March 18, 1970
CHAUDOC, South Vietnam, March 17 — Cambodian troops tried to drive a Vietcong battal ion back across the border into South Vietnam yesterday and Sunday and called in South Vietnamese artillery fire to help, highly reliable informants reported today.
A Cambodian officer was in radio contact with the chief of South Vietnam's Anphu Dis trict, adjoining Cambodia, dur ing the entire operation, these informants said. The officer di rected 105‐mm artillery fire from the district's guns onto both sides of the border where the Vietcong were reported moving.
American officials said it was the first time they knew of Cambodians and South Vietna mese working openly together against the Vietcong.
[In Moscow, Prince Noro dom Sihanouk of Cambodia said that the anti‐Communist demonstrations in Pnompenh would not affect his country's neutrality. Page 12.]
The Cambodian military op eration was the second known Ito have been launched Sunday against Vietcong and North Vietnamese forces which had been ordered by Cambodia to leave her territory by dawn Sunday.
For four hours before the deadline a Cambodian battalion was reported to have exchanged fire with infantrymen guarding the base of the North Vietna mese First Infantry Division around Nui O, a mountain in Cambodia.
South Vietnamese forces were not called in then. But their aid was sought later Sunday when a force estimated at five companies of Cambodian in fantry men reportedly began pushing south toward the An phu District, which thrusts like a finger into Cambodia along the Mekong River.
The Vietcong were known to have at least 400 soldiers in base area just opposite the tip of Anphu. There are an esti mated 40,000 North Vietnamese and Vietcong soldiers in Cam bodia.
South Vietnamese spotter planes reported “large‐scale troop movement” in Cambodia and the sound of shooting across the border. Americans here say that approximately 2,000 North Vietnamese and Vietcong soldiers are on the Cambodian side.
Early in the afternoon the Anphu district chief reportedly made radio contact with a Cam bodian officer and got details of the military operation.
Later in the day the Cam bodian officer asked for artil lery support from Anphu, ac cording to informants here, and the support began within a few hours. Several 105‐mm, howit zers, firing on both sides of the border with target coordi nates given by the Cambodian officer, were used steadily for the next two days, the i form ants said.
Only a small proportion of Cambodia's 5,000‐man army is known to be stationed in the southern border area. Ameri cans say they know the loca tion of 20 border outposts op posite Chaudoc. They believe most of these posts are manned by policemen.
“I wish we knew what the Cambodians are really trying to do over there,” commented one United States official. “We just want some advance word on whether we can expect couple more thousand Vietcong around us in the near future.”
While the use of South Viet namese artillery called in by a Cambodian officer is believed to be unprecedented, there have been reports that Cambodian and South Vietnamese ground troops have worked together.
The last time South Vietna mese and Cambodian forces were said to have cooperated was last May, when they con ducted parallel sweeps against the Vietcong along the border in southern Tayninh Province, northwest of Saigon.
There were suggestions at that time that the United States 25th Infantry Division might also become involved by offer ing artillery fire to the Cam bodians on request. The Amer icans were willing, but as far as is known the firing never took place.
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