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Not too long after the conclusion of World War II, the French Protectorate of Cambodia found itself embroiled in an armed struggle between communist forces and the French forces vying to regain control during the First Indochina War. The Protectorate would later gain its independence following the Geneva Accords of 1954, thus becoming the Kingdom of Cambodia. France, in turn provided the new nation with armored vehicles, such as M8 Armored Cars, M3 Half Tracks, as well as M3 Scout Cars to help set up its nascent armored battalion. In 1956, the US would provide additional aid in the form of M24 Chaffee light tanks as well as M8 Howitzer Motor Carriages through the US Military Assistance and Advisory Program.
During the turbulent decade of the 1960s, Cambodia’s ruler, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, attempted to maintain his nation’s neutrality in the midst of the chaos unfolding in the region. Following the termination of US aid to the country in 1963, the neutral nation sought aid from elsewhere. In 1964 such aid materialized in the form of AMX-13 light tanks from France as well as BTR-40 and BTR-152 armored personnel carriers from the Soviet Union.
In 1970, Sihanouk was deposed in a coup following growing dissatisfaction toward his policy regarding communist Vietnamese sanctuaries in eastern Cambodia. Lon Nol, the new leader of Cambodia, proclaimed the Khmer Republic and turned to the United States of America for military support and assistance. Cambodia would soon find itself embroiled in a brutal and bloody civil war that pitted forces of the Forces Armées Nationales Khmères (FANK) (Khmer National Armed Forces) against the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and eventually communist Khmer guerillas known as the Khmer Rouge. By 1973, the US had provided the FANK with a number of M113 APCs as well as M106 mortar carriers. Requests for M41 light tanks and V-100 armored cars, however, were turned down as a result of the US’ disengagement from Indochina. During the final stages of the Civil War, FANK’s armored units had been severely diminished as a result of attrition and a critical lack of spare parts from the US.
In April of 1975, the Civil War came to an end when the capital, Phnom Penh, fell to the Khmer Rouge. Upon coming to power, the Communist Party of Kampuchea renamed the nation to Democratic Kampuchea in 1976 and began seeking military assistance from their ideological ally, the People’s Republic of China. China would provide the Khmer Rouge with Type 60 artillery tractors as well as a number of Type 62 and Type 63 light tanks from 1977-1978. These tanks would augment armored vehicles such as M113s that the Khmer Rouge had acquired from the FANK. The Khmer Rouge, in the years they were in power, would go on to orchestrate one of the worst tragedies to befall a country, having enacted genocidal policies that resulted in the deaths of around 25% of Cambodia’s population.
Following years of an undeclared border war as well as a break down in diplomatic relations, Vietnam launched a full-scale invasion of Kampuchea in an attempt to deal with the issue of brutal Khmer Rouge incursions into their territory. The Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea (RAK) fought the Vietnamese Volunteer Army (VVA) head on and were eventually militarily defeated by early 1979, with remnants fleeing towards the jungles of western Cambodia along the Thai border. With the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime came the establishment of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK), which was set up and backed by Vietnam with assistance from the Eastern Bloc. The armed forces of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea, the Kampuchean People’s Revolutionary Armed Forces (KPRAF) would inherit captured RAK equipment. By 1989, the KPRAF had received a number of armored vehicles from Vietnam and the USSR such as T-54s, PT-76s, BMP-1s, BTR-60PBs, BRDM-2s, as well as support vehicles.
For the duration of the 1980s, anti-Vietnamese guerillas as well as the Khmer Rouge waged a protracted insurgency that raged along the Thai border and rural parts of Cambodia against the PRK Government and the VVA. By 1989, the PAVN withdrew, and the KPRAF was renamed the Cambodian People’s Armed Forces (CPAF), while the country was renamed the State of Cambodia. Fighting between the government and rebel forces would continue until 1992 when the United Nations intervened in Cambodia. The UN, having entered Cambodia following previous agreements, were tasked with disarming the CPAF and many of the anti-Vietnamese guerilla groups who eventually agreed to reintegrate into the armed forces. By 1993, the country held its first democratic elections, and the monarchy was restored, and thus Cambodia became known as the Kingdom of Cambodia once more. The war between the government and the Khmer Rouge, however, was far from over, and as a result, Cambodia’s armored units were thrust into combat for many more years to come.