By the time the Khmer Rouge finally established themselves in the mountainous regions of northeastern Cambodia, the country was also undergoing rapid political change. The socio-economic situation in Cambodia worsened as the government program of agricultural cooperation did not live up to its hopes. Most of the loan funds came under the control of the traditional feudal nobility and usurers. Cambodia's refusal to trade with the United States, in turn, contributed to the growth of smuggling and the "shadowing" of the economy. Under the influence of economic difficulties, the Sihanouk government was forced to liberalize the investment sphere of the Cambodian economy.
Another reason for the difficult situation in Cambodia was the foreign policy of the country's leadership. Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who severed diplomatic relations with the United States and emphasized his pro-Soviet and pro-Chinese sympathies, aroused antipathy from the American leadership. The United States began to search for a "strong leader" capable of relegating to the background, if not even removing Norodom Sihanouk from the government of Cambodia. And such a person was soon found. It was General Lon Nol. He represented the interests of the Cambodian military elite - senior army, police and security officers who became disillusioned with Sihanouk's policies after the country's deteriorating relations with the United States. The refusal of American aid also meant a reduction in the military budget, which directly damaged the interests of Cambodian generals and colonels, who were busy "cutting" the funds allocated for defense. Naturally, dissatisfaction with the Sihanouk government grew among the military elite. The officers were also unhappy with the "flirting" of the head of state with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NLF). General Lon Nol, who held a very high position in the state and military leadership of Cambodia, was the most suitable figure for the role of the spokesman for the interests of the military elite, aligned with the strategic interests of the United States of America in Eastern Indochina.
Conspiracy of the general and the prince
Like many Cambodian politicians, Lon Nol (1913-1985) was born into a mixed Cambodian-Chinese family. His father was Khmer Krom and his maternal grandfather was Chinese from Fujian province. After graduating from a high school in Saigon, young Lon Nol entered the Royal Military Academy of Cambodia, and in 1937 he began serving in the French colonial administration. Lon Nol was an exemplary colonial servant. He participated in the suppression of anti-French uprisings in 1939 and did much to curb the national liberation aspirations of his people. For this, the colonialists valued Lon Nol. In 1946, the thirty-three-year-old Lon Nol took over as governor of Kratie. Lon Nol did not hide the right-wing monarchist views, but at the time sought to position himself as a follower of Norodom Sihanouk. In 1951, Lon Nol became the head of the Cambodian police force, and in 1952, while in the rank of lieutenant colonel, began serving in the Cambodian army. But most rapidly the career of a young officer went up after the proclamation of Cambodia's independence. In 1954 g. Lon Nol became the governor of Battambang province, a large region in the northwest of the country, bordering Thailand, also called the "rice bowl of Cambodia." However, already in the next 1955, the Governor of Battambang Lon Nol was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Cambodian Army. In 1959, Lon Nol took the post of Minister of Defense of Cambodia and was in this position for seven years - until 1966. In 1963-1966. In parallel, the general also served as deputy prime minister in the Cambodian government. Lon Nol's political influence, favored by the American intelligence services, especially increased in the second half of the 1960s. In 1966-1967, from October 25 to April 30, Lon Nol served as the country's prime minister for the first time. On 13 August 1969, Norodom Sihanouk reappointed General Lon Nol as head of the Cambodian government. Lon Nol took advantage of this appointment in his own interests. He made an anti-government conspiracy, negotiating with Prince Sisovat Sirik Matak.
Prince Sirik Matak (1914-1975) was another notable figure in Cambodian right-wing circles. By origin, he belonged to the royal Sisowath dynasty, which, along with the Norod dynasty, had the right to the Cambodian throne. However, the French administration chose to secure the royal throne to Norodomu Sihanouk, who was brought in by his cousin Siriku Mataku. Prince Matak, in turn, took over as Cambodia's defense minister, but was then sacked by Sihanouk. The fact is that Matak was categorically against the policy of "Buddhist socialism" pursued by Sihanouk. He also rejected cooperation with the guerrillas of North Vietnam, which Sihanouk favored. It was political differences that caused the disgrace of Prince Mataka, who received appointments as ambassador to Japan, China and the Philippines. After General Lon Nol was appointed Prime Minister of Cambodia, he himself chose Prince Sisowat Sirik Matak as his deputies. After becoming deputy prime minister, who oversaw, among other things, the economic block of the Cambodian government, Prince Matak began to denationalize the country's economy. First of all, this concerned the liberalization of the rules of alcohol trade, the actions of banking institutions. Apparently, Prince Sirik Matak was determined to quickly depose his brother from the post of head of state. However, until the spring of 1970, the American leadership did not agree to a coup, hoping to the last to "re-educate" Sihanouk and continue cooperation with the legitimate head of state. But Prince Sirik Matak managed to find evidence of Sihanouk's aid to the Vietnamese guerrillas. In addition, Sihanouk himself markedly distanced himself from the United States.
Military coup and overthrow of Sihanouk
In March 1970 Sihanouk undertook a trip to Europe and the countries of the socialist camp. He visited, in particular, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. Meanwhile, taking advantage of Sihanouk's absence from Cambodia, Sirik Matak decided to act. On March 12, 1970, he announced the denunciation of trade agreements with North Vietnam, the port of Sihanoukville was closed to Vietnamese ships. On March 16, in Phnom Penh, a rally of many thousands was held against the presence of Vietnamese partisans in Cambodia. At the same time, given the riots in the capital, the conspirators decided to arrest high-ranking security officials who supported Sihanouk. Thus, one of the first to be arrested was General Oum Mannorine, Norodom Sihanouk's son-in-law, who served as Secretary of State for Defense. On March 18, the capital of the country, Phnom Penh, was surrounded by military units loyal to the conspirators. In fact, a military coup took place in the country. Soon it was officially announced that Norodom Sihanouk had been deprived of all powers of the head of state. Power passed into the hands of General Lon Nol, although the head of the Legislative Assembly, Cheng Heng, became the formal head of Cambodia. As for Sihanouk, who was abroad at the time of the coup, they made it clear that if he returned to Cambodia, the prince would face the death penalty. In response, on March 23, 1970, Norodom Sihanouk, who was at that time in China, called on the citizens of the country to revolt against the junta of General Lon Nol. In the provinces of Kampong Cham, Takeo and Kampot, riots broke out with the participation of Sihanouk's supporters, who demanded the return of power to the legitimate head of state. During the suppression of riots in Kampong Cham province, General Lon Nol's brother Lon Neil, who served as police commissioner in the city of Mimot and owned large rubber plantations in the province, was brutally killed. Lon Neelu had his liver cut out, taken to a Chinese restaurant and told to cook it. After cooking, the liver of the police commissar was served and eaten.
However, the troops loyal to Lon Nol acted no less brutally than the rebels. Tanks and artillery were thrown against the rebels, thousands of people died or ended up in prison. On October 9, 1970, the Khmer Republic was proclaimed in the country. Cheng Heng remained its president from 1970-1972, and in 1972 he was replaced by General Lon Nol. Not only the political, but also the economic situation in the country has deteriorated sharply as a result of the destabilization of the situation. After the call of Norodom Sihanouk and the suppression of uprisings in the province of Kampong Cham and several other regions of the country, a civil war broke out in Cambodia. Sihanouk turned to the Cambodian communists for help, who also enjoyed the support of China and were quite influential in the province and a combat-ready force. In May 1970, the 1st Congress of the National United Front of Cambodia was held in Beijing, at which it was decided to create the Royal Government of Cambodia's National Unity. Peni Nut became its head, and Khieu Samphan, the closest friend and ally of Salot Sara, took the post of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense. Thus, the Sihanoukites found themselves in close connection with the communists, which contributed to the further growth of the latter's influence on the Cambodian peasant masses.
Understanding perfectly well the precariousness of his position, General Lon Nol mobilized the population into the country's armed forces. The United States of America and South Vietnam provided significant support to the Lonnolites. Sihanouk opposed Lon Nol with the Cambodian National Liberation Army, created on the basis of the armed forces of the Khmer Rouge. Gradually, the Khmer Rouge took over all command posts in the Cambodian National Liberation Army. Prince Sihanouk lost real influence and was actually pushed to the sidelines, and the leadership of the Anti-Lonnol movement was monopolized by the communists. To the aid of the Khmer Rouge came detachments of South Vietnamese partisans and the North Vietnamese army, based in the eastern provinces of Cambodia. They launched an offensive against the positions of the Lonnolites, and soon Phnom Penh itself was under attack by the communist forces.
US Cambodian Campaign
April 30 - May 1, 1970 the United States and the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) intervened in the events in Cambodia, undertaking an armed intervention in the country. Note that the United States recognized the Khmer Republic of General Lon Nol almost immediately after the military coup. On March 18, 1970, Norodom Sihanouk was deposed, and on March 19, the US State Department officially recognized the new Cambodian regime. On March 30, 1970, the American military command in South Vietnam received the right to authorize the entry of US troops into Laos or Cambodia in case of military necessity. On April 16, 1970, the Lon Nol government asked the US authorities to provide the country with military assistance to fight the communist rebels. The US leadership responded to the request of the new Cambodian authorities immediately. Two days later, the supply of weapons and ammunition began from South Vietnam, from the bases of the American army, to Cambodia. Also, units of the South Vietnamese army began to conduct raids in Cambodia, which were tasked with supporting the troops of Lon Nol in the fight against communist rebels in the east of the country. The leadership of the SEATO military bloc, which united the pro-American regimes of Southeast Asia, also announced full support for the Lon Nol regime. The Secretary General of the bloc, Jesus Vargas, said that in case of a request from the new leadership of Cambodia for help, SEATO will consider it in any case and provide military or other assistance. Therefore, when American troops invaded Cambodia on April 30, it did not come as a surprise to any of the parties to the conflict.
- General Lon Nol with associates
A total of 80-100 thousand American and South Vietnamese troops took part in the Cambodian campaign. From the American side alone, the forces of five army divisions were involved. At the same time, there were no major battles with the North Vietnamese army in Cambodia, since the North Vietnamese forces were engaged in hostilities against the troops of Lon Nol. The Americans and South Vietnamese managed to quickly capture a number of important bases of the NLF, which were poorly guarded and were easy prey for the enemy. However, the outbreak of hostilities by the American army in Cambodia was greeted with indignation by the American public. In the United States, massive student unrest began, which engulfed almost the entire country. In 16 states, authorities had to call in National Guard units to quell protests. On May 4, 1970, at the University of Kent, National Guardsmen opened fire on a crowd of protesters and killed four students. Two more students died at Jackson University. The deaths of six young Americans have sparked more public outcry.
In the end, US President Nixon had to announce the imminent cessation of the military operation in Cambodia. On June 30, 1970, American troops were withdrawn from Cambodia, but the armed forces of South Vietnam remained in the country and took part in hostilities against the Communists on the side of Lon Nol. Continued to actually participate in the civil war in Cambodia on the side of the Lon Nol regime and the American military aviation, which bombed the country for three years. But, despite the support of American aviation and South Vietnamese troops, the Lon Nol regime was unable to suppress the resistance of the Cambodian communists. Gradually, the troops of Lon Nol went on the defensive, and the advancing Khmer Rouge repeatedly bombarded the capital of the country, Phnom Penh.
The civil war was accompanied by the virtual destruction of the socio-economic infrastructure of Cambodia and the massive displacement of the population to the cities. Since the eastern provinces of the country, located on the border with Vietnam, were subjected to the most bombing by American aircraft, many civilians from them fled to Phnom Penh, hoping that the Americans would not bomb the capital of the Lonnol regime. In Phnom Penh, refugees could not find work and decent housing, "poverty enclaves" were formed, which also contributed to the spread of radical sentiments among the new settlers. The population of Phnom Penh by 1975 increased from 800 thousand in the late 1960s. up to 3 million people. Almost half of Cambodia moved to the capital, fleeing aerial bombardments and artillery attacks. By the way, American aircraft dropped more bombs on the territory of Cambodia than on Nazi Germany during the entire period of World War II. In February - August 1973 alone, the US Air Force dropped 257,465 tons of explosives into Cambodia. As a result of the bombing of American aircraft, 80% of industrial enterprises, 40% of roads and 30% of bridges were destroyed in Cambodia. Hundreds of thousands of Cambodian citizens have been victims of American bombing. All in all, as a result of the civil war in Cambodia, about 1 million people died. Thus, in small Cambodia, the United States pursued a policy of annihilating the civilian population, resorting to committing real war crimes, for which no one was ever held responsible. Moreover, a number of researchers believe that the very story of the "Pol Pot genocide" is mostly a propaganda myth of the United States, invented to cover up American war crimes in Cambodia and to present the victims of American aggression as victims of the communist regime. In particular, this point of view is shared by the famous philosopher and linguist of leftist views, Noam Chomsky, who certainly can hardly be suspected of sympathizing with Pol Pot and polpotism.
"Khmer Rouge" and "peasant communism"
In turn, the American bombing of Cambodia, combined with the complete economic and social fiasco of the Lon Nol government, further spread communist views among the Cambodian peasantry. As you know, the inhabitants of the Buddhist monarchies of Indochina have traditionally had great respect for their monarchs. Kings were literally idolized, and Cambodian prince Norodom Sihanouk was no exception. After the prince was overthrown by the clique of General Lon Nol, a significant part of the Khmer peasantry found themselves in opposition to the new regime, since they did not want to recognize the deposition of a representative of the royal dynasty. On the other hand, the ideas of communism were seen as consonant with the doctrine of the coming of Buddha Maitreya and the return of the "golden age" widespread in Buddhist countries. Therefore, for the Khmer peasants there was no contradiction between support for Prince Norodom Sihanouk and sympathy for the Khmer Rouge. The growth of support from the peasant population was facilitated by the liberation of entire regions of Cambodia from the power of the Lonnol regime. In the liberated territories, the power of the communists was actually established, expropriating the property of the landowners and forming their own bodies of power and administration. Indeed, certain positive changes have been observed in the life of the liberated regions. So, on the territory controlled by the communists, bodies of people's self-government were created, classes were conducted in schools, albeit not devoid of an excessive ideological component. The Khmer Rouge paid the greatest attention to propaganda among young people. Youth and adolescents were the most desirable target audience for the Khmer Rouge, who circulated Mao Zedong's quotes and encouraged young people to join the Cambodian National Liberation Army. The army commander at that time was Salot Sar, who led the country's communist movement. As for Norodom Sihanouk, by this time he no longer had any influence on the processes taking place in Cambodia, as he said to one of the European journalists - “they spat me out like a cherry pit” (about the “Khmer Rouge” who actually pushed him away from leadership of the Anti-Lonnol movement). After the influence of Sihanouk was leveled, the followers of Salot Sarah took care of eradicating Vietnamese influence in the ranks of the Cambodian Communist Party. The leaders of the Khmer Rouge, especially Salot Sar himself and his closest associate Ieng Sari, had an extremely negative attitude towards Vietnam and the Vietnamese communist movement, which carried over to the attitude towards the Vietnamese as a people. It was Salot Sara's anti-Vietnamese sentiments that contributed to the final demarcation of the Cambodian and Vietnamese communists in 1973. North Vietnam withdrew its troops from Cambodia and refused to support the Khmer Rouge, but by this time the supporters of Salot Sara were already doing well, controlling a significant part of the country and effectively cutting off Phnom Penh from the economically important agricultural provinces of Cambodia. In addition, the Khmer Rouge were assisted by Maoist China and Stalinist North Korea. It was China that was behind the anti-Vietnamese initiatives of the Khmer Rouge, since Vietnam remained a conduit of Soviet influence in Southeast Asia and was in conflict with China, and Beijing sought to create its own "stronghold" in Indochina, with the help of which further ideological and political expansion in Southeast Asia.
It should be noted that the Khmer Rouge ideology, which had finally taken shape by the mid-1970s, seemed extremely radical even in comparison with Chinese Maoism. Salot Sar and Ieng Sari respected Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong, but advocated even more rapid and radical transformations, emphasizing the need and possibility of transition to a communist society without intermediate stages. The Khmer Rouge ideology was based on the views of their prominent theorists Khieu Samphan, Hu Nim and Hu Yun. The cornerstone of these authors' concepts was the recognition of the poorest peasantry as the leading revolutionary class in Cambodia. Hu Yong argued that in Cambodia it is the poorest peasantry that is the most revolutionary and, at the same time, the most moral stratum of society. But the poorest peasants, due to the specifics of their way of life, lack of access to education, do not have a revolutionary ideology. Hu Yong proposed to solve the problem of ideologizing the peasants by creating revolutionary cooperatives, in which the peasants would inculcate communist ideology. Thus, the Khmer Rouge played on the feelings of the poorest peasants, portraying them as the most worthy people in the country.
Another important program point of the Khmer Rouge, which ensured the support of the peasant population, was the opposition of the village and the city. In the ideology of the Khmer Rouge, which absorbed not only Maoism, but also Khmer nationalism, the city was viewed as a social environment hostile to the Khmers. According to Cambodian communist theorists, Khmer society did not know cities and was alien to the urban way of life. The urban culture was brought to Cambodia by the Chinese, Vietnamese, Siamese, while real Khmers have always inhabited villages and were distrustful of the urban way of life. In Salot Sarah's concept, the city was seen as a parasite exploiting the Cambodian countryside, and the city dwellers as a parasitic layer living off the peasantry. Such views appealed to the poorest part of the Khmer population living in the villages and envious of the city dwellers, especially the prosperous traders and intellectuals, among whom there were traditionally many Chinese and Vietnamese. The Khmer Rouge called for the elimination of cities and the resettlement of all Khmers to villages, which were to become the basis of a new communist society without private property and class distinctions. By the way, the organizational structure of the Khmer Rouge remained extremely secretive for a long time. Ordinary Cambodians had no idea what kind of organization was at the head of the National United Front of Cambodia and was carrying out armed resistance to the Lonnolites. The Khmer Rouge were introduced as Angka Loeu, the Supreme Organization. All information about the organization of the Cambodian Communist Party and the positions of its top leaders were classified. So, Salot Sar himself signed his appeals "Comrade-87".
The capture of Phnom Penh and the beginning of a "new era"
After in 1973The United States of America stopped bombing Cambodia, the Lon Nol army lost its powerful air support and began to suffer one defeat after another. In January 1975, the Khmer Rouge launched a massive offensive against Phnom Penh, laying siege to the country's capital. The armed forces controlled by Lon Nol no longer had a real opportunity to defend the city. General Lon Nol himself turned out to be much more cunning and perspicacious than his charges. On April 1, 1975, he announced his resignation and fled Cambodia, accompanied by 30 senior officials. Lon Nol and his retinue first landed at the Utapao base in Thailand, and then, through Indonesia, left for the Hawaiian Islands. Other prominent figures of the Lonnol regime remained in Phnom Penh - either they did not have time to escape, or did not fully believe that the Khmer Rouge would deal with them without any regret. After the resignation of Lon Nol, the interim president Sau Kham Khoi became the formal head of state. He tried to transfer real power to the leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Cambodia, Chau Sau, whom he hoped for the post of prime minister. However, Chau Sau was instantly removed from power by a military junta led by General Sak Sutsakhan. But the remnants of Lonnol's army did not succeed in rectifying the situation - the fall of the capital was inevitable. This, in particular, was evidenced by the further actions of the American leadership. On April 12, 1975, Operation Eagle Pull was carried out, as a result of which helicopters of the US Marine Corps and the US Air Force evacuated from Phnom Penh the personnel of the American Embassy, citizens of the United States and other states, as well as representatives of the highest leadership of Cambodia who wished to leave the country - a total of about 250 people … The last attempt by the United States to prevent the seizure of power in Cambodia by the Communists was an appeal by American representatives to Prince Norodom Sihanouk. The Americans asked Sihanouk to come to Phnom Penh and stand at the head of state, preventing bloodshed by the power of his authority. However, Prince Sihanouk prudently refused - obviously, he perfectly understood that his influence was not comparable to the past decade, and it is generally better not to get involved with the “Khmer Rouge”.
On April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge troops entered the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. The government of the Khmer Republic capitulated and power in the country passed into the hands of the National United Front of Cambodia, in which the Khmer Rouge played the main role. In the city, massacres began against officials of the Lonnol regime, army and police officers, representatives of the bourgeoisie and the intelligentsia. Some of the first victims of the Khmer Rouge were the top leaders of the country who fell into their hands - Prince Sisowat Sirik Matak and Lon Nola's brother Long Boret, from 1973 to 1975. served as Prime Minister of the Khmer Republic. On the eve of the storming of Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge, Sisowat Sirik Matak received an offer from the American ambassador, John Gunter Dean, to evacuate the city and thereby save his life. However, the prince refused and sent a letter to the US Ambassador with the following content: “Your Excellency and friend! I think you were completely sincere when you invited me to leave in your letter. I, however, cannot act so cowardly. As for you - and especially your great country - I never believed for a second that you could leave the people in trouble who chose freedom. You refused to protect us, and we are powerless to do anything about this. You are leaving, and I wish you and your country to find happiness under this sky. And keep in mind that if I die here, in the country I love, it doesn't matter at all, for we are all born and must die. I made only one mistake - I believed in you [the Americans]. Please accept, Your Excellency and dear friend, my sincere and friendly feelings "(Quoted from: Orlov A. Iraq and Vietnam: Don't Repeat Mistakes //
When the Khmer Rouge broke into the capital of the country, Sisovat Sirik Matak nevertheless made an attempt to escape. He fled to the Le Phnom Hotel, which was staffed by the Red Cross Mission. However, as soon as they found out that the name of Sirik Mataka was on the list of the “seven traitors” to whom the “Khmer Rouge” had passed the death sentence in advance, they refused to let him in, caring about the fate of other wards. As a result, Sirik Matak ended up at the French Embassy, where he requested political asylum. But, as soon as the Khmer Rouge learned about this, they demanded that the French ambassador immediately extradite the prince. Otherwise, the militants threatened to start an assault on the embassy and capture the prince by armed force. Also concerned about the safety of French citizens, the French ambassador was forced to hand over Prince Sisowat Sirik Matak to the Khmer Rouge. On April 21, 1975, Prince Sisowat Sirik Matak and Prime Minister Lon Boret, along with his family, were executed at the Cercle Sportif Stadium. According to Henry Kissinger, Prince Sisowat Sirik Matak was shot in the stomach and left without medical attention, as a result of which the unfortunate man suffered for three days and only then died. According to other sources, the prince was beheaded or shot. The direct management of the massacres of Lonnol's officials was carried out by the "Committee for the Purge of Enemies", located in the building of the "Monorom" hotel. It was led by Koi Thuon (1933-1977), a former schoolteacher from Kampong Cham province, who had participated in the revolutionary movement since 1960 and was elected to the Cambodian Communist Party in 1971. The Khmer Rouge also destroyed the strange nationalist group MONATIO (National Movement) - an organization that emerged in the last months of the siege of Phnom Penh, sponsored by Lon Nol's third brother, Lon Non, a member of the Cambodian National Assembly. Despite the fact that MONATIO activists tried to join the Khmer Rouge, the communists opposed the dubious cooperation and quickly dealt with everyone who came out under the MONATIO flag. Then this organization was declared controlled by the US CIA and acted with the aim of disorganizing the revolutionary movement in the country. As for the deputy Lon Nona, he, along with his brother Lon Boret and Prince Sirik Matak, were executed at the Cercle Sportif stadium in Phnom Penh.
"The village surrounds the city"
It should be noted that the residents of Phnom Penh greeted the Khmer Rouge enthusiastically. They hoped that the communists would be able to restore order in the city, which was operated by gangs of criminals and deserters from the Lonnol army. Indeed, from the first days of their presence in Phnom Penh, the Khmer Rouge began to restore revolutionary order in the capital. They destroyed criminal banditry by shooting or beheading the captured marauders on the spot. At the same time, the "Khmer Rouge" themselves also did not disdain to rob the urban population. Recall that the backbone of the Khmer Rouge units were young people and adolescents from the most backward impoverished provinces of North-Eastern Cambodia. Many soldiers were 14-15 years old. Naturally, Phnom Penh, in which they had never been, seemed to them a real "paradise", where they could profit from the wealthy population of the capital. First of all, the Khmer Rouge began to confiscate weapons and vehicles from the population. As for the latter, not only cars and motorcycles were taken away, but also bicycles. Then began the "cleansing" of the city from the "Lonnolovtsy", which included everyone who had anything to do with government or military service in the Khmer Republic. "Lonnolovtsev" were sought out and killed on the spot, without trial or investigation. Among the dead there were many absolutely ordinary citizens, even representatives of the poor strata of the population, who could have served in the Lonnol army by conscription in the past. But the real nightmare for the inhabitants of Phnom Penh began after the Khmer Rouge fighters began to voice demands to leave the city in megaphones. All the townspeople were ordered to immediately leave their homes and leave Phnom Penh as "the abode of vice, ruled by money and trade." Former residents of the capital were invited to independently get their own food in the rice fields. Children began to be separated from adults, since adults either were not subject to re-education at all, or could be re-educated only after a long stay in "cooperatives." All those who disagreed with the actions of the “Khmer Rouge” were inevitably faced with inevitable reprisals on the spot - the revolutionaries did not stand on ceremony not only with representatives of the old Lonnol government, but also with ordinary civilians.
Following Phnom Penh, actions to evict the townspeople were held in other cities of the country. This is how a social experiment, which had no analogues in the modern world, was carried out on the total destruction of cities and the resettlement of all residents to the countryside. It is noteworthy that during the eviction of its residents from Phnom Penh, the elder brother of Salot Sarah Salot Chhai (1920-1975), an old communist, to whom Salot Sar owed much of his career in the Cambodian revolutionary movement, died. At one time, it was Salot Chhai who introduced Salot Sara into the circles of veterans of the Khmer Issarak national liberation movement, although Chhai himself was always in more moderate positions compared to his younger brother. Under Sihanouk, Chhai was imprisoned for political activities, then he was released and by the time of the occupation of Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge continued his left-wing social and political activities. When the Khmer Rouge leadership ordered the residents of Phnom Penh to leave the city and move to the countryside, Salot Chhai found himself among other residents and, apparently, died during the "march to the village." It is possible that he could have been killed by the Khmer Rouge on purpose, since Salot Sar never tried to ensure that Cambodians knew anything about his family and origin. However, some modern historians argue that the resettlement of townspeople from Phnom Penh to villages was not accompanied by mass killings, but was of a peaceful nature and was due to objective reasons. First, the Khmer Rouge feared that the capture of Phnom Penh could lead to American bombing of the city, which ended up in the hands of the Communists. Secondly, in Phnom Penh, which was under siege for a long time and was supplied only with American military transport aircraft, famine would inevitably begin, since during the siege, the city's food supply routes were disrupted. In any case, the question of the reasons and nature of the resettlement of urban residents remains controversial - as, indeed, the entire historical assessment of the Pol Pot regime.
