17 April 1975: How Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge

On 17 April 1975, Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge, marking the end of the Cambodian civil war and the beginning of one of the darkest chapters in history.

The victorious communist forces, led by Pol Pot, entered the city with a curious mixture of relief and nascent terror. Many residents welcomed the Khmer Rouge with joy, hoping for peace after years of conflict. However, within hours, the true nature of their radical plans would be revealed.

Rapid capture

The rapid capture of Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge on 17 April 1975 was the culmination of strategic military and political manoeuvres during the Cambodian civil war. Several key factors contributed to their rapid victory:

Surrounding and siege

In early April 1975, Phnom Penh was one of the last bastions of the Khmer Republic. The city was surrounded by Khmer Rouge forces, cutting off land supply routes and making it entirely dependent on air supply through Pochentong airport. This isolation considerably weakened the city's defences and morale. The

Military superiority

The Khmer Rouge had around 40,000 soldiers, compared with 20,000 defenders for the Khmer Republic. Their forces launched incessant attacks on key positions such as Route 1 and the areas to the north and west of the city. Despite the counter-attacks of government forces, including reinforcements from the provincial guards and elite units such as the Parachute Brigade, the defences collapsed under sustained pressure. The

defenders were demoralised

The fall of strategic sites such as Takhmau and Pochentong airport demoralised the Khmer Republic troops even further. Missteps, such as artillery errors that hit friendly forces, only precipitated the chaos. Refugees flooding into Phnom Penh overwhelmed the authorities, creating confusion and weakening the resistance efforts.

Political collapse

As military defeat became inevitable, the leaders of the Khmer Republic attempted to negotiate peace with the Khmer Rouge through Beijing. However, these efforts were rejected, leaving the government in disarray. The main leaders attempted to flee as the city's defences collapsed.

Khmer Rouge strategy

The Khmer Rouge's approach involved not only military conquest, but also psychological warfare. They disarmed government soldiers as they entered Phnom Penh and executed them in cold blood almost immediately.

The combination of military encirclement, internal disorganisation of the Khmer Republic and the guerrilla strategy of the Khmer Rouge enabled them to capture Phnom Penh with remarkable speed, thus putting an end to the civil war and unfortunately marking the beginning of their reign of terror.

Evacuation of the city

The Khmer Rouge immediately set about implementing their vision of transforming Cambodia into an agrarian utopia. Using loudspeakers, they ordered the evacuation of the two million inhabitants of Phnom Penh. Families were chased from their homes at gunpoint, hospitals were emptied and even seriously ill patients were pushed out into the streets. Chaos erupted as people fled the city on foot, carrying what few belongings they could. Thousands perished on the overcrowded roads, exhausted, starving and victims of violence.

The French embassy, located in the heart of Phnom Penh, was one of the few places where foreigners and some Cambodians could take refuge. However, France had already broken off diplomatic relations with the Lon Nol regime following its military coup in March 1970, leaving the embassy with limited diplomatic status and a skeleton staff.

Events at the embassy

As the Khmer Rouge closed in on Phnom Penh, hundreds of people, including prominent figures such as Prince Sirik Matak and Ung Boun Hor, took refuge within the embassy walls. The atmosphere was tense, despite the celebrations of ‘victory’ still ringing in the air. The embassy became a refuge for around 600 foreigners and 1,000 Cambodians.

On 18 April, a Khmer Rouge officer arrived at the embassy door and demanded the surrender of certain dignitaries. This event marked a turning point, as those considered ‘traitors’ by the Khmer Rouge were finally forced to leave the embassy.

Testimonies and stories

The embassy operated with limited supplies and without outside help, as supply planes were not allowed to fly. This made it difficult to support those seeking refuge for an extended period of time.

The embassy staff, led by Vice-Consul Jean Dyrac, attempted to negotiate with the Khmer Rouge authorities to ensure the safety of foreign nationals. However, they came under immense pressure to hand over the Cambodian refugees.

The foreigners were finally evacuated on 30 April 1975, under the supervision of the Khmer Rouge, and transported to the Thai border. The Cambodian refugees were evacuated earlier in two waves: some fled secretly on 18 April, while others were handed over to the Khmer Rouge on 21 April.

François Ponchaud, a French Catholic priest, witnessed the events that took place at the embassy when the Khmer Rouge seized power. He noted that the Khmer Rouge were surprisingly courteous towards foreigners, but that they focused more on Cambodian nationals. Mr Ponchaud also mentioned that marriages were arranged at the embassy to facilitate the departure of certain women.

The ethnologist François Bizot, who served as interpreter between the French consul and the Khmer Rouge, described the departure of the Cambodian dignitaries as a voluntary surrender in his book Le Portail. However, other witnesses have contested this account, suggesting that some people were forcibly expelled from the embassy.

Consequences

The fall of Phnom Penh and the ensuing evacuation of the city led to a massive displacement of its population. The Khmer Rouge ordered all foreigners to leave the city, and many of them undertook a perilous journey to the border.

In the years that followed, the events surrounding the French embassy on 17 April 1975 remained controversial, with ongoing debates about the nature of the departures and the role of the French authorities in the crisis. Despite these uncertainties, the story of the embassy is a poignant reminder of the chaos and upheaval that marked the end of the Khmer Republic.

Meanwhile, captured civil servants and soldiers were brutally executed at the Olympic stadium in Phnom Penh. The Khmer Rouge declared 1975 ‘year zero’, signalling their intention to erase the history of Cambodia and rebuild society from scratch. It was the beginning of a genocide that would claim the lives of more than two million Cambodians, victims of forced labour, famine and massacres.

The fall of Phnom Penh was not really a military victory; it was the beginning of a regime that was to devastate Cambodia for years. The survivors remember that day as the day when hope turned to horror, changing their lives forever.