#second indochina war

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Female Member of the Khmer National Armed Forces, Late 1971. Source: Shutterstock

On 21st August 1971, the Lon Nol regime in Cambodia launched Operation Chenla II, intended to extend the new government’s authority into the east of the country - territory that had long been in the hands of the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong, now that the grip of the Communists had been weakened by the US incursion the previous year and sustained subsequent US bombing of their sanctuaries.

The attack focused on recapturing Route 6 and breaking the encirclement of Kompong Tom by the NVA. The campaign met with initial success when Communist forces were caught by surprise, resulting in significant gains by the Khmer National Armed Forces (FANK) during the late summer. However, the PAVN regrouped and, supported by the Khmer Rouge, launched a devastating counter-offensive in October 1971 which reversed all the Cambodian government gains and forced Lon Nol's troops into a precipitate reteat. By December 1971, when the fighting had died down, it was clear that the Phnom Penh regime hd suffered a major defeat. The FANK was forced into a defensive posture thereafter, holding the towns and highways of western Cambodia, but unable to effect any control of most of the countryside, which fell into the hands of the increangly militarily effective Khmer Rluge.

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Vietnam War #Diorama #ScaleModel #Miniature #ModelKit #Figures

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1969 - “For services in My Lai!”

Refers to the My Lai Massacre during the U.S. War of Aggression against Vietnam, when U.S. troops slaughtered 350-500 unarmed civilians including women, children and infants.

[indochina1]

Mao Zedong Chatting to Prince Norodom Sihanouk. Source: GettyImages/Bettmann

In the autumn of 1966, Prince Sihanouk concluded a covert deal with North Vietnam for its military to establish permanent bases in Cambodia, in the context of American bombing and government military success in Laos. The deal, conducted through the good offices of China, also permitted the use of the port of Sihanoukville to be used for the landing of Communist military supplies there for use in South Vietnam. Although Sihanouk had always enjoyed friendly relations with the Communist powers, this sudden shift to actual support of the NVA and Viet Cong war effort was driven by an increasing conviction the Communist movements would triumph in Southeast Asia and a desire to safeguard Cambodia’s position in the new order.

However, Sihanouk always hedged his bets. At the same time he agreed to allow the US air force to bomb the very Communist bases he had permitted, as well as the Cambodian portion of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, providing no Cambodians were targeted. However it was his collaboration with the DRV that lead to right wing opinion in Cambodia turning more viscerally against Sihanouk.

[indochina1]

Communist Vietnamese Insurgents in Action. Source: GettyImages/ Three Lions

In October 1957, in response to Diem’s suppression of the urban Viet Minh, the Central Committee of the Lao Dong Party in Hanoi ordered the reactivation of dormant VM cells in South Vietnam. Thirty seven combat units were organised in the Mekong Delta. The insurgents carried out a series of terrorist attacks against RVN officials, anti-communist politicians, and foreigners sympathetic to the Diem regime. In a campaign known as the “Liquidation of the Traitors”, the guerrillas carried out assassinations, bombings and attacks on rural police and military outposts. By the end of the year, the southern-based Viet Minh had killed over 400 South Vietnamese government officials. This campaign marked the beginning of the Second Indochina War.

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“Our mountains will always be, our rivers will always be, our people will always be, The American invaders defeated, we will rebuild our land ten times more beautiful.” –Ho Chi Minh

[indochina1]

Pathet Lao Soldiers with Children, 1974. Source: Libraries Search website.

The Royal Lao government was faced with the same existential problem as its anti-communist neighbours in 1974 as the Americans withdrew from Indochina. The ceasefire called in Laos following the Paris Peace Accords, held, unlike in South Vietnam and Cambodia. However the disadvantages faced by the Vientiane regime vis-à-vis its opponents in terms of territory held and logistical strength, meant the Rightist cause in Laos also floundered. The long-term anti-communist Laotian Prime Minister, Souvanna Phouma was in ill health and in early 1974, announced his retirement from politics and he relocated to France. Under the terms of the ceasefire, the Pathet Lao entered into government alongside its former enemies and immediately set about trying to engineer a political takeover, under the effective leadership of the “Red Prince” Souphanouvong, ironically Phouma's half-brother.

In May 1974 Souphanouvong put forward a plan for “National Reconstruction”, which included the holding of free elections, religious and political freedom and economic investment. The plan was agreed unanimously by the National Assembly. Although Laos avoided the violence underway in the other Indochinese countries in 1974, the balance of power was weighted heavily in favour of the Pathet Lao, who were still militarily supported by the PAVN, while the Royalist and Rightist factions were leaderless and now lacked the support of the US. The stage was set for a gradual takeover of Laos by the Communists.

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Calls to Impeach President Nixon Outside the White House. Source: History On The Net

As the Second Indochina War fell into an uneasy stalemate in late 1973, developments in the United States were conspiring to effectively hobble the ability of the Nixon administration to intervene in order to help sustain the anti-Communist regimes in Saigon, Vientiane and Phnom Penh. The Watergate scandal, which had started as a botched attempt by Nixon to spy on the Democrats’ campaign during the 1972 Presidential election, had spiralled into a full-blown inquiry into serial dishonesty at the heart of government: this included the lies to Congress about the extent of US involvement in the Laotian and Cambodian conflicts. On 7th November 1973, Congress overruled Nixon’s veto of the law limiting the President’s right to wage war without recourse to Congress.

As calls grew in the US for Nixon’s impeachment, it became clear that sustained American military support for the RVN, the Republic of Kampuchea and the Kingdom of Laos would be severely curtailed from now on.