Word: khmer
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Until recently, both Laos and Cambodia served as buffer states that separated the Thais from their ancient enemies, the Vietnamese. Now Laos is firmly under Hanoi's direction, and Cambodia is embroiled in war fare between an invading Vietnamese army and resisting Khmer Rouge forces. Both Laos and Cambodia are providing sanctuary for thousands of Thai Communist insurgents, who roam almost at ran dom over several provinces in northern and northeastern Thailand...
...major confrontation between the two countries is unlikely as long as Khmer Rouge guerrillas loyal to ousted Cambodian Premier Pol Pot continue fighting. After the invading Vietnamese succeeded last month in installing a pro-Hanoi regime in Phnom-Penh, it soon found itself tied down by guerrilla resistance in the Cambodian countryside...
...weeks that urgent radio message crackled from a redoubt deep in eastern Cambodia's Mondolkiri forest. The frustrated sender of the plea was the commander of two Khmer Rouge infantry companies. He had been cut off in the forest by Vietnamese troops who had invaded Cambodia (Democratic Kampuchea). The broadcast was futile; Khmer commanders were too scattered and too harried to respond to the call. Like most other units in the estimated 73,000-man Communist Khmer Rouge force deployed to face the six-pronged Vietnamese attack, the isolated companies in the Mondolkiri forest had been outgunned and outmaneuvered...
...along with Soviet MiGs, the Vietnamese started a second-phase maneuver. They moved along rural routes into isolated areas seeking to surround and wipe out the pockets they had bypassed in the initial rush. Unable to bring ar tillery to bear on such swiftly moving foes, the Khmer offered only brief opposition and then faded back to secondary defenses...
...they have really prepared such fallback positions, the scattered Khmer Rouge could become bothersome bees for the Vietnamese. But that was small consolation; they had lost their country as a result of General Dung's brilliant offensive, and all indications were that there will be a Vietnamese presence in Cambodia for a long time to come...