Wednesday, May 30, 1972
Captured U.S.-Made Guns Used To Shell Cambodia City
PHNOM PENH (UPI) --Communist troops using captured American made 105mm artillery pieces fired 32 shells into the beleaguered Cambodian provincial capital of Svay Rieng, killing one woman and three children, the Cambodian command said.Command spokesman Maj. Chhang Song said the command was "sure" the shells were fired from a 105mm howitzer, the type the American military aid team here has been providing the Cambodian Army."It is at least the second time we have been sure that 105's have been used," Song said.Several batteries of the artillery pieces have been lost to North Vietnamese troops in the Svay Rieng area since mid-April when at least seven towns on highway one were overrun. The exact number is "classified information," spokesmen say.Svay Rieng with a population bloated to at least 13,000 by refugees, is the last town standing on Highway One between the South Vietnamese border and the Mekong River, a stretch of some 60 miles of road. It is cut off to all but air resupply.The command announcement Sunday marked the first time it has confirmed Communist use of the captured weapons in Cambodia.In northwester Siem Reap Province the command reported seven government troopers wounded Sunday in Communist initiated skirmishes and shelling attacks with 82-mm mortars and 75 millimeter recoilless rifle rounds around the Angkor Wat temple complex.According to intelligence reports, government troops had hoped to retake the Communist occupied temples before the Phnom Penh presidential elections June 4. However, a series of Communist counterattacks in the past four days seem to have dimmed hopes for a rapid recapture of the complex. Government troops are hamstrung in their efforts because they cannot fire back on Communist weapons positions for fear of damaging the monuments.In the capital, the presidential election campaign was stepped up with a massive civilian and military procession in favor of incumbent President Lon Nol.A smaller rally in favor of former national assembly chairman, In Tam, was held around the city's independence monument, and at the same time In Tam held a press conference charging the country's provincial governors with "interfering with his campaign workers."In Tam charged that the governors of at least four provinces had "given orders to make people disappear who vote for me," then added that he still thought he would get a 70 percent vote "if the voting is fair" because the alleged pressure only helped his cause.Most political observers in the Cambodian capital feel at this stage that Lon Nol should win the elections easily with a substantial majority."Captured U.S.-Made Guns Used to Shell Cambodia City", by (UPI), published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes Tuesday, May 30, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.