A reposting of some hopefully useful info from a recent thread,
The Khmer Rouge attempt popular frontism.
Related to this,
here is an old working paper from Justin Corfield, called
A History of the Cambodian Non-Communist Resistance, 1975-1983. I'm going to tidy up the PDF (some typing errors and general
meh) and repost it at my blog, but I thought for now it might be of some use here too. It's about those remnants of the Khmer Republic's army (FANK) who did not surrender after the government's defeat in 1975 but retreated to remote areas inside the country or to the Thai-Cambodian border and continued their fight against them. Several of these republican groups would join to become the Khmer People's National Liberation Front, and join the ousted Pol Potist DK government, forming the anti-Vietnamese, anti-PRK coalition Ismail has been talking about. And it sheds a little light on the circumstances the Khmer Rouge found themselves in, having to drop their old politics in order to be revived as a political and military force by very powerful backers, along with their uneasy non-Communist allies.
Some interesting information, and colourful names of the groups:
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According to reports from people who attended a Khmer Rouge ‘lecture’, most of the 2000 men were from the FANK 13th Brigade (the regiment led by Chantaraingsey) who had recently attacked Khmer Rouge supply lines. They were still fighting the Khmer Rouge as late as 1977 when they are generally attributed with the destruction of the Kompong Som refinery. Naradipo is generally believed to have been killed by the Khmer Rouge in 1976. Sihanouk records in his memoirs that Naradipo was killed ‘after 1975’.
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The other groups operated in Kompong Speu; Stung Treng; Svay Rieng; just outside Phnom Penh; western Siemreap (the Khmer Liberation Movement); the Khmer Islam in Kampot; and the Cobra, in Battambang. The latter dressed in black and were indistinguishable from the Khmer Rouge except for snakelike insignia. They appear to have been heavily armed and helped refugees escape to Thailand. The last two groups were Khleang Moeung and Sereikka Odder Tus (Northern Group). Both operated on the Thai-Cambodian border with a couple of hundred men each. The former was established by Touch Chay, an aeronautical technician; whilst the latter was set up by Svi Toeun, a former deputy battalion commander. Although General Sek Samiet, the Khmer Republic’s notoriously corrupt Governor of Battambang, was involved in some disturbances along the border from late 1975, the main focus for resistance along the Thai-Cambodian border appears to have been In Tam.
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‘Kok Sar’ is the name for a heron which stands still quietly waiting for its prey to appear. ‘Reaksa Sambok’ and Nenraung’ are both names of mythical dragons. ‘Baksei Chamkrong’ refers to a bird which protects its nest. It was this latter group that brought out the journalist Dith Pran from Cambodia to Thailand.
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Enjoy.
