Cambodia Incursion

CAMBODIA INCURSION

CAMBODIA INCURSION. On 18 March 1970, Cambodian General Lon Nol seized power from Prince Norodom Sihanouk while the royal leader was in Moscow.

Unlike his predecessor, Lon Nol refused to tolerate the presence of tens of thousands of Vietnamese communists in the eastern part of Cambodia, where they maintained numerous base areas to support their war in South Vietnam. In addition, the communists received most of their supplies through the port of Sihanoukville. North Vietnam refused to acknowledge that it had any troops in Cambodia. The United States was reluctant to attack the bases with conventional ground forces, because invading an officially neutral country would incur serious diplomatic and domestic political risks. Determined to enforce his country's neutrality, Lon Nol tried to block the communists from using Sihanoukville and demanded that their troops leave his country. With their supply system threatened, the Vietnamese communist forces in Cambodia launched an offensive against Lon Nol's government. As the Cambodian forces faltered, the United States decided to mount a limited incursion to save Lon Nol's government. Destroying the communist base areas on the Cambodian border would also inhibit enemy operations in South Vietnam.

On 26 April, President Richard Nixon gave his approval for a multidivision offensive into Cambodia. He limited the incursion to 30 kilometers and imposed for U.S. troops a withdrawal deadline of 30 June. South Vietnamese troops would invade the "Parrot's Beak" region, a strip of land jutting from Cambodia toward Saigon, while American troops would enter the "Fish Hook" area to the north. The United States hoped to destroy significant quantities of enemy supplies and locate the elusive enemy headquarters known as the Central Office for South Vietnam (COSVN).

The invasion began on 29 April, when three ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) columns of armor and infantry, totaling 8,700 men, crossed into the Parrot's Beak in Operation Toàn Thang (Total Victory) 42. On 12 May, 15,000 Americans and South Vietnamese invaded the Fish Hook region in Operation Rockcrusher/Toàn Thang 43. Subsequent operations were called Bold Lancer/Toàn Thang 44 and Tame the West/Binh Tay. The major enemy units opposing the allied forces included the Seventh Division of the People's Army of Vietnam and the Fifth Vietcong Division.

After a few sharp engagements, the enemy withdrew deeper into Cambodia. The allies captured large stores of equipment, including enough individual weapons to out-fit seventy-four North Vietnamese army battalions and enough small-arms ammunition to supply the enemy's war effort for one entire year. Allied forces claimed 11,349 enemy killed in action and recorded 2,328 enemy captured or rallied. Allied losses came to 976 dead (338 Americans) and 4,534 (1,525 Americans) wounded. The last American ground forces pulled out of Cambodia on 30 June. The allied forces failed to locate the COSVN headquarters, which at that time was operating from the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. Despite losing substantial amounts of food and equipment, the enemy gradually replenished their base areas. The United States participation in the invasion of Cambodia re-energized the antiwar movement, stiffened congressional opposition to Nixon's White House, and widened the breech of trust between the media and the military.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Nolan, Keith William. Into Cambodia: Spring Campaign, Summer Offensive, 1970. San Francisco: Presidio Press, 1990.

Shawcross, William. Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon, and the Destruction of Cambodia. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979.

Sorley, Lewis. A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1999.

Erik B. Villard

See also Vietnam War .