Cambodian-Vietnamese War
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cambodia-Vietnam War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Third Indochina War | |||||||
|
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| Combatants | |||||||
 Vietnam |
 Democratic Kampuchea |
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| Commanders | |||||||
| Văn Tiến Dũng | Pol Pot | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 150,000 | 60,000 | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| 30,000? | 30,000? | ||||||
The Cambodian-Vietnamese War was a series of conflicts between the two countries, culminating in Vietnamese invasion and subsequent occupation of Cambodia, which effectively overthrew Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge from power.
[edit] Background
Even before the Vietnam War had ended, the relationship between the Khmer Rouge and Vietnam was at a low. Clashes between Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge forces began to occur as early as 1974. During the First Indochina War, when Vietnam and Cambodia allied against the French, Vietnamese forces had made great use of Cambodian territory in transporting weapons, supplies, and troops. This relationship lasted until the Vietnam War and even after the war, people from both countries remained used to freely crossing the border. The Khmer Rouge demanded that the Mekong Delta area should also be returned to Cambodia, and all Vietnamese should leave this area. The Vietnamese refused these demands since the Mekong Delta had been Vietnamese territory for nearly three centuries. Thousands of Vietnamese were either executed or forced out of Cambodia and villages along the border were attacked. This led to an escalation of the conflict that would end with the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia and a victory.
[edit] The War
The Khmer Rouge conducted two major incursions into Vietnam. The first attack occurred in April of 1977, when a Khmer Rouge's forces advanced 10km into Vietnam before withdrawal. The second attack was in September of the same year. This time the Khmer Rouge was able to advance 150km into Vietnam. The Khmer Rouge also attacked two Vietnamese islands, Phu Quoc and Tho Chu. In retaliation, six divisions of the PAVN invaded Cambodia on December 31 1977. These forces later withdrew, due to the fact that the invasion was only a "warning" to the Khmer Rouge. The Vietnamese offered a demilitarized zone along the border, but this offer was rejected by Pol Pot, and fightings renewed. Hanoi now wanted to remove the threat of the Khmer Rouge for good, so the Vietnamese assembled forces of 12 divisions, supported by the Kampuchean National United Front for National Salvation (KNUFNS), with strong armour and air supports advanced into Cambodia on December 25, 1978.
The Khmer Rouge had prepared a force of 60,000 to resist the invasion, but was not able to stop the Vietnamese from advancing to Phnom Penh and captured the city on January 7. The Khmer Rouge switched to a guerrilla campaign and began to attack the long and exposed line of communication of the Vietnamese forces. The Vietnamese used the pretext that none of her own troops were actually fighting, but only supported the KNUFNS in the struggle against the brutal Khmer Rouge. But this was not the case, Vietnam had over 120,000 troops in Cambodia, while the KNUFNS had only 20,000. For the remainder of the war the Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge were locked in a bloody guerrilla war. Vietnamese forces continued to hold the cities while the Khmer Rouge was in control of the rural area, especially along the Thai border. This bloody struggle did not end until Vietnam withdrew her troops in the late '80s. Casualties at both sides are uncertain, but 30,000 each is most likely.
