.

The Year Zero had begun.

Notes

[1] Dmitry Mosyakov, The Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese Communists: A History of Their Relations as Told in the Soviet Archives, in

Susan E. Cook, ed., Genocide in Cambodia and Rwanda (Yale Genocide Studies Program Monograph Series No. 1, 2004), p54ff. Available

online at: www.yale.edu/gsp/publications/Mosyakov.doc "In AprilMay 1970, many North Vietnamese forces entered Cambodia in response

to the call for help addressed to Vietnam not by Pol Pot, but by his deputy Nuon Chea. Nguyen Co Thach recalls: "Nuon Chea has asked for

help and we have liberated five provinces of Cambodia in ten days.""

[2] http://books. google.com/?id=jeECAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA12

[3] The Economist, 26 February 1983.

[4] Washington Post, 23 April 1985.

[5] Rodman, Peter, Returning to Cambodia (http://www.brookings. edu/opinions/2007/0823iraq_rodman. aspx), Brookings Institute, 23

August 2007.

[6] Isaacs, Hardy and Brown et al., pp. 5458.

[7][7] Isaacs, Hardy and Brown, p. 83.

[8][8] Lipsman and Doyle, p. 127.

[9] Victory in Vietnam, p. 465, fn. 24.


[11][11] Beginning in 1966, Cambodians sold 100,000 tons of Cambodian rice to PAVN, who offered the world price and paid in U.S. dollars. The

government paid only a low fixed price and thereby lost the taxes and profits that would have been gained. The drop in rice for export (from

583,700 tons in 1965 to 199,049 tons in 1966) elevated an economic crises that grew worse with each passing year. Isaacs, Hardy and Brown,

p. 85.

[12] Chandler, pp. 153156.

[13][13] Osborne, p. 187.

[14][14] Chandler, p.157.[15][15] Isaacs, Hardy and Brown, p. 86.

[16] Chandler, pp. 164165.

[17][17] Osborne, p. 192.


[19][19] Chandler, p. 165.

[20][20] Chandler, p. 166.


[22][22] Chandler, p. 128.

[23][23] Deac, p. 55.

[24][24] Chandler, p. 141.

[25][25] Sutsakhan, p. 32.

[26] Chandler, pp. 174

176.[27][27] Isaacs, Hardy and Brown, p. 89.




[31][31] Karnow, p. 590.

[32] Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, Command History 1967, Annex F, Saigon, 1968, p. 4.

[33] Nalty, pp. 127133.

[34][34] Shawcross, p. 118.

[35] Deac, pp. 5657.


[37][37] Sutsakhan, p. 42.


[39] Shawcross, pp. 112122.

[40][40] Shawcross, p. 126.

http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2007/0823iraq_rodman.aspxhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Peter_Rodmanhttp://books.google.com/?id=jeECAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA12http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Democratic_Kampuchea


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[42][42] Deac, p. 69.

[43][43] Deac, p. 71.

[44][44] Deac, p. 75.



[47] Chandler, pp. 228229.

[48][48] Chandler, p. 200.

[49][49] Osborne, pp. 214, 218.[50][50] Chandler, p. 201.

[51][51] Chandler, p. 202.

[52][52] Lipsman and Brown, p. 146.

[53][53] Sutsakhan, p. 48.

[54][54] Deac, p. 172.

[55][55] Sutsakhan, p. 39.

[56][56] Nalty, p. 276.

[57][57] Shawcross, p. 190.

[58][58] Shawcross, p. 169.

[59][59] Shawcross, pp. 169, 191.


[61] Shawcross, pp. 313

315.[62][62] Chandler, p. 205.

[63][63] General Abrams dispatched General Conroy to Phnom Penh to observe the situation and report back. Conroy's conclusions were that the

Cambodian officer corps "had no combat experience...did not know how to run an army nor were they seemingly concerned about their

ignorance in the face of the mortal threats that they faced." Shaw, p. 137.

[64][64] Sutsakhan, p. 89.

[65][65] In a post-war survey of U.S. infantry officers that had served in the Vietnam Conflict, 44 percent rated PAVN as "skilled and tough

fighters". One officer commented "There was a tendency to underestimate the enemy. They were, in fact, the best enemy we have faced in our

history." Kinnard, p. 67.

[66] Sutsakhan, pp. 2627.

[67] The evolution of the communist forces is described in Sutsakhan, pp. 7882.

[68][68] Karnow, p. 608.

[69][69] Karnow, p. 607.

[70][70] Deac, p. 79.

[71][71] Sutsakhan, p. 174.

[72] Dmitry Mosyakov, The Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese Communists: A History of Their Relations as Told in the Soviet Archives, in

Susan E. Cook, ed., Genocide in Cambodia and Rwanda (Yale Genocide Studies Program Monograph Series No. 1, 2004), p54ff

[73] Deac, p. 72. PAVN units involved included the 1st, 5th, 7th, and 9th Divisions and the PAVN/NLF C40 Division. Artillery support was

provided by the 69th Artillery Division.

[74][74] Sutsakhan, p. 79

[75][75] Nalty, p. 199.

[76] Douglas Pike, John Prados, James W. Gibson, Shelby Stanton, Col. Rod Paschall, John Morrocco, and Benjamin F. Schemmer, War in the

Shadows. Boston: Boston Publishing Company, 1988, p. 146.

[77] War in the Shadows, p. 149.

[78] Chandler, pp. 222223.

[79][79] Isaacs, Hardy and Brown, p. 100.[80] http://www.earthwalkers.no/History.php

[81][81] Morrocco, p. 172.

[82][82] Shawcross, p. 297.


[84] Isaacs, Hardy and Brown, pp. 106107.

[85][85] Shawcross, p. 322.

[86][86] Osborne, p. 203.


[88][88] Chandler, p. 216.

[89][89] Ideology was not all that separated the two communist groups. Many Cambodian communists shared racially-based views about the

Vietnamese with their fellow countrymen. Deac, pp. 216, 230.

[90][90] Deac, p. 68.

[91][91] Shawcross, p. 281.

[92][92] Isaacs, Hardy and Brown, p. 107
http://www.earthwalkers.no/History.php


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[93][93] Chandler, p. 211.

[94][94] Chandler, p. 231.

[95][95] Osborne, p. 224.

[96][96] Shawcross, p. 321.

[97][97] Shawcross, p. 343.

[98][98] Lipsman and Weiss, p. 119.

[99][99] Snepp, p. 279.

[100][100] Deac, p. 218.[101][101] Sutsakhan, p. 155.

[102] The Republic's five-year war cost the U.S. about a million dollars a daya total of $1.8 billion in military and economic aid. Operation

Freedom Deal added another $7 billion. Deac, p. 221.


[104][104] Ponchaud, p. 7.

References

Published government documents

Military History Institute of Vietnam (2002). Victory in Vietnam: A History of the People's Army of Vietnam,

1954

1975. trans. Pribbenow, Merle. Lawrence KS: University of Kansas Press. ISBN 0-7006-1175-4. Nalty, Bernard C. (2000).Air War Over South Vietnam: 19681975. Washington DC: Air Force History and

Museums Program.

Sutsakhan, Lt. Gen. Sak, The Khmer Republic at War and the Final Collapse. Washington DC: United States

Army Center of Military History, 1987.

Biographies

Osborne, Milton (1994). Sihanouk: Prince of Light, Prince of Darkness. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.

ISBN 1-86373-642-5.

Secondary sources

Chandler, David P. (1991). The Tragedy of Cambodian History. New Haven CT: Yale University Press.ISBN 0-300-04919-6.

Deac, Wilfred P. (2000).Road to the Killing Fields: the Cambodian War of 19701975. College Station TX:

Texas A&M University Press.

Dougan, Clark; Fulghum, David, et al. (1985). The Fall of the South. Boston: Boston Publishing Company.

ISBN 0-939526-16-6.

Isaacs, Arnold; Hardy, Gordon (1988).Pawns of War: Cambodia and Laos. Boston: Boston Publishing Company.

ISBN 0-939526-24-7.

Karnow, Stanley (1983). Vietnam: A History. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 0-670-74604-5.

Kinnard, Douglas, The War Managers. Wayne NJ: Avery Publishing Group, 1988.

Lipsman, Samuel; Doyle, Edward, et al (1983).Fighting for Time: 1969

1970. Boston: Boston PublishingCompany. ISBN 0-939526-07-7.

Lipsman, Samuel; Weiss, Stephen (1985). The False Peace: 197274. Boston: Boston Publishing Company.

ISBN 0-939526-15-8.

Morris, Stephen (1999). Why Vietnam invaded Cambodia : political culture and the causes of war. Stanford CA:

Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-3049-0.

Morrocco, John (1985).Rain of Fire: Air War, 19691973. Boston: Boston Publishing Company.

ISBN 0-939526-14-X.

Osborne, Milton (1979).Before Kampuchea: Preludes to Tragedy. Sydney: George Allen & Unwin.

ISBN 0-86861-249-9.

Pike Douglas, John Prados, James W. Gibson, Shelby Stanton, Col. Rod Paschall, John Morrocco, and BenjaminF. Schemmer, War in the Shadows. Boston: Boston Publishing Company, 1991.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stanley_Karnowhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_Army_Center_of_Military_Historyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_Army_Center_of_Military_History


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Ponchaud, Francois, Cambodia: Year Zero. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1981.

Shaw, John M. (2005). The Cambodian Campaign: the 1970 offensive and America's Vietnam War. Lawrence

KS: University of Kansas Press. ISBN 0-7006-1405-2.

Shawcross, William (1979). Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia. University of

Michigan. ISBN 0-671-23070-0.

Snepp, Frank (1977).Decent Interval: An Insider's Account of Saigon's Indecent End Told by the CIA's Chief

Strategy Analyst in Vietnam. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-40743-1.

Tully, John (2005).A short history of Cambodia: from empire to survival. Singapore: Allen & Unwin.

ISBN 1-74114-763-8.

External links

U.S. and Vietnamese Involvement in Cambodian Civil War (http://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/

10822/552701) from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives (http://repository.library.

georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552494)
http://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552494http://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552494http://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552701http://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552701


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Article Sources and ContributorsCambodian Civil War Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=519071290 Contributors: 1or2, A D Monroe III, A51Abductee, Ace of Raves, Ahoerstemeier, Andrei Stroe, Andres,

Anonymous44, Anotherclown, Anticommunist48, Arjayay, Atavi, B-Machine, Baeksu, Beaumont, Bellerophon5685, BeteNoir, Bob rulz, Bobblewik, Bruxism, Buckboard, Buckshot06, BusterD,

Bwilkins, CJK, CalebNoble, Camerong, Canpark, CattleGirl, Ceyockey, Cigale, Clarin, Cmacauley, Colonies Chris, CommonsDelinker, Cripipper, Crockspot, DVD R W, DamageControl,

Darwinek, De Administrando Imperio, Docu, Dogaroon, Dr. B. R. Lang, Dukeofomnium, Dvd Avins, ENScroggs, ERcheck, Easter Monkey, Edward, Estlandia, Fifelfoo, Fratrep, Frietjes, G.W.,

Gazpacho, Gfoley4, Gilliam, Grunt, Gzornenplatz, Halda, Haunti, Hmains, Hoponpop69, IanManka, Insommia, JackofOz, Jay, Jeancey, Jed, Jiang, Jmj713, JohnKoziar, Juvo415, Kaiser matias,

Killerman2, Kirill Lokshin, Kozuch, Kyriakos, LaNicoya, Lairor, Lapsed Pacifist, Le Anh-Huy, Lenin13, Leopold III, Mangostar, Maniago, MattMadden, Maxim, Mely-cambodian

culture-finder, Mendaliv, Mgiganteus1, Mic, Michael Devore, Michael Essmeyer, Mkpumphrey, Modulatum, Mr A, Mztourist, Namvang, Neil916, Nick123, Nitya Dharma, Nv8200p,Ohconfucius, Orangemike, PFHLai, Paul K., Paxse, PrestonH, Pwt898, Quadell, R'n'B, RM Gillespie, Raymond Palmer, Reindha, Rich Farmbrough, RichardMills65, Rjwilmsi, Rlevse, Ruy

Lopez, S.Feyock, SAKHUT, Sadads, Sardur, SatuSuro, SelfQ, Skovski, Skysmith, Slysplace, Soman, Sonicboom5, Squash, Ste4k, Storm Rider, Stumink, Sun Creator, Sus scrofa, Svejk74,

Targeman, Tascha96, The Bushranger, The Realms of Gold, TheTimesAreAChanging, Thib Phil, Thingg, Tony1, Trenlotari, Trey Stone, Vida sopheap, Volker89, Wandalstouring, Wandering

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Image Sources, Licenses and ContributorsFile:Mao Sihanouk.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Mao_Sihanouk.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Gryffindor, JJ Georges, Magog the Ogre, Wolfmann,

Zolo, 1 anonymous edits

File:CamGen.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:CamGen.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Original uploader was RM Gillespie at en.wikipedia

File:Areas of Cambodia under government control August 1970.jpg Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Areas_of_Cambodia_under_government_control_August_1970.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Original uploader was RM Gillespie at

en.wikipedia

File:Cambodian Civil War-era T-54 or Type 59.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Cambodian_Civil_War-era_T-54_or_Type_59.jpgLicense: Creative Commons

Attribution 2.0 Contributors: Kyle Simourd

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