Vietnam: A Television History; Interview with Peng Thuon
![thumbnail of Vietnam: A Television History; Interview with Peng Thuon](https://s3.amazonaws.com/americanarchive.org/thumbnail/cpb-aacip-15-fj29882v8w.jpg)
- Transcript
Chaos in Phnom Penh's fall
PENG THUON
Voice of B.P.: Sound 2941; Picture 984; Vietnam Project, Program 11
Peng Thuon:
In 1972, when their tanks, their T-54s, started shooting, we thought it
was just their automatic weapons, and so we didn't bother to get
excited. But when they started putting these huge holes clear through
the walls of the school building and the Yuon were bombarding the city,
the people would panic.
For example, if the shelling came down in the neighborhood of the
Monk's Hospital, the people would run over to the neighborhood of the
Chinese hospital, to Tuol Tampoung. Then when the shells would come
down in Tuol Tampoung, there would be chaos.
The people were in a state of chaos, running back and forth and every
which way. They didn't stay anywhere for long. They would lug their few
belongings from point A to point B, and then back. Whenever the
shelling was heavy in one spot, they would leave for someplace else.
And when the shelling was heavy there, they would move on, again and
again. Everybody was scared.
Sometimes the shells would come down right in the middle of town, and
everybody would come down to the river bank. Then the shells would come
down along the riverbank, and everybody would head for the middle of
town. It just went on and on chaotically like this. People's lives were
very chaotic in Phnom Penh during the Republican era, by 1975-75.
People couldn't stay in one place. They'd lug their stuff to one spot
and then lug it to another. They'd stay wherever there was no shelling.
And then when the "ka-booming" started in that area, they'd look for
another spot where there wasn't any shelling. And back then a lot of
people had come into the city from the provinces, from the countryside,
putting themselves up in the city.
Phnom Penh was solid with people, and so when the "ka-booming" hit one
place, it would be a movement en masse to some other place. That's what
it was like when the rockets were coming down into Phnom Penh.
Interviewer:
And what was it like in the last few days before the end? Where were
you and what did you see?
Peng Thuon:
On the day before the end, before 17 April, I was in the military
fortification at the airport. This was because I was a soldier. I was
right inside the military fortification. There was shooting inside the
fortification. And there were incoming rounds falling onto the
warehouse where aircraft equipment and aircraft engines were stored,
setting it on fire.
The battle started at one or two o'clock and went on until about five
o'clock before the fortification was overrun. The Khmer Rouge first
attacked from the Vihear Khuor Pagoda side, approaching the airport
from the front and along the sides. They had to press the attack for a
long time before getting in.
And the fortification, a fortification like the one at Pochentong
Airport shouldn't have fallen. It only fell because all the big shots
in charge ran for it. The base commander, the technical commander, the
[incomprehensible] commander, all these gentlemen had followed each
other in flight to Thailand, one after the other!
All that were left were the middle-ranking types, and they couldn't
hold off the Khmer Rouge. There were some Majors and Colonels from the
technical side, maybe one commander. There was the guy from
[incomprehensible] there, too. But he wasn't very enthusiastic about
resisting and took off with all his people.
It was because of things like this that there was no way to resist.
Otherwise, the airport shouldn't have fallen. American experts had come
to inspect the airport defenses. It was no piece of cake. It was
encircled by rings of barbed wire and there were really big
fortifications.
An American expert had personally supervised the construction of these
defenses. There was something every hundred meters. It was really
something. And there was a lot of ammunition, too. But what could we
do? There was certainly going to be a breakthrough. We had already
lost. So everybody ran for it. And the big shots, these Majors and
Colonels, they were running, too.
By this time I was no longer in the airport itself, but on the
perimeter, at one of the entrance points. All the big shots were gone.
There was only me, a Colonel who was the deputy chief of the
[incomprehensible] and a single battalion commander. These guys who
were Majors and Colonels, like this commander [incomprehensible] Prum
Po, he was already changed into civilian clothes and ready to run. But
I said, "Nobody's deserting! Deserters will be shot! Now's not the time
to run. Now's not the time to abandon your subordinates, your troops!"
He tried to drive out in a car with the engine roaring, but he was
stopped.
But then by five o'clock, everything was out of control. People were
surging through, the dependents of the troops and everybody. Nobody was
listening to orders. Everybody was pressed up against the fence, and he
ran for it. The enemy shells kept dropping in. And there were planes
from Kampong Som, Kampong Chhnang and Battambang, which came to help,
to make air strikes. A moment after the air strikes occurred, the enemy
was in.
It was almost five before I left. I spent that night near Stung
Meanchey. It was impossible to get into Phnom Penh. After spending the
night in Stung Meanchey, the next morning when it got light, I headed
into the city. I only got as far as the Monk's Hospital.
I hadn't even reached my house, but the Pol Potists were already there.
If I hadn't run into a friend of my, the Pol Potists would have made me
pull down my pants and parading me round the streets in a truck. The
officers who had thrown away their weapons, these lieutenants and
majors, who were all split off from each other, were being rounded up
by this Khmer Rouge who made them pull down their pants. If a friend of
mine hadn't shown up and given me a ride to my house in his car, I
would have been up there with my pants down like the rest of them!
Interviewer:
When you were still at the airport, was there anything that was really
amazing happening? What about when you ran, when people were changing
into civilian clothes?
Peng Thuon:
At the airport before it was overrun, there was fire, fire from the
shelling, fire and shelling. All the big warehouses were on fire. And
people were killed by the air strikes. The planes coming were coming
from other airbases were bombing. The people who were trying to escape
were running across the fields in front of the airport, flat fields
that were in front of the airport and stretched out for about one
kilometer. While they were running, the planes came and thought they
were the Khmer Rouge and so bombed them.
The corpses were all mixed up: some soldiers' wives, some ordinary
people, some Khmer Rouge. Those who survived jumped across the bodies
to get past. But once they got past, there was shelling and everything
was on fire. The whole place was on fire. The shelling was scoring
direct hits on the hangers and the warehouses.
And all this running was going on when it was already dusk and people
could hardly recognize each other. Then, when everybody was gone, the
Pol Potists came in and it was theirs from then on. The next morning,
they went on to Phnom Penh.
- Raw Footage
- Interview with Peng Thuon
- Contributing Organization
- WGBH (Boston, Massachusetts)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/15-fj29882v8w
If you have more information about this item than what is given here, or if you have concerns about this record, we want to know! Contact us, indicating the AAPB ID (cpb-aacip/15-fj29882v8w).
- Description
- Episode Description
- Peng Thuon, a captain for the Khmer Republic Army, describes an incident in 1972 when the Yuon were bombing the city and the panic that erupted. He talks about last few days of the war in April of 1972 and what he saw. Peng Thuon recalls being in a military fortification at the airport and being attacked by the Khmer Rouge. He describes the attack and the panic that ensued before the Khmer Rouge continued on to Phnom Penh.
- Asset type
- Raw Footage
- Topics
- Global Affairs
- War and Conflict
- Subjects
- Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, Cambodian
- Rights
- Rights Note:,Rights:,Rights Credit:WGBH Educational Foundation,Rights Type:All,Rights Coverage:,Rights Holder:WGBH Educational Foundation
- Media type
- Moving Image
- Duration
- 00:07:38
- Credits
-
-
Publisher: WGBH Educational Foundation
Writer: Peng Thoun
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
WGBH
Identifier: e4551f25d288cd30d99dcdab0283cff2167b0ea1 (ArtesiaDAM UOI_ID)
Format: video/quicktime
Color: Color
Duration: 00:07:38:05
If you have a copy of this asset and would like us to add it to our catalog, please contact us.
- Citations
- Chicago: “Vietnam: A Television History; Interview with Peng Thuon,” WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed September 12, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-fj29882v8w.
- MLA: “Vietnam: A Television History; Interview with Peng Thuon.” WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. September 12, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-fj29882v8w>.
- APA: Vietnam: A Television History; Interview with Peng Thuon. Boston, MA: WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-fj29882v8w