Very cool, didn't realize they had a memorial for them that was previously destroyed.

Glad they can be honored again as before.

Well, it's the first time i see some Khmer names on a French memorial monument, never thought of that...
Good move.
Now i wonder if they were sent to fight in France, or elsewhere. I'm gonna look into that.
Poor sods if they were sent in trenches in winter through mustard gas, must have been hellish^^
Respects always.

I am surprised also that khmer were fighting against the germans. Had to look on google.maps where it is, close to Calmette where i did my PCR 2 years ago. Being Belgian sometimes i have to explain to Khmers were i come from, useally i say, we are similar, we kicked out he french also as you did, but +100 years before then you did, thats why we still have a (bad) part of our country who speaks french. But better that the speak German.
Santé !!

https://www.cambodgemag.com/post/premi% ... colonial
Translation :

Tears of Prey Veng

The dark, towering clouds over the village of Chong Ampil in Prey Veng must have been more than an omen of rain on that afternoon of October 31, 1918. Chak Neang Van sat outside his house listening to the distant sounds of the country life in one of its three small rice fields. The 66-year-old farmer was blind and he and his wife lived a difficult and miserable existence in rural Cambodia at the time.

As Chak Neang Van listened to the life of that day slowly pass, he heard a few people approaching and then stopping in front of his house. At the elegant footsteps of the men who visited him, the old man thought to himself that they must be important. But what could they want from him, the poor farmer from the province of Prey Veng? It was the French resident of the province carrying a letter from the resident of Cambodia, M. Baudoin. Chak Neang Van knew then that the news could only be bad. The French resident then read the contents of the letter in a solemn tone:

"Sir, I regret to announce the death of your son, the volunteer infantryman Nuon, killed on June 28 at the Alsace front, the general commander of the 33rd corps mentions the soldier Nuon with the following terms: "A courageous, infantryman who remained with great bravery at his observation post under extremely violent bombardments ' ”

Killed in the line of duty

The resident continues to read the official missive: " The Croix de Guerre has been awarded to this brave soldier and will be sent to you in recognition of the sacrifice of your family. His body was buried in the cemetery of the village of Stossweier in Alsace. I would like to renew to you on this occasion the feeling of gratitude of the protectorate for the sacrifice of your son, who faithfully served France and contributed to the great victories of recent months with his Cambodian comrades. »

How did Nuon, the only son of a farming family in Cambodia, find himself alongside thousands of other Indochinese soldiers at war against an aggressor, whom he had probably never heard of before, in a foreign country located several thousand kilometers away from the kingdom?
Indochinese participation

Many Cambodians mobilized during the First World War were put to work behind the front lines, like the thousands of Indochinese who worked in French arms factories. In 1915, large posters appeared in Cambodian towns and villages ordering the mobilization of the Indochinese population for war. But it was not until February 1916 that the Cambodian monarch Sisowath launched a call by royal decree to participate in this famous " Great War ". The call said:

" It is with immense pride that we authorize our subjects to volunteer to serve in France, in the army, the arsenals and the factories ".

For the free world

Like many other volunteer soldiers from the distant colonies of the French colonial empire, Cambodians had only dimly learned that this war threatened to ruin the world, including their country. This catastrophe could then only be avoided with a massive mobilization capable of " defending the security of the world against the barbarity of the Germans and participating in the battle against the evil that threatens the world and all free peoples ".

Probably unaware of the destructive power of modern weapons and the horror of this "Great War", many chose to volunteer for a move to Europe because of the attractive conditions and salaries on offer.

“A motive that historians favor to the detriment of commitment to a noble and just cause. »

What seems logical, no Cambodian volunteer probably suspected the purely geopolitical origins of the conflict which was also a war between cousins. The conditions of engagement consisted of a lump sum of 80 piastres per soldier or 20 per auxiliary soldier at the signing of the contract, no taxes for their families, a pension of 3 piastres per month for them while they were in abroad, a salary in France and promotion based on merit.
rookies

In January 1916, the Governor General of Indochina announced the need for 7,000 men (seven battalions) of reserve and active soldiers from Indochina, 12,000 volunteers, 10,000 skilled workers (qualified nurses, interpreters) and 20,000 unskilled workers .

Cambodia was called upon to provide 1,000 volunteer infantry and 2,500 laborers for France. On April 7, 1916, the number of enlisted volunteers (workers and soldiers) totaled only 1015 recruits. It was not up to the expectations of the French. King Sisowath had to urge his officials to redouble their efforts to hire the necessary manpower by further promoting the recruiting campaign, setting up special offices with flags and posters in each provincial sangkat.

Among the recruits were five princes, including three grandchildren of Norodom, and two more grandchildren of Sisowath. There were about 15 Indochinese battalions, with a Cambodian to 10 ratio. The majority of Indochinese volunteers came from Annam and Cochinchina. Most Cambodians were drafted into the 20th Indochinese Battalion.

On arrival in France, this battalion was broken up. A part went to Montpellier, another to Béziers, one to Narbonne, and finally one to Perpignan. But instead of facing the enemy, many soldiers were surprised to find themselves assigned to agricultural work, repairing train lines and in armaments factories.
praise

Nonetheless, Cambodians were frequently praised. In a report sent to his hierarchy, Captain Gilles of the 1st Company of the 23rd Indochinese Battalion proudly boasted of the Cambodians under his command:

"I bought, with my own money, three balls and I now have an excellent Cambodian football team which has won several matches against the French. I recently, at their request and thanks to donations, formed a music group that offers the highest hopes. »

A second letter, sent by the captain to King Sisowath (he would later be punished for sending such a letter directly to the king), continued in the same vein:

"I am happy to be able to send you my compliments and congratulations on the performance of the Cambodians. Dedicated, disciplined, clean, intelligent, these are your subjects. Courageous and persistent, in the evening after a terrible day, they study French, music or football. Several matches have been played, and we still haven't been beaten."

The letter also included a request to King Sisowath to send the score of Cambodia's national anthem "for study and for the day when, covered in glory, they will return to Phnom Penh to pay their respects to you. ". He also asked the king to have the "ladies of Phnom Penh" make a national flag, which could be carried by returning troops.

Other reports confirm that the Cambodians were known for their good behavior and left an "excellent impression and a very good memory wherever they traveled". One report even noted that they were particularly praised for their "fierce soldier air, good attitude, and skillful handling of weapons".

Back in Cambodia, the campaign to recruit more volunteers was not very successful. The French administration faced a growing peasant rebellion throughout the country, provoked by substantial increases in taxes on the local population to support the French war effort. Moreover, rumors that all the Cambodian volunteers sent to France had been killed spread rapidly. In a November 1916 circular to French residents, Baudoin wrote:

"I have been informed by various sources that some correspondence sent to Cambodia by indigenous volunteers serving in France contains remarks that could affect their families or create an unfavorable civic spirit. It does not matter whether these reflections were inspired by a feeling of discontent or by genuine demoralization, they in any case represent an opinion which must be closely examined in the future.

He will then ask the inhabitants to investigate the nature and content of these remarks, to confiscate these letters because of their " subversive nature " and to send them to him. To boost the morale of the volunteers abroad, the postal service then allowed families to send parcels to their loved ones free of charge (up to 1 kg).

Opiate benevolence

Such a gesture of " benevolence " had interesting consequences, as attested by the resident superior who alerted himself and warned the apprentice exporters: " the Indochinese workers have received parcels containing opium which they are reselling - please inform the Indochinese population that the export of opium to France is prohibited, close surveillance is put in place and offenders are liable to heavy penalties. »

After the war ended, all the discipline Cambodians were previously praised for seemed to evaporate. The French expressed concern about the lack of discipline displayed by the returning soldiers, who simply deserted their unit after their arrival in Saigon in order to return directly to their homes without respecting the formalities of demobilization. The French then said to themselves that the Cambodians, after having received their emoluments, no longer cared much about the orders of their superior.

To reward those who returned from the Great War and help them resettle, land grants were made available in Banam (Prey Veng), Popokvil and Kandal. The French resident will set aside 20,000 piastres from the 1920 budget to facilitate their resettlement. For those who did not return, a memorial was to be built.
Memorial

In 1919, the mayor of Phnom Penh announced a competition for the construction of a memorial monument called "To those who died for France", dedicated to the French, Cambodians and Asian residents of Cambodia who died for the French cause. Curiously, only French nationals were invited to submit bids. Seven years after the end of the war, on February 14, 1925, the monument was finally inaugurated, and the memory of those who "fell for France" could then be properly honored.

And what remains of this monument located on the large traffic island in front of the current French Embassy? It was demolished during the Khmer Rouge period and a few fragments here and there adorn the entrances of some public buildings, however, the first stone for the reconstruction of the monument was laid a few days ago during the visit of the French Minister O.Becht . Fortunately, because there is not much left today in Cambodia to remind us of the infantryman Nuon and his compatriots who died in the European trenches to support the colonial empire.


NOTES: Fonds du superior resident, files 4246, 4594, 4605, 7727, 7745, 7753, 10 378, 10 421, 15 345 and Revue indochinoise, 1917. PP Post & Collection Delcampe

Ain't nobody got time for that

Best we forget