k*rm*geddon wrote: JB will be onto you.

k*rm*geddon wrote: ↑Sun Sep 15, 2019 10:28 pm No, the KR would have remained as next to nothing at all had not North Vietnamese communist troops swept through Cambodia in 1970 (years before the bombing to which you refer) seizing vast tracts of Cambodia and handing the peasants within to their Khmer Rouge allies.
Then Sihanouk made the fatal decision to align with those very forces he had spent years warning his people against --North Vietnam, the Khmer Rouge, and China. His exhortations for a peasant uprising
against an alleged American Imperialism were broadcast to the peasantry over Radio Beijing which came in loud and clear whereas radio signals from Phnom Penh were scratchy.
Indoctrination and Fake News played key roles.

That, in my opinion, is a very concise break-down of the situation that developed. There are other factors I might get into when I sober up, such as Hanoi's absolute lack of any material support for the Kampuchean Communists prior to the ousting of Sihanouk. Cambodia cut off all aid and diplomatic relations with the US by 1966, then the army (FARK) really suffered afterwards because the Chinese/ Soviet/ French equipment wasn't so good. The PAVN had occupied large tracts of Cambodian territory along the border for years, and some wily businessman made vast fortunes supplying cement, rice, etc to these foreign forces. The Cu-Chi tunnels were built with the help of cement transported from commercial depots in Phnom Penh.
One of the first major signs of civil unrest was the Samlot uprising. One of the causes of this was the fact that traders were buying Cambodian rice at a much higher price than local market prices for sale to the Vietnamese communists along the border. This of course resulted in problems in the local people's sustenance and the general economy. So the government decided that they would commandeer the whole situation and force the farmers to sell at a reasonable price. It resulted in many assassinations of officials/ security forces and then some very strong reprisals. China didn't even give much material support to the Kampuchean Communists either until after Sihanouk's deposal in 1970. If you read early accounts of communist resistance forces they often mention that they had 15 guys, 2 knives, a panga and one rusty old gun or whatever. They faced FARK soldiers using the latest Chinese supplied Type 56 and SKS. A year or two later the republican government was getting attacked with PRC supplied weapons.
The Khmer Republic was not a perfect state but it was recognized as legitimate by many countries.
When insurgents moved into any area people would quickly flee. Apparently 70% of the population were taking refuge in cities by late 1974. So the areas bombed were generally just populated by enemy troops (and likely their families), along with the citizens that had been forced into collectives. The forward air controllers usually worked on information and requests for air support from FANK (Khmer Republican) sources. My point being that actually a majority, or at least a large proportion of the Cambodian population supported the bombing while it was happening. There was a massive attack on Phnom Penh in 1972 that would have easily taken the capital out if it wasn't for the B52s and F4s keeping the perimeter.