A Great Soldier

07 August 2009
By Baphuon
Article originally posted online
On April 27, 1954, the Geneva Conference produced the Geneva Agreement which supported the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Indochina thereby granting its independence from France. In addition, the Conference declaration agreed upon the cessation of hostilities and foreign involvement (or troops) in internal Indochina affairs.

Vietnam must withdraw their armed forced from Cambodia but never did since then to these days.

The Vietnamese armed resistance (Vietminh) for Vietnam liberation from France was very active all over Cambodia from inside to outside. Indeed, to run Cambodia, French colonial administration used Vietnamese cadres. By this way, Vietnamese officers were infiltrated in the Force Royale Armée Khmer (FARK), Security forces and civil administration.

To fight against the Vietminh, French Army created district armed forces. At the village level, French army armed Cambodian villagers with rifles and ammunitions. In order to get armament and ammunition from French Army, the chief of village must do first the survey, how many families, how many people lived in his village? Hence, the Chief of village must fill the forms of the survey of their village. The Vietnamese village’s chiefs in Cambodia knew very well how to make that kind of paper works of survey while Cambodian villages in majority illiterate, except Khmer Krom villages in Cambodia, didn't.