Khmer National Armed Forces
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 by a coup d’état in March 1970 orchestrated by his own Prime-Minister General Lon Nol and cousin Sirik Matak.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.Meanwhile, Cambodia was admitted as a protocol state member of the US-sponsored SEATO alliance and 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 August 1964, when it was renounced by the Cambodian government.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 communist insurgency.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.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.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.In the wake of the January 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.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.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 FANK comprised the following branches: 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.
FrenchService branchesKhmer National ArmyKhmer National NavyKhmer Air ForcePhnom PenhKhmer RepublicMarshalLon NolSosthène FernandezLt Gen.Sisowath Sirik MatakIndustryAustraliaCanadaFranceIndonesiaIsraelSouth KoreaSouth VietnamTaiwanPhilippinesUnited KingdomUnited StatesMilitary history of Cambodiaarmed defense forcesCambodiaRoyal Khmer Armed ForcesKingdom of CambodiaCambodian Civil WarPrince Norodom Sihanoukcoup d’état in March 1970GeneralSirik MatakCommunist Party of KampucheaPol PotPresidentFrench protectorate of CambodiaNorodom SihanoukIndochinaGeneva AccordsIndochina WarFrench ArmyVietminhKhmer IssarakAugust 1964SangkumNational AssemblyNorth VietnamViet CongHo Chi Minh trailBeijingMaoistKhmer RougeKhmer SereiSon Ngoc ThanhNorth Vietnamese ArmyUS ArmyArmy of the Republic of VietnamCambodian IncursionTet OffensiveSA-7 GrailJanuary 1973Paris Peace AccordsOperation Chenla IKhmer KromPochentong Airbase"Sapper"Chenla IOperation Chenla IINguyen Van ThieuHuman Rightsethnic VietnameseRevolutionary Army of KampucheaBattambang ProvinceStung TrengRatanakiriKratieMondulkiriKampotKoh KongKampong ChamPreah VihearSiem ReapOddar MeancheyKampong ThomPrey VengSvay Rieng Provincesspring offensiveSosthene FernandezSak SutsakhanPreah Vihear TempleDângrêk Mountainsmilitary districtsKampong Cham ProvinceSvay Rieng military sub-districtsKampong SpeuKompong Speu ProvinceTakéoKampong SeilaKiriromKoh Kong military sub-districtsBattambangPursatThmar PoukStung MeancheyKampong Chhnang military sub-districtsSiem Reap ProvinceAngkor Chum military sub-districtsStung Treng ProvinceRatanakiri military sub-districtsKratiéKratié ProvinceMondulkiri military sub-districtsUdong MeancheyKandal military sub-districtsKandal ProvinceCambodian Para-Commando BattalionKhmer Special ForcesCambodian Marine CorpsCambodian Navy SEALsLongvekKampong Chhnang ProvinceOudongKandalSisophon