Word: phnom-penh
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...Vietnamese Communists, between 100 and 200 strong, infiltrated Phnom-Penh during the dead of night, divided into three teams and went quickly to work. One group of sappers blew up the city's largest and most modern bridge. Another blasted its way into a stadium and tried to hijack ten armored personnel carriers parked there. The third group, armed with automatic weapons and rockets, filtered into a residential section near the stadium and entered the French embassy compound. By the time the attackers were repulsed, 83 Communists had been killed and seven captured; 26 Cambodians were dead...
That assault two weeks ago sent shock waves reverberating well beyond the city limits of Phnom-Penh. For one thing, it was the first time the central part of the city had been attacked on the ground since the war in Cambodia began in 1970. For another, it is precisely the sort of hit-and-run operation that allied intelligence has predicted for Saigon almost any day now. Regiment-sized units of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong occupied seven hamlets near Saigon at the beginning of last week; South Vietnamese forces recaptured some hamlets but only after they were pounded...
...they are also fighting in order to bolster the claims of indigenous Communist organizations -Cambodia's Khmer Rouge and Laos' Pathet Lao-for representation in any new governments that might be established in an area-wide settlement of the war. The relative ease with which the Phnom-Penh attack was mounted points to the impressive gains the Communists have made in Cambodia since the start of the Easter offensive. They have expanded their area of control (see map, preceding page) from the sparsely populated north and northeast into the more populous south. They have also taken over virtual...
...army of the Khmer Republic has made no serious attempt to expel the Communists since its troops were dealt a disastrous defeat last December at Rumlong, 50 miles north of Phnom-Penh. That defeat led to mounting criticism of the leadership of then Prime Minister Lon Nol. He responded by canceling the constitution, dissolving the National Assembly and proclaiming himself the first President of the Republic-actions since ratified by a series of blatantly rigged elections...
Over the next three days, the Communists followed up with sapper attacks that crippled two freighters moored near Phnom-Penh's docks and severely damaged an important bridge. But there was no sign that they wanted to take the city, or even to increase the considerable swath of Cambodian territory under their control. What was the point of it all? According to some speculation, the attacks were a counterpoint to the festivities surrounding the second anniversary of the overthrow of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, under whose rule North Vietnamese troops had free use of Cambodia's ports and jungle...