Cambodia & History: The one-day war between the Khmer Rouge and the Americans on Koh Tang Island

After the Khmer Rouge regime seized power on April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge government created a new unit called “Unit 164,” led by Meas Mut (Ta Mok's son-in-law) to oversee the southwestern region. A survivor, Nhoeung Chroeung, recounts his experiences.

Nhoeung Chroeung

Unit 164 was created to protect all of Cambodia's maritime borders, including areas in Kampot Province, Koh Kong Province, and Sihanoukville.

In 1975, the Khmer Rouge leaders were proud of their victory over the Lon Nol republican regime, which had been supported by the United States. At that time, the Khmer Rouge leaders believed they were powerful enough to have defeated the United States. The unit commander, Meas Mut, therefore ordered the Khmer Rouge soldiers guarding the islands to show courage and daring in capturing Thai and Vietnamese fishing boats that entered territorial waters illegally. The Khmer Rouge soldiers stationed on the islands were to capture all such vessels without exception.

In the same year (1975), an American cargo ship named Mayaguez was sailing in international waters near Poulo Wai Island. The young Khmer Rouge soldiers, who had received no education on international maritime law, saw the cargo ship passing through the Poulo Wai area and captured it, holding it at Koh Tang Island. They did not immediately release the freighter, which led to a short battle. Later, the Khmer Rouge soldiers saw many American helicopters dropping bombs on Sihanoukville, particularly on Koh Tang Island.

A former Khmer Rouge soldier named Nhoeung Chroeung, who had fought during the five years of war and continued to serve as a Khmer Rouge soldier in the new Unit 164, knew some details of what had happened on Koh Tang and other islands in Cambodia.

Nhoeung Chroeung

“I was born in 1952 in the village of Trapeang Ampok, Trapeang Thom North commune, Tram Kak district, Takeo province (southwest region). My father's name was Nhoeung Chrin, my mother's name was Kit Khom, and I had 11 brothers and sisters (5 boys and 6 girls). I was the second child. I studied at Trapeang Kol School until ninth grade, but I had to stop my studies because of the 1970 coup. The schools closed, there were no teachers, and at the same time, Lon Nol's military forces were bombing Angk Ta Som and several other places. Later, several villages were liberated and controlled by the Khmer Rouge. In 1972, I married a woman from the neighboring village, Kem Kon, and we had a son.

In 1973, I volunteered to become a guard in the commune of Trapeang Thom for three months, then continued as a Khmer Rouge soldier in Region 13 of Takeo Province. I was in Battalion 4, commanded by Sov and Hon. At that time, the war against Lon Nol's forces was intensifying, and I was transferred to the southwestern military zone, to Regiment 3, commanded by Meas Mut. During this period, I took part in fighting against Lon Nol's forces in various locations, with the aim of capturing Phnom Penh before 1975. At the end of 1974, I was wounded and treated in a field hospital, so I did not take part in the capture of Phnom Penh.”

“On April 17, 1975, all foreign interference, bombing, and armed clashes in the civil war that had pitted Cambodians against each other for five years came to an end. When the Khmer Rouge regime came to power, the Ministry of National Defense organized the creation of the new Unit 164, led by Mas Mut.”

This unit was created to protect Cambodia's maritime borders.

“I was a soldier in Unit 164. Angkar sent us by truck to Kampong Som (Sihanoukville). At first, we stayed at the port of Sihanoukville, in Tomnup Rolork, for a short time. Angkar divided these forces into groups; my superiors ordered me to remain with the unit at Nareay Port, near Kang Keng Airport. Later, I learned that Khmer Rouge soldiers guarding Poulo Wai Island had captured a cargo ship named Mayaguez sailing on an international route and were holding it at Koh Tang Island. That night, I heard on Radio America that if Phnom Penh did not release the ship, Cambodia would be bombed until it was destroyed. The next day, the ship was released, but this did not prevent an attack by American forces. There was bombing in Sihanoukville, at the oil refinery and at the port of Nareay, near the airport, where some planes were damaged. The war lasted one day, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., on Koh Tang Island. The Angkar sent me to Koh Tang immediately after the incident. I traveled aboard ship number 920 with about 400 soldiers, leaving Nareay port at 7 a.m. and arriving at Koh Tang at 3 p.m. due to the ship's slow speed.

When I arrived at Koh Tang, on the east coast, I saw beautiful white sand, many coconut trees, and large trees on the mountain. Then I saw a helicopter that had crashed on the east coast, near the sea, and another on the west coast, facing Koh Pring Island. I saw the bodies of American soldiers on the island and learned from comrades that some American soldiers had survived after the war ended, but I don't know where the Angkar took them. I heard rumors that they had been shot on Koh Tang. At the end of 1975, I left Koh Tang and returned to the mainland, to the Smach Deng unit, to recover from malaria. In 1976, Angkar allowed my wife and child to live with me in the Smach Deng military unit in Prey Nob district. In 1978, some soldiers from Unit 164 were redeployed to the eastern front due to the intensification of the war with Vietnamese forces at the border, but I was not sent into combat.

In 1979, the United Front for the National Salvation of Cambodia, in cooperation with Vietnamese volunteer troops, liberated Cambodia from the east and gradually rescued the population. I fled, separated from my wife and child, passing through Sihanoukville via Stung Hav, then into the forest to Chi Phat, in Koh Kong province. There, I was reunited with my wife and child, and we continued to flee into the forest with little food, eating only wild fruits and roots, until we reached the Thai border after more than a month. At first, we arrived at the Khao I Dang camp, where there was enough food. Later, I returned to live on Cambodian soil with the Khmer Rouge near Phnom Khlaang Baek Veatlean, where food was insufficient. So I left again for Thailand, to the Thai Rout camp, where I continued to live in Site 8, then in O Smach with the Parai armed group, and then with the Ta In and Ta Tum group.

In 1993, with the help of the United Nations, I was repatriated to my home province of Takeo, where I lived for three years, but I had no land to farm and no business. In 1996, my family and I moved to Smach Deng, remembering that this area where I had lived during the Khmer Rouge era had abundant land suitable for growing various crops. In 2022, I moved to the village of Ta Las, Nareay commune, Prey Nob district, Preah Sihanouk province, where I farm the land with my wife and children, but I live in precarious conditions as I am getting older.

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Article by Sok Vannak - Cambodia Documentation Center - Translated by Chey Chansineth