Thursday, May 25, 1972
Khmers Gain Part Of Ruins
SIEM REAP, Cambodia (UPI) --The Khmer Republic flag is flying over Angkor Wat for the first time in nearly two years.Government troops planted the flag atop a monument after securing a foothold in the 9th-11th Century Angkor Wat ruins.The rest of the temple complex remains under the control of North Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge Forces, there since June 1970.Despite risks of damaging the fragile monuments, the Phnom Penh government seems determined to recapture by force Cambodia's most precious patrimony because appeals for neutralization have failed.Government troops launched a secret operation May 16 to retake Angkor, 150 miles northwest of Phnom Penh. At least 15 battalions are participating in the operation against perhaps a few hundred Communist troops well entrenched in the historic ruins."Khmers Gain Part of Ruins", by (UPI), published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes Thursday, May 25, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.