Word: lon
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...less than two weeks before the congressionally imposed Aug. 15 cut-off of all American military activity in Indochina takes effect-giving the impression that the U.S. was desperate to get in as much bombing as possible in the remaining days. In an attempt to prop up the faltering Lon Nol regime, B-52 flights over Cambodia have increased from 40 daily sorties to 49. Supplies such as T-28 propeller-driven fighter planes, ammunition, cargo planes, howitzers and armored personnel carriers are being rushed to Lon Nol's army...
Despite the incessant American aerial barrage, the Khmer insurgents continue to gain ground-battering Lon Nol's forces at will. Deftly applying pressure first on one major highway leading to the capital and then switching to another, the insurgents have kept the government's forces off balance. In fighting creeping ever nearer to Phnom-Penh, the rebels have inflicted 800 to 1,200 casualties weekly upon government troops. The heavy casualties have diluted Lon Nol's units; the four battalions guarding the bridge at Prek Ho now each contain about 120 men, instead of their normal strength...
...Phnom-Penh-will do next. The initiative is all theirs, military observers agree, and they have a range of options: they could launch a frontal attack on the capital, or cause a slow strangulation by cutting off its supplies, or even stage a Tet-like uprising from within. Although Lon Nol has 75,000 troops in and around Phnom-Penh (with insurgent forces estimated at 20,000), fewer than 12,000 are regarded as battle effective. Thousands of others perform headquarters tasks or serve as bodyguards for Lon Nol and other military and political officials. Therefore a significant counterthrust...
...font of optimism in Phnom-Penh, is now playing a waiting game. It no longer talks of reform governments, reorganization of the army, or bright new pacification measures. Gone too is the hint that substantive negotiations are under way. In fact, U.S. sources now openly worry whether the Lon Nol regime can survive the ending of U.S. bombing this week. If in the weeks ahead it does manage to survive, then the insurgents might be tempted to start negotiations. But for the moment Cambodia's existence depends on the force of arms...
...bombing will stop, Lon Nol's puppet strings will be cut, and Cambodia will eventually return to peace and national sovereignty under the leadership of the revolutionary Khmer Rouge. Lon Nol probably already has a mansion on the French Riviera picked out, where he can join other reactionary luminaries like Madame Nhu and a host of South Vietnamese generals...