The Khmer National Armed Forces (French: Forces Armées Nationales Khmères), often abbreviated to FANK, were the official armed defense forces of the Khmer Republic, a short-lived state that existed from 1970 to 1975, known today as Cambodia. The FANK was the successor of FARK (French: Forces Armées Royales Khmères) which had been responsible for the defense of the previous Kingdom of Cambodia since its independence in 1954 from France.
Being essentially a continuation of the old Royal armed forces under a new name, the FANK played a more partisan role in the Cambodian Civil War that escalated following the deposition as Head of State of Prince Norodom Sihanouk in 1970 by a coup d’état orchestrated by his own Prime-Minister General Lon Nol. Though the armed forces of the Kingdom had been involved since April 1967 in the suppression of the Communist Party of Kampuchea's rebellion led by Saloth Sar (better known as Pol Pot), up until Sihanouk's overthrow it was considered to have the consensual backing of the Cambodian society, as the Prince was considered the symbol of the people.
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In 1953 the French protectorate of Cambodia was granted full independence by France, allowing the young King Norodom Sihanouk to lead the government of the first post-colonial state in French-ruled Indochina. Under the terms of the Geneva Accords signed the following year which ended the Indochina War, French Army and Vietnamese Vietminh guerrilla units still operating in Cambodia were obliged to withdraw from its territory and that a new defense force was to be raised. Trained by the French and equipped by the United States since September 1950,[1] the armed forces of the new Kingdom of Cambodia (FARK) were formed mainly by Khmer regular soldiers recently transferred from French colonial units, though ex-Vietminh guerrillas of Khmer origin were also allowed to join.
Most of the senior members of the Officer corps had been officials in the colonial regime. Lon Nol, for example, served as Commander of the Cambodian Police under the French protectorate. In 1955 Gen. Lon was promoted to Chief-of-Staff of the FARK, and in 1960 was appointed Minister of Defense. Under his command the FARK became a bastion of American influence on the Sihanouk regime, particularly because US military aid constituted 30% of the armed forces’ budget until 1964, when it was renounced by the Cambodian government. Following his faction's seizure of a large number of seats of the ruling Sangkum party’s representation at the National Assembly in the 1966 general elections, Gen. Lon was elected Prime-Minister, thereby locking the state institutions under the firm grip of the military, just as Sihanouk had feared. However, he resigned from the post in 1967 after a car accident, only to return two years later when the monarch mounted a renewed purge against leftist dissidents.
As a representative of the conservative Khmer who had supported the French rule, Lon Nol never accepted Sihanouk's neutralist policy of non-alignment. Though the Prince's sporadic purges of leftist movements would quench Lon's wrath at the growing communist insurgency, what truly worried him was Sihanouk's covert deals with North Vietnam and the Viet Cong, which allowed them to establish base-camps on the Cambodian side of the border with South Vietnam and built a massive supply infrastructure. Lon also knew that Sihanouk's balancing appeasement of the US from 1968 onwards by allowing B-52 aerial bombings and ‘hot pursuit’ cross-border raids against NVA/VC base areas within Cambodia would be ineffective in stopping the wider, home-grown insurgency. One of the measures he was able to undertake was the build-up of a strong anti-communist faction within the FARK’s officer corps that would back him should Sihanouk shift again towards the left.
On March 17, 1970, while Sihanouk was absent from the country on a state visit to China and the USSR, Lon Nol – with the secret backing of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the government of South Vietnam[2] – assumed power when the National Assembly in Phnom Penh unanimously voted the Prince out of office. Lon Nol automatically succeeded the latter as Head of State on August 18, and although he claimed that the move was constitutionally legal, it quickly ran afoul of the conservative mentality of the Cambodians, many of whom believed that the Prince ruled through divine favour. To further aggrieve matters, Prince Sihanouk, who had sought refuge in China after being deposed, established a political base in Beijing and entered into an alliance with the increasingly Maoist-oriented Khmer Rouge leadership and other leftist opposition groups. In April 1970 these disparate groups formed the FUNK, an umbrella organization dedicated to the armed overthrow of the pro-western Khmer Republic.
Lon Nol also had to deal with a number of dissident FARK senior officers whom, though sharing most of his views, felt that the overthrow of Sihanouk had been one step too far. Many of these royalist officers resigned in protest from the armed forces’ structure when Gen. Lon proceeded to transform with American help the old FARK into the FANK to accommodate the character of the new Republican regime. By contrast, new recruits were readily available from the ranks of the far-right Khmer Serei, a US-backed anti-communist guerrilla group led by the hardline Nationalist Son Ngoc Thanh which had fought against Sihanouk’s regime during the 1960s and who always viewed him as a communist crony.
The measures quickly implemented by Lon Nol’s administration included the issue of ultimata demanding North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and Vietcong units to vacate the bases they had established on Khmer soil, and prevented arms shipments bound to the Vietcong from being unloaded at his sea ports. These same measures however, coupled by the effects of the joint US Army/ARVN Cambodian Incursion launched that same year against NVA/VC sanctuaries in Cambodia, resulted in a heavy backlash. In reality, the newly-created Khmer Republic and its ill-prepared armed forces were soon caught off-guard in the early 1970s by the aggressive reaction of the NVA, which had previously limited its actions to providing support to Vietcong units operating at South Vietnam even after its devastating defeat in the January 1968 Tet Offensive. The outcome was that the period of Lon Nol’s rule actually saw an increase of North Vietnamese military presence in the lower Mekong and Bassac corridors and in the north and northeast Cambodia, particularly from 1972 onwards. In response to the earlier FANK’s failed ground offensives to expel them, strong NVA units launched in turn throughout 1971-72 ferocious counter-offensives on these areas – using heavy artillery, tanks, and SAM-7 anti-aircraft missiles for the first time in Cambodia –, which dwarfed the Tet Offensive numerically. These massive-scale operations only served to exhaust both sides however, and led to the signing in January 1973 of the Paris Peace Accords which marked the official end of American direct involvement on combat operations in Vietnam. The Accords hit both the Khmer Republic and South Vietnam hard, as the military and financial aid that they received from the US was cut by over fifty percent (though American military personnel in Cambodia continued to coordinate the various military aid programs, sometimes finding themselves involved in prohibited advisory and combat tasks until 1975.[3]) The FANK, which until that date had been armed, supplied, and maintained by American advisors and technicians, had to wake up to a new reality in which they had to repair their own equipment and train their troops as best as they could with far less of a budget.
The creation of the Chinese-sponsored FUNK coalition by Sihanouk and the lending of his popular support to the anti-Republican insurgency gave it greater legitimacy in the eyes of the pro-Sihanoukist Cambodian peasantry, many of whom began to flock into its ranks. This move inadvertedly also allowed the Khmer Rouge to recruit peasants from the villages on the rural areas under their control that otherwise would have been uninterested. In addition, many politically moderate Cambodians came to dislike Lon Nol’s authoritarian (and unstable) republican regime, due to his corrupt ways and oppressive rule that curbed political and civil rights far more than Sihanouk had done.
In the wake of the 1973 Paris Peace Accords, Lon Nol proved unable to halt the illegal build-up of North Vietnamese forces in the lower Mekong-Bassac area in preparation for a renewed offensive in neighbouring South Vietnam. He also failed to engage in a properly coordinated war effort with either the American CIA or the Southern Vietnamese Nguyen Van Thieu regime.
Meanwhile, FANK troops committed numerous Human Rights abuses against civilians, particularly the persecution of ethnic Vietnamese (who were accused of supporting the NVA/VC) and the repression of Khmer peasant villagers who rioted in support of Sihanouk, misguided policies that drove the latter into the arms of Pol Pot. In the remote areas of the country, notably in the highland regions, the FANK proved incapable of restraining the Khmer Rouge's fearsome intimidation campaigns that targeted the peasantry, let alone protecting them. After mid-1971 the Republican government focused on consolidating its hold over the key urban centers, the main garrisons and the lower Mekong-Bassac corridors, thus leaving most of the countryside virtually open to Khmer Rouge recruiting drives.[4] Whilst during the 1967-68 operations waged against the Khmer Rouge's Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea (RAK) strongholds in Battambang Province Lon Nol could rely on the peasantry's loyalty to Prince Sihanouk, he was now alone. His deteriorating army, reduced to a garrison force confined to the main cities, was increasingly regarded as the military wing of the Phnom Penh regime rather than of the nation itself.
Facing them was the FUNK’s armed wing, the Cambodian People's National Liberation Armed Forces (CPNLAF) which received arms and ammunition freely from the nation's porous borders. While the CPNLAF was far smaller, the FANK High Command was always faced with the problem of how to provide adequate equipment for the swelling number of volunteers who flocked to fight the NVA and the Khmer Rouge from their dwindling stocks. As the war progressed, weapons and ammunition, not to mention training grounds, became rarer, the FANK was unable to train in-country their new recruits, leaving it an army of raw conscripts and demoralized veterans. The FANK was already placed at a strategic disadvantage since May 1970, following the seizure of the northeastern areas of the country (the provinces of Stung Treng, Ratanakiri, Kratie, and Mondolkiri) by the NVA in response to the Lon Nol ultimatum and the loss to the Khmer Rouge of several peripherical eastern and southwestern Cambodian provinces (Kampot, Koh Kong, Kampong Cham, Preah Vihear, plus portions of Siem Reap, Oddar Meanchey, Kampong Thom, Prey Veng, and Svay Rieng Provinces) during that same year.
On January 1975, coinciding with the North Vietnamese winter offensive that shattered the South's defences apart, the Khmer Rouge closed in on Phnom Penh, already overcrowded with 250,000 civilian refugees, and besieged it. President Lon Nol, FANK Commander-in-Chief Gen. Sosthene Fernandez and other Khmer Republic officials could not coordinate an effective resistance and at the same time feed the refugees and residents of Phnom Penh. On April 1 Marshal Lon Nol resigned from the Presidency and left the Country by plane to Thailand, although most of the senior civilian and military government officials decided to stay. Later on April 17, the armed forces’ Chief of the General Staff Let. Gen. Sak Sutsakhan was evacuated together with his family and relatives of other officials by helicopter to Kampong Thom, thus effectively ending the FANK's existence as a coherent fighting force.[5]
The last stand of the army of ill-fated Khmer Republic in any form took place around the Preah Vihear Temple in the Dângrêk Mountains, close to the Thai border. Remnants of the FANK’s 9th Brigade Group occupied the area for a few weeks in late April 1975, following the collapse of the ineffective and beleaguered Lon Nol regime.[6] Even though their government had surrendered, FANK soldiers continued to fiercely hold their ground for nearly a month after the fall of Phnom Penh against several unsuccessful attempts by Khmer Rouge forces to reduce this last holdout. The Khmer Rouge finally succeeded on May 22, after shelling the hill where the temple stands, scaling it up and routing the defenders, as Thai officials reported at the time.[7]
Prior to March 1970 Cambodia was divided into six military regions (MR, Régions Militaires in French) encompassing two or five military sub-districts corresponding to the country’s provinces – 1st MR, 2nd MR, 3rd MR, 4th MR, 5th MR, and 6th MR –, each headquartered at the provincial capitals of Kampong Cham, Kampong Speu, Battambang, Siem Reap, Stung Treng, and Kratie, whilst a Phnom Penh Special Military Zone (PPSMZ, Région Militaire Spéciale de Phnom Penh – RMSPP in French) covered the National Capital and its environs. Shortly after the beginning of the war a special military zone for the lower Mekong River, designated the Special Mekong Zone – SMZ (French: Zone Spéciale du Mekong – ZSM) was established at Kandal Province, situated between the Cambodian Capital and the South Vietnamese border. Two additional military regions (8th MR and 9th MR) were created in 1973.[8]
The FANK’s predecessor was first established on November 9, 1953 under the terms of a French-Khmer convention and received the designation of Royal Khmer Armed Forces (French: Forces Armées Royales Khmères – FARK). In the mid-1950s the FARK consisted of ground, air and naval branches of service, respectively the Royal Khmer Army, the Royal Khmer Air Force, and the Royal Khmer Navy. Their roles were defined as follows: to guarantee the sovereignty of the nation and that of the King; to ensure internal security by maintaining the social order and the rule of law; and to defend the newly-independent Kingdom of Cambodia from external threats.
The oldest and largest branch of the Cambodian armed forces in terms of personnel and matériel, the Royal Khmer Army (French: Armée Royale Khmère – ARK) was officially created on November 20, 1946 after the signing of a French-Khmer military agreement.
By January 1970, the Royal Khmer Army standed at about 35,000 Officers and enlisted men and women, organized according to French practice into 53 regiments (actually, battalions) and 13-15 regional independent companies; slightly over half were designated infantry battalions (French: Battaillons d’Infanterie) and the remainder light infantry battalions (French: Battaillons de Chasseurs). Elite troops and some support units, including the Khmer Royal Guard (French: Garde Royal Khmère), Phnom Penh garrison, Airborne troops (French: Parachutistes), Signals (French: Transmissions), Engineers (French: Génie), Artillery (French: Artillerie), Anti-Aircraft (French: Defense Antiaérienne), and Transport (French: Train) were organized into six larger formations termed half-brigades (French: Demi-Brigades). Other technical branch services such as Medical (French: Service de Santé), Ordnance (French: Service de Matériel), Quartermaster (French: Service de Intendance), and the Military Police (French: Prevôtée Militaire) were placed under the responsibility of the Service Directorates subordinated to the Ministry of National Defense. Most ARK units were concentrated in the northeast at Ratanakiri Province and on the Phnom Penh area; the latter was the headquarters of the six main Half-Brigades and supporting services whereas infantry formations were deployed throughout the country. The small armoured corps was also organized into an Armoured Half-Brigade (French: Demi-Brigade Blindée Khmère)[9] consisting of two independent tank battalions – one stationed at Phnom Penh and the other at Kampong Cham – and an armoured reconnaissance regiment, 1st ARR (French: 1re Régiment de Reconnaissance Blindée) at Sre Khlong.[10] Although a sizeable reserve cadre of trained Officers and NCOs did existed, there was a persistent lack of reserve units. Some units were posted to the General reserve forces, which consisted merely of the Phnom Penh garrison troops – a half-brigade made of two light infantry battalions – and the combat support units (signals, engineers, armoured, and artillery half-brigades).[11]
With the exception of a few specialized units, most of these formations actually fell below strength, were poorly trained and equipped in a haphazard way with an array of French, American, British, Belgian, West German, Czechoslovakian, Chinese, and Soviet weapon systems. The armoured corps inventory consisted of thirty-six M24 Chaffee light tanks, forty AMX-13 light tanks, and some M8 HMC 75mm self-propelled Howitzers; reconnaissance squadrons were provided with M8 Greyhound light armoured cars, M20 Armoured Utility Cars, Panhard AML-60 and AML-90 armoured cars. Mechanized infantry battalions were issued with M3 Half-Tracks, M3 Scout Cars, BTR-40 and BTR-152 armoured personnel carriers (APC)[12]. The artillery corps fielded US 4.2in heavy mortars and M101A1 105mm towed field howitzers, whilst Air Defense units were equipped with British-made Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft guns.
Following the March 1970 coup, the new Head of State Marshal Lon Nol issued a general mobilization order and, after securing American, Thai, and South Vietnamese military support, promptly set up plans to expand the Khmer armed forces. By June 1970, the rechristened National Khmer Army (French: Armée Nationale Khmère – ANK), commonly known as the ’Cambodian Army’, had rapidly expanded to 110,000 men and women, though most of them were untrained raw recruits organized into a confusing array of French- and American-modelled combat formations, staffed by elderly NCOs and unexperienced Officers.
At the same time, there were several changes regarding field organization. Infantry battalions were at first amalgamated into regiments (French: Régiments d’Infanterie), soon abolished in favor of a brigade grouping several battalions. By early May 1970, 18 new Infantry Brigades (French: Brigades d’Infanterie) had been created, but only 12 – the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th Inf. Bdes – were properly manned, the other six – 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th Inf. Bdes – were never brought to strength or remained on paper. In mid-1970, Infantry units began to be formed into larger 15 Brigade Groups, each comprising two brigades. Of these, only three were military effective by January 1972, other three were still undergoing training, and the remaining nine were only marginally reliable. The Artillery, Signals, Engineer, and Armoured Half-Brigades were also brought to brigade strength, with the latter becoming the 1st Khmer Armoured Brigade (1st Armd. Bde, 1re Brigade Blindée Khmère in French).
To streamline the mass of ground forces’ combat formations, a major reshuffle was implemented between July and December 1972 under American lines. The old colonial organizational structure inherited from the French was abandoned in favour of a modern conventional organization based on the US Army model. By January 1973, all brigade group headquarters (HQs), 17 regimental HQs, 16 brigade HQs, and 13 battalions had been dissolved, replaced by newly-created 32 Infantry Brigades, 202 Infantry Battalions, and 465 Territorial Infantry Companies. Out of these totals, 128 battalions formed the maneuver elements for the 32 brigades, of which 20 would remain independent and 12 were to be distributed among new four Mechanized Infantry Divisions (French: Divisions d’Infanterie) – 1st Inf. Div., 2nd Inf. Div., 3rd Inf. Div., and 7th Inf. Div. – whilst a fifth, the understrength 9th Guards Division was later raised in April 1974. The Armour, Artillery, Signals, and Engineer arms were left untouched by this reorganization and retained their separate brigade structure under their own commands. The General Reserve was also reorganized by Marshal Lon Nol in April 1972 by sub-dividing it into three groups: the Forces A, attached to a MR for combat operations; Forces B, the General Staff reserve comprising five brigades; and Forces C, two airborne battalions under the personal command of Lon Nol.
Cambodian army strength stood at 220,000-230,000 troops on paper by mid-1972, but is estimated that the actual number was no less than 150,000, armed by the United States with an $US 1.18 billion-worth of weaponry and equipment.[13] Its inventory included 241,630 rifles, 7,079 machine guns, 2,726 mortars, 20,481 grenade launchers, 304 recoilless rifles, 289 howitzers, 202 M113 APCs (including 17 M106 mortar carriers equipped with a 107mm heavy mortar), and 4,316 trucks.[14]
Although an air wing for the fledging Khmer Royal Army was first planned in 1952, it wasn't until April 1954 however that the Royal Khmer Air Force (French: Aviation Royale Khmère – AVRK) was officially commissioned by Royal decree. Commanded by Prince Sihanouk’s personal physician, Colonel Dr. Ngo Hou and known sarcastically as the ‘Royal Flying Club’,[15] the AVRK initially operated a small fleet of four Morane-Saulnier MS.500 Criquet liaison aircraft, two Cessna 180 light utility aircraft, one Cessna 170 light personal aircraft, and one DC-3 modified for VIP transport.
During its early expansion phase from 1955 to 1962, the AVRK received assistance from France, the United States, and Israel, who provided training programs, technical aid, and additional aircraft. Deliveries by the United States Military Assistance Advisory Group (USMAAG) of fourteen T-6G Texan trainers, eight Cessna L-19A Bird Dog observation aircraft, three DHC L-20 Beaver utility transports, and seven C-47 transports (soon joined by with two additional C-47s bought in Israel) allowed the AVRK to acquire a limited light strike capability, as well as improving its own reconnaissance and transportation capabilities.
The first flight training courses in-country were initiated on October 1954 by French instructors at the newly-founded Royal Flying School at Pochentong airfield near Phnom Penh, though Khmer pilot students were later sent to France. In 1964 the US MAAG aid program was suspended when Cambodia adopted a neutrality policy, so the AVRK continued to rely on French military assistance but at the same time turned to Australia, the Soviet Union and China for aircraft and training.
Because of its low strength and limited flying assets, the Air Force was far from being able to accomplish its primary mission which was to defend the national airspace. Although there were several airstrips other than Pochentong, they were only used temporarily as emergency landing strips and never as secondary airbases. Therefore, the Air Force was merely considered a combat support arm which provided air transport services to infantry units and occasionally, close air support to combat operations.
The Royal Cambodian Air Force had a strength of 1,250 Officers and airmen, consisting in most part of flight crew personnel (pilots, flight engineers, radio operators, and flight mechanics) and ground technicians. The main air elements of the ARK in March 1970 consisted of four flight groups – one advanced training, one attack, one transport and liaison, and one helio – provided with a mixed inventory of 122 aircraft of various types, mostly of French, American, Soviet, Chinese, Yugoslavian, and Canadian origin. Most of the aircraft and personnel were concentrated at the military airbase adjacent to the Pochentong International Airport at Phnom Penh, which also housed the Air Academy and the AVRK Headquarters.
The Air Academy (Royal Flying School) at Pochentong operated an Advanced Training Squadron consisting of eight Yakovlev Yak-18 Max and 12 Gardan GY-80 Horizon light trainers, plus four Potez CM.170R Fouga Magister (converted to the ground attack role) and four Cessna T-37B Tweet jet trainers;
The Intervention Group had six Shenyang J-5, 12 MiG-17F fighter jets, and one MiG-15UTI jet trainer; 16 Douglas AD-4N Skyraider three-seat night attack aircraft (only eight were operational by 1968), and 17 North American T-28D Trojan trainers converted to the fighter-bomber role;[16]
The Observation and Combat Accompanying Group had eight Cessna L-19 Bird Dog observation light aircraft;
The Transport and Liaison Group operated one Douglas C-54B Skymaster four-engine transport (used as a VIP transport), one Ilyushin Il-14, two Cessna 180 Skywagons, three de Havilland Canada DHC L-20 Beaver STOL utility transports, three UTVA 60AT1 utility and liaison aircraft, six Dassault MD 315R Flamant light twin-engined transports, eight Antonov An-2 Colt, and 12 Douglas C-47 Skytrain transports;
The Helicopter Group operated one Mil Mi-4 Hound,[17] one Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw, and two Sikorsky H-34 Choctaw utility and transport helicopters, plus eight Sud Aviation SA 3130 Alouette II, and three or five Sud Aviation SA 316B Alouette III light helicopters.
Provisionally re-designated National Khmer Air Force (French: Aviation Nationale Khmère – AVNK) in the wake of the March 1970 coup, the Cambodian Air Force remained however under Army command until June 8, 1971, when it became the third independent branch of the FANK. This new status was confirmed on December 15, when the AVNK officially changed its name to Khmer Air Force (French: Armée de l'Air Khmère – AAK), commonly known by the English acronym KAF (or KhAF).
New airbases were established at Battambang (Air Base 122), Kampong Cham, Kampong Chnang, and Ream whilst secondary airfields and assorted helipads were set up at Kampot, Oudong, and Stung Mean Chey near Phnom Penh. In 1973 following several attacks on Cambodian airfields, Air Force Security Battalions – officially designated “Defense Regiments” (French: Regiments de Défense) – were raised and trained by the Khmer Special Forces to patrol major facilities.[18]
By March 1975 KAF’s inventory reached a total of 211 aircraft of several types, including 64 T-28D fighter-bombers, 14 Douglas AC-47D Spooky gunships,[19] and 14 AU-24A mini-gunships;[20] the helicopter force had 10 Bell UH-1G gunships, 46 Bell UH-1H transports,[21] and two Sikorsky H-34 Choctaw utility transports. The transport fleet aligned 17 Fairchild C-123K Provider transports, 19 C-47 transports, 24 Cessna O-1D Bird Dog reconnaissance/observation light aircraft, and 16 U-1A Otter liaison aircraft. Training aircraft comprised 12 Gardan GY-80 Horizon light trainers, nine Cessna T-41 Mescalero trainers, and four Cessna T-37B Tweet jet trainers.[22][23]
The KAF kept seven UH-1H transport helicopters at an improvised helipad mounted on the grounds of the National Stadium in the Cércle Sportif complex, ready to evacuate key members of the government[24]. However, three of the machines had to be abandoned due to technical malfunctions when the evacuation finally took place on the morning of April 17, 1975[25].
The Royal Khmer Navy (French: Marine Royale Khmère – MRK) was established on March 1, 1954, to provide limited patrolling of Cambodia’s maritime coastline and territorial waters, monitoring the security of its main deep-water ports and major waterways. Closely modelled after the French Navy, the MRK received training, technical and material assistance from France and the United States until 1964, receiving thereafter some aid from the Soviet Union, China, and Czechoslovakia. Has with the other branches of the FARK, the Cambodian Navy’s own military capabilities in the late 1960s remained low and the missions that they performed mirrored those of a peacetime River Police force or Coast Guard rather than a true Navy. Therefore, MRK activities were restricted to inland patrols on the Bassac River, the Mekong, and the Tonle Sap in the vicinity of the namesake Great Lake whilst high seas operations were limited to routine inshore patrolling.
In February 1970, MRK strength standed at about 1,300 Officers and ratings who manned a small fleet comprising two flotillas (one sea and one riverine), reportedly equipped with surplus WWII-vintage US LSSLs, LCM (3), French STCAN (aka “stay-can”) and FOM armoured river patrol and escort crafts previously employed by the French Navy during the First Indochina War, plus a few Patrol River Boats and other sea craft of unspecified type of Chinese, Soviet, and Eastern Bloc origin. The Navy’s inventory also included a small number of US riverine craft seized while straying into Cambodian territory, including two airboats captured from the US Special Forces in 1968.[26] Main naval bases were located at the Chrui Chhang War Peninsula (which harboured the MRK headquarters’, the Naval Academy, and the riverine flotilla) across the Mekong outside Phnom Penh and at Ream, near the port city of Sihanoukville (rechristened Kampong Som in 1970). The latter served not only as the headquarters of the sea flotilla, but also of the Cambodian Marine Corps – comprising four naval infantry battalions (French: Bataillons de Fusiliers-Marins – BFM) maintained primarily for static defense –, and a French-trained Combat Swimmer Unit.[27]
Re-designated National Khmer Navy (French: Marine Nationale Khmère – MNK) on October 9, 1970, the Cambodian Navy and its tiny ageing fleet were given responsibility for escorting supply convoys on the lower Mekong-Bassac corridors. Such operations were carried out in conjunction with the Khmer Air Force, which began to provide since mid-1971 air cover to MNK convoys with their AC-47 ‘Spooky’ and AU-24 gunships. In addition, the Navy also provided logistic support (including troop transport and casualty evacuation) for the FANK ground forces. During this phase, the MNK was assisted in its new rôles by the South Vietnamese Navy (VNN), which lent extensive convoy protection to riverine commercial shipping and helped patrol the Cambodian coastline to prevent North Vietnamese infiltration attempts.
As the newly-reestructured MNK had gained by late 1971 enough experience to commence its own escort and combat patrol operations, an expansion of its naval assets and support facilities was therefore deemed necessary. The two pre-existing Naval Bases were modernized, while another two additional riverine bases were established on the lower Mekong corridor at Neak Luong in Kandal Province, and at the provincial capital of Kampong Chhnang, on the Tonle Sap river.
However, after several attacks against merchant vessels anchored at Chrui Chhang War Naval Base in early 1972, the MNK Command created a Harbour Defense Unit (HDU) to patrol its port facilities; HDU security companies were supported on their duties by the Naval Infantry, who performed active riverbank patrolling. An American-trained SEAL unit was raised in mid-1973, being employed on reconnaissance missions along the banks of the Mekong and as shock troops on amphibious operations.[28]
In 1970 the Cambodian Navy began to receive an influx of modern American-made rivercraft after the US Navy disbanded its own Mobile Riverine Force (aka Brown Water Navy) in Vietnam, and handed over its units to his South-east Asian allies under the "Vietnamization" policy. Deliveries continued until 1973, allowing the MNK to standartise its equipment tables on US lines and gradually phase out its obsolete, worn-out ex-French and Eastern Bloc craft from active service.
Initially expanded in December 1973 to 13,000-14,000 men, the MNK strength reached by September 1974 a total of 16,500 men under the command of the Chief of Naval Operations, Commodore Vong Sarendy, with one-third of its personnel being assigned to the Marines.[29] The remaining 10,000 or so sailors and ratings manned an impressive surface fleet of 171 vessels of various types, though consisting mostly of patrol, coastal, and amphibious crafts. Escort and combat patrol craft comprised three LSSLs, 20 PCF/Inshore Mark Mk 1 and 2 coastal patrol crafts (also known as “Swift boats”),[30] 64 PBR Mk 1 and 2 river patrol boats (aka “Bibber”), seven Monitors (MON, heavily-gunned riverine crafts, aka “River Battleships” or “Mike boats”) – out of this number six were the Monitor (H) Howitzer version armed with 40mm cannons and M49 105mm Howitzers, and one Monitor (F) version equipped with M10-8 Flamethrowers (aka “Zippo”) –, four Assault Support Patrol Boats Mk 1 (ASPB, aka “Alpha boats”), and two Patrol Craft/Tug (YTL). For troop transport, amphibious assault, and logistical operations, the MNK aligned two Infantry Landing Ships (LSIL/LCI), four Landing Craft Utility (LCU/YFU), 18 Armored Troop Carriers (ATC, aka “Tango boats”) – including three ATC refuelers and one ATC recharger –, and 30 Landing Craft Mechanized Mk 6 Mod 1-LCM (6) and five LCM (8) LCUs. Support craft included two Command and Communications Boats (CCB, aka “Charlie boats”), five Minesweeper River boats (MSR/MSM), one Combat Salvage Boat (CSB), three Yard Tug Light (YTL), two Mobile Support Bases (MSB), one Floating Crane (YD), and one Drydock.[31]
The Air Force Academy was transferred from Pochentong to the provincial capital of Battambang whilst the Officer Candidate School was moved from Phnom Penh to Longvek in Kampong Chhnang Province, just north of Oudong. New infantry training centres were built at Kandal, Kampong Speu, Ream, Sisophon, and Longvek whist an additional Recondo School run by the Khmer Special Forces was opened near Battambang.
Soon after its creation in 1970, the Khmer Republic requested and received military assistance from the United States, South Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Australia. To upgrade FANK capabilities, a regimented training programme began in early 1971 in South Vietnam under US auspices. Between February 1971 and November 1972 training camps were set up at Long Hai, Chi Lang, and Phuc Tuy to re-train Cambodian Army and Naval Infantry troops in basic light infantry, armour, artillery, and marine tactics.
More specialized training was also provided to selected FANK personnel. Paratroops’ courses were held at the Australian-operated Van Kiep LRRP Training Center, and at the ARVN Airborne Training Centers of Long Thanh and Tan Son Nhut, near Saigon; some 60 Cambodian students were later sent to Indonesia to attend the Para-Commando course at the Batujajar Airborne Commando School, near Bandung in West Java. Special Forces’ (SF) courses were undertaken at the LLDB Training Center in Dong Ba Thin, South Vietnam, but also in Thailand, at the Royal Thai Army (RTA) Special Warfare Center at Ft. Narai, Lopburi province, while Guerrilla and ‘Commando’ techniques were taught by the Royal Thai Police Police Aerial Resupply Unit (PARU) at their Phitsanulok training camp. Ranger/LRRP courses were conducted at the American-operated Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) Recondo School at Nha Trang, South Vietnam, and at the RTA Recondo School co-located at Ft. Narai, Thailand. Additional SF and SEAL training was undertaken respectively at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, in San Diego, California in the United States, and at Subic Bay Naval Base in the Philippines.
Instructor pilots from Taiwan were posted on loan at the KAF Battambang Air Academy to train its pilots whereas Khmer cadets and air crews were sent for L-19, 0-1, T-28, AC-47, AU-24, and C-123 training to South Vietnam, Thailand, and the United States. Most of the advanced courses and specialized training of Khmer combat pilots was conducted by American advisers of Detachment 1, 56th Special Operations Wing at Udorn, U-Tapao, and Takhli airbases in Thailand, while others were dispatched to attend observer courses at Bien Hoa, South Vietnam. A small number also went to train with the US Navy at the Pensacola Air Station, Florida and attended courses at the RAAF East Sale airbase in Victoria, Australia.