Cambodian campaign

Cambodian campaign
Part of the Vietnam War and Cambodian Civil War
The area of the campaign with detail showing units involved
Date April 29 – July 22, 1970 Location Eastern Cambodia Result South Vietnam–U.S. tactical victory[1][2]: 182  Temporary occupation and subsequent withdrawal from eastern Cambodia by ARVN/US Capture of large amounts of PAVN/VC supplies and materiel Failure to capture the PRG/VC leadership Political victory for the Khmer Rouge Anti-Vietnam War protests escalate in US
Belligerents
South Vietnam  United States  Khmer Republic	North Vietnam Viet Cong Khmer Rouge
Commanders and leaders
II Corps Lữ Mộng Lan III Corps Đỗ Cao Trí IV Corps Nguyễn Viết Thanh † Trần Quang Khôi Richard Nixon Creighton W. Abrams Lon Nol	B-3 Front: Phạm Hùng (political) Hoàng Văn Thái (military)
Strength
58,608 50,659	~40,000
Casualties and losses
638 killed in action 3,009 wounded 35 missing 338 killed in action 1,525 wounded 13 missing[2]: 194	U.S. claimed: 11,369 killed in action 2,328 captured[1]: 158 [2]: 193  (Includes civilians according to a CIA official)[3]

The Cambodian campaign (also known as the Cambodian incursion and the Cambodian liberation) was a series of military operations conducted in eastern Cambodia in mid-1970 by South Vietnam and the United States as an expansion of the Vietnam War and the Cambodian Civil War. Thirteen operations were conducted by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) between April 29 and July 22 and by U.S. forces between May 1 and June 30, 1970.

The objective of the campaign was the defeat of the approximately 40,000 troops of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the Viet Cong (VC) in the eastern border regions of Cambodia. Cambodian neutrality and military weakness made its territory a safe zone where PAVN/VC forces could establish bases for operations over the border. With the US shifting toward a policy of Vietnamization and withdrawal, it sought to shore up the South Vietnamese government by eliminating the cross-border threat.

A change in the Cambodian government allowed an opportunity to destroy the bases in 1970, when Prince Norodom Sihanouk was deposed and replaced by pro-U.S. General Lon Nol. A series of South Vietnamese–Khmer Republic operations captured several towns, but the PAVN/VC military and political leadership narrowly escaped the cordon. The operation was partly a response to a PAVN offensive on March 29 against the Cambodian Army that captured large parts of eastern Cambodia in the wake of these operations. Allied military operations failed to eliminate many PAVN/VC troops or to capture their elusive headquarters, known as the Central Office for South Vietnam (COSVN) as they had left a month earlier, but the haul of captured materiel in Cambodia prompted claims of success.