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126-763: The Khmer National Army ( Khmer : កងទ័ពជាតិខ្មែរ ; French : Armée nationale khmère , ANK ) was the land component of the Khmer National Armed Forces (FANK), the official military of the Khmer Republic during the Cambodian Civil War between 1970 and 1975. The oldest and largest branch of the Cambodian armed forces in terms of personnel and matériel, the Khmer Royal Army (French: Armée Royale Khmère – ARK)

252-646: A minor (fully unstressed) syllable. Such words have been described as sesquisyllabic (i.e. as having one-and-a-half syllables). There are also some disyllabic words in which the first syllable does not behave as a minor syllable, but takes secondary stress . Most such words are compounds , but some are single morphemes (generally loanwords). An example is ភាសា ('language'), pronounced [ˌpʰiəˈsaː] . Words with three or more syllables, if they are not compounds, are mostly loanwords, usually derived from Pali, Sanskrit, or more recently, French. They are nonetheless adapted to Khmer stress patterns. Primary stress falls on

378-573: A brigade grouping several battalions. By early May 1970, twenty new Infantry Brigades (French: Brigades d'Infanterie – BI) had been created, but only fourteen – the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th Inf. Bdes – were properly manned, the other six – 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th Inf. Bdes – were never brought to strength or remained on paper. From mid-1970, Infantry units began to be formed into larger 15 Brigade Groups (French: Groupments Brigades d'Infanterie – GBI), each comprising two brigades and roughly

504-518: A common practice for officers – the addition of a shoulder pocket on the upper left sleeve for ballpoint pens, which were the symbol of authority in Indo-Chinese armed forces. Sometimes fatigue shirts were converted into light bush jackets by adding two-buttoned patch pockets on the lower skirt. Olive green U.S. M-1951 field jackets were also issued to all-ranks. Reflecting the increasing American influence, ANK senior officers adopted in 1970–71

630-544: A considerable number of them were sent to be 're-educated' in the new labor camps (best known as the " Killing Fields ") promptly set up by the Khmer Rouge shortly after their victory, where they were forced to endure the camps' terrible living and working conditions until the 1978–79 Cambodian–Vietnamese War . Only a few Army personnel in April–May 1975 escaped by foot or by vehicle across the border into Thailand, where in

756-474: A dialect. Western Khmer , also called Cardamom Khmer or Chanthaburi Khmer, is spoken by a very small, isolated population in the Cardamom mountain range extending from western Cambodia into eastern Central Thailand . Although little studied, this variety is unique in that it maintains a definite system of vocal register that has all but disappeared in other dialects of modern Khmer. Phnom Penh Khmer

882-585: A few M1917 Browning machine guns were also used as company weapons. Officers and NCOs received MAS-35-S , FN P35 or Colt.45 M1911A1 pistols. In September 1950, the ARK began the process of standardisation on U.S. equipment, with infantry and airborne units taking delivery of the M1 Garand semi-automatic rifle, the M1/M2 Carbine (airborne units received the semi-automatic M1A1 paratrooper carbine ), and

1008-661: A final consonant. All consonant sounds except /b/, /d/, /r/, /s/ and the aspirates can appear as the coda (although final /r/ is heard in some dialects, most notably in Northern Khmer ). A minor syllable (unstressed syllable preceding the main syllable of a word) has a structure of CV-, CrV-, CVN- or CrVN- (where C is a consonant, V a vowel, and N a nasal consonant). The vowels in such syllables are usually short; in conversation they may be reduced to [ə] , although in careful or formal speech, including on television and radio, they are clearly articulated. An example of such

1134-527: A haphazard way with an array of French, American, British, Belgian, West German, Czechoslovakian, Chinese and Soviet weapon systems. During the First Indochina War, ARK Infantry battalions were issued with WWII-vintage MAS-36 , M1903 Springfield , and Lee–Enfield bolt-action rifles , along with Sten , M1A1 Thompson , and MAT-49 submachine guns . FM 24/29 , Bren , M1918A2 BAR , and M1919A6 light machine guns were used as squad weapons;

1260-515: A long-sleeved version also existed, based on the French M1948 shirt (French: Chemise kaki clair Mle 1948 ). Shorts (French: Culotte courte kaki clair Mle 1946 ) were also issued and worn according to weather conditions. In the field, Cambodian officers and enlisted men wore French all-arms M1947 drab green fatigues (French: Treillis de combat Mle 1947 ). ARK Officers received the standard FARK summer service dress uniform in khaki cotton, which

1386-559: A mixture of light khaki tropical berets, U.S. M-1951 cotton field caps, French M1949 bush hats (French: Chapeau de brousse Mle 1949 ) and privately purchased civilian sun hats in white, Khaki or OG cotton cloth. Later, a khaki patrol cap resembling a simplified baseball cap version was adopted as the standard ANK fatigue headgear for all-ranks, though the South Vietnamese ARVN fatigue cap in OG cotton cloth, whose shape recalled

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1512-497: A new dress uniform, which consisted of an Olive Green tunic and slacks worn with a white shirt and black tie. The cut of the four-buttoned tunic was a hybrid design resembling both the U.S. Army M-1954 "Class A" green dress and the earlier French-style M1946/56 khaki dress; it had two pleated breast pockets closed by pointed flaps and two unpleated at the side closed by straight ones whilst the sleeves had false turnbacks. The front fly and pocket flaps were secured by gilt buttons bearing

1638-492: A six-buttoned front, two patch breast pockets closed by clip-cornered straight flaps and shoulder straps (French: Epaulettes ) whilst the M1945 "Chino" pants featured two pleats at the front hips. In alternative, the short-sleeved M1946 (French: Chemisette kaki clair Mle 1946 ), which featured two pleated breast pockets closed by pointed flaps or the "Chino"-style M1949 (French: Chemisette kaki clair Mle 1949 ) shirts could be worn;

1764-497: A typical Khmer declarative phrase is a steady rise throughout followed by an abrupt drop on the last syllable. Other intonation contours signify a different type of phrase such as the "full doubt" interrogative, similar to yes–no questions in English. Full doubt interrogatives remain fairly even in tone throughout, but rise sharply towards the end. Exclamatory phrases follow the typical steadily rising pattern, but rise sharply on

1890-452: A word is មនុស្ស mɔnuh, mɔnɨh, mĕəʾnuh ('person'), pronounced [mɔˈnuh] , or more casually [məˈnuh] . Stress in Khmer falls on the final syllable of a word. Because of this predictable pattern, stress is non- phonemic in Khmer (it does not distinguish different meanings). Most Khmer words consist of either one or two syllables. In most native disyllabic words, the first syllable is

2016-493: Is subject–verb–object , and modifiers follow the word they modify. Classifiers appear after numbers when used to count nouns, though not always so consistently as in languages like Chinese . In spoken Khmer, topic-comment structure is common, and the perceived social relation between participants determines which sets of vocabulary, such as pronouns and honorifics, are proper. Khmer differs from neighboring languages such as Burmese , Thai , Lao , and Vietnamese in that it

2142-429: Is a zero copula language, instead preferring predicative adjectives (and even predicative nouns) unless using a copula for emphasis or to avoid ambiguity in more complex sentences. Basic word order is subject–verb–object (SVO), although subjects are often dropped ; prepositions are used rather than postpositions. Topic-Comment constructions are common and the language is generally head-initial (modifiers follow

2268-591: Is a classification scheme showing the development of the modern Khmer dialects. Standard Khmer , or Central Khmer , the language as taught in Cambodian schools and used by the media, is based on the dialect spoken throughout the Central Plain , a region encompassed by the northwest and central provinces. Northern Khmer (called Khmer Surin in Khmer) refers to the dialects spoken by many in several border provinces of present-day northeast Thailand. After

2394-423: Is contrastive before a vowel. However, the aspirated sounds in that position may be analyzed as sequences of two phonemes : /ph/, /th/, /ch/, /kh/ . This analysis is supported by the fact that infixes can be inserted between the stop and the aspiration; for example [tʰom] ('big') becomes [tumhum] ('size') with a nominalizing infix. When one of these plosives occurs initially before another consonant, aspiration

2520-493: Is estimated that the actual number was no less than 150,000, armed by the United States with US$ 1.18 billion-worth of weaponry and equipment. Its inventory included 241,630 rifles, 7,079 machine guns, 2,726 mortars, 20,481 grenade launchers, 304 recoilless rifles, 289 howitzers, 202 M113 armoured personnel carriers (including seventeen M106A1 mortar carriers equipped with a 107 mm heavy mortar) and 4,316 trucks. In

2646-586: Is no longer contrastive and can be regarded as mere phonetic detail: slight aspiration is expected when the following consonant is not one of /ʔ/, /b/, /d/, /r/, /s/, /h/ (or /ŋ/ if the initial plosive is /k/ ). The voiced plosives are pronounced as implosives [ɓ, ɗ] by most speakers, but this feature is weak in educated speech, where they become [b, d] . In syllable-final position, /h/ and /ʋ/ approach [ç] and [w] respectively. The stops /p/, /t/, /c/, /k/ are unaspirated and have no audible release when occurring as syllable finals. In addition,

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2772-504: Is not a tonal language . Words are stressed on the final syllable, hence many words conform to the typical Mon–Khmer pattern of a stressed syllable preceded by a minor syllable . The language has been written in the Khmer script , an abugida descended from the Brahmi script via the southern Indian Pallava script , since at least the 7th century. The script's form and use has evolved over

2898-582: Is spoken in the Se San , Srepok and Sekong river valleys of Sesan and Siem Pang districts in Stung Treng Province . Following the decline of Angkor, the Khmer abandoned their northern territories, which the Lao then settled. In the 17th century, Chey Chetha XI led a Khmer force into Stung Treng to retake the area. The Khmer Khe living in this area of Stung Treng in modern times are presumed to be

3024-421: Is spoken in the capital and surrounding areas. This dialect is characterized by merging or complete elision of syllables, which speakers from other regions consider a "relaxed" pronunciation. For instance, "Phnom Penh" is sometimes shortened to "m'Penh". Another characteristic of Phnom Penh speech is observed in words with an "r" either as an initial consonant or as the second member of a consonant cluster (as in

3150-937: The French Army as the M1946 (French: Bérét de toile kaki clair Mle 1946 ) during the First Indochina War , who copied it from a tropical beret pattern previously worn by British troops in the Far East during WWII. Berets were worn pulled to the left in French fashion, with the colour sequence as follows: General Service – Light Khaki , Infantry – Light Olive Drab , Armoured Corps – Black , Paratroopers and Para-Commandos – Cherry-red (Maroon) , Special Forces – Forest Green , Military Police and Regional Gendarmerie – Dark Blue ; berets made of "Tigerstripe" and "Highland" camouflage cloth were also issued to elite units. With

3276-966: The Ithaca 37 pump-action shotgun , CAR-15 carbine, the M60 machine gun , the M203 grenade launcher , the M67 recoilless rifle , and the M202 FLASH Multishot incendiary rocket launcher were also provided to the ANK, eventually finding their way into Cambodian elite troops, such as the Khmer Special Forces and the Recondo companies. Although the UITG and MEDTC aid programs allowed the ANK to standardise on modern U.S. weapons, they never superseded entirely

3402-661: The Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh , bringing the Cambodian Civil War to an end. Long Boret , Lon Non and other FANK senior staff officers and top officials of the Khmer Republic government were summarily executed without trial at the Cércle Sportive complex, while Army troops in the city were disarmed, being subsequently taken to the Olympic Stadium and executed as well. The same fate befell on

3528-2361: The M3A1 Grease Gun , followed by the Browning M1919A4 .30 Cal Medium machine gun and Browning M2HB .50 Cal Heavy machine gun . After U.S. military assistance was renounced in 1964, the ARK received from China, the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries substantial numbers of the SKS semi-automatic rifle , Vz. 58 assault rifle , AK-47 assault rifle , Degtyaryov DP/DPM light machine gun , RPD light machine gun , SG-43/SGM Goryunov medium machine gun , DShKM Heavy machine gun , and RPG-2 and RPG-7 anti-tank rocket launchers . In addition, limited quantities of FN FAL and Heckler & Koch G3 assault rifles were reportedly acquired from Belgium and West Germany, but they were never adopted as standard weapons. ARK infantry and airborne formations were also equipped with crew-served weapons, comprising Brandt mle 27/31 81 mm and M2 4.2-inch (107 mm) Mortars , M18A1 57 mm , M20 75 mm , B-10 82 mm and B-11 107 mm recoilless rifles . The armoured corps inventory consisted of thirty-six M24 Chaffee light tanks, forty AMX-13 Light tanks and some M8 HMC 75 mm self-propelled howitzers ; reconnaissance squadrons were provided with five M8 Greyhound armoured cars , fifteen M20 armoured utility cars , and fifteen Panhard AML-60 armoured cars. Mechanized infantry battalions were issued with M2 half-track cars , M3 Half-Tracks , fifteen M3A1 Scout Cars , BTR-40 and thirty BTR-152 armoured personnel carriers (APCs). The artillery corps fielded M116 75 mm pack field howitzers , M101A1 105 mm towed field howitzers , twelve Soviet M-30 122 mm howitzers , Chinese Type 59-1 130 mm field guns , plus twenty towed Soviet BM-13 132 mm and ten towed BM-14 140 mm multiple rocket launchers (MBRL). Air Defense units were equipped with British-made Bofors 40 mm L/60 anti-aircraft guns , twenty-seven Soviet AZP S-60 57 mm anti-aircraft guns , Chinese Type 55/65 37 mm anti-aircraft guns , and eight Soviet KS-19 100 mm air defense guns . Logistics were

3654-606: The March 1970 coup , the new Head of State Marshal Lon Nol issued a general mobilization order and, after securing American, Thai and South Vietnamese military support, promptly set up ambitious plans to expand the Cambodian armed forces. Shortly after the coup, however, China and the Soviet Union severed their military assistance programs, and the French military mission suspended all cooperation with Cambodia, thus depriving its Army of vital training and technical assistance. By June 1970,

3780-657: The South Vietnamese black canvas-and-rubber Indigenous Combat Boots, which replaced much of the older combat footwear. In deep contrast to the South Vietnamese ARVN and Laotian FAR , who replaced the French-style military ranks previously worn during the colonial period with their own devised rank insignia after 1954, the standard FARK rank chart continued to follow closely the French pattern. The Cambodian Armed Forces' system of military ranks

3906-517: The U.S. Army-Vietnam Individual Training Program (UITG) were issued M1917 Revolvers , Smith & Wesson Model 10 revolvers, Colt.45 M1911A1 and Smith & Wesson Model 39 pistols, M16A1 assault rifles , M1918A2 BAR light machine guns , Browning M1919A4 .30 Cal medium machine guns , Browning M2HB .50 Cal heavy machine guns , M79 grenade launchers , M72 LAW Anti-tank rocket launchers, M19 60 mm and M29 81 mm mortars and M40A1 106 mm recoilless rifles . Limited quantities of

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4032-452: The U.S. Marines utility cap, was sometimes seen. In addition, a wide range of OG or camouflage Boonie hats and baseball caps also found their way into the ANK from the U.S., South Vietnam and Thailand though they never displaced entirely the earlier headgear. Period photos do show that the old French bush hat remained popular with the troops, who also wore Cambodian- or South Vietnamese-made versions in camouflage cloth. Steel helmets, in

4158-476: The [r] is dropped and the vowel begins by dipping much lower in tone than standard speech and then rises, effectively doubling its length. Another example is the word រៀន [riən] ('study'), which is pronounced [ʀiən] , with the uvular "r" and the same intonation described above. Khmer Krom or Southern Khmer is spoken by the indigenous Khmer population of the Mekong Delta , formerly controlled by

4284-421: The elision of /r/ . Intonation often conveys semantic context in Khmer, as in distinguishing declarative statements , questions and exclamations. The available grammatical means of making such distinctions are not always used, or may be ambiguous; for example, the final interrogative particle ទេ /teː/ can also serve as an emphasizing (or in some cases negating) particle. The intonation pattern of

4410-450: The fibreglass U.S. Combat Vehicle Crew (CVC) T-56-6 helmet (dubbed the "bone dome"), though neither models offered any satisfactory protection against shrapnel or small arms rounds. White low laced leather shoes were worn with the FARK white cotton full dress, with brown shoes being prescribed to wear with the khaki working uniform, and later, black ones with the new ANK OG dress uniform. On

4536-516: The 10th BCK at Prey Veng . The Kingdom of Cambodia was granted full independence on 20 November and King Sihanouk officially took command of the 17,000-strong FANC, though France maintained the right to station CEFEO units in north-eastern Cambodia to guard its communications links with Tonkin . In early 1954, the "Khmerization" of the FANC units still under the command of French officers and NCOs began to be implemented, with most of these cadres assuming

4662-510: The 1950s, though later shortages in the early 1970s limited its use to officers and NCOs only. Enlisted-rank paratroopers received a locally produced spotted camouflage uniform (known as the "Spot pattern") during the 1960s, which consisted of olive green and russet blotches on a pale green background. After 1970, " Highland " ( ERDL 1948 Leaf pattern or "Woodland") and Tigerstripe patterns of U.S., Thailand ( Thai Tadpole ), and South Vietnamese ( Tadpole Sparse ) origin were also provided to

4788-617: The 1st MR (French: Région Militaire 1 ), 2nd MR (French: Région Militaire 2 ), 3rd MR (French: Région Militaire 3 ), 4th MR (French: Région Militaire 4 ), 5th MR (French: Région Militaire 5 ), and 6th MR (French: Région Militaire 6 ). Most ARK units were concentrated in the northeast at Ratanakiri Province and on the Phnom Penh area; the latter was the headquarters of the six main Half-Brigades and supporting services whereas infantry formations were deployed throughout

4914-893: The 1st Reconnaissance Squadron (French: 1ér Escadron de Reconnaissance Blindée – 1st ERB) in August 1950 and the 2nd Reconnaissance Squadron (French: 2éme Escadron de Reconnaissance Blindée – 2nd ERB) in July 1951 at Phnom Penh, and a Khmer Parachute Battalion (French: 1ér Bataillon Parachutiste Khmèr – 1st BPK) was officially created in December 1952. Two additional infantry battalions were raised in April 1953 – 7th BCK in Siem Reap and 8th BCK at Ta Khmao in Kandal Province, bringing total strength up to 6,000 men, with about half serving in

5040-451: The 9th century until the 13th century. The following centuries saw changes in morphology , phonology and lexicon . The language of this transition period, from about the 14th to 18th centuries, is referred to as Middle Khmer and saw borrowings from Thai in the literary register. Modern Khmer is dated from the 19th century to today. The following table shows the conventionally accepted historical stages of Khmer. Just as modern Khmer

5166-588: The ANK standardized on the M-1 model 1964 provided with the U.S. Army Mitchell "Clouds" camouflage pattern cover, though some units retained the older U.S. and French steel helmets throughout the war. ARK armoured crews received the French M1951 and M1958/65 dark olive green leather crash helmets (French: Sous-casque radio-char modéle 1951 , Sous-casque radio-char modéle 1958 and Sous-casque radio-char modéle 1965 ); after 1970, Cambodian M113 APC crewmen were issued

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5292-698: The ANK. Cambodian students that attended the Para-Commando course at the Batujajar Airborne Commando School, near Bandung in Indonesia between March–November 1972, received the Indonesian Army 's "flowing blood" ( Indonesian language : Loreng Darah Mengalir ) camouflage fatigues. The most common headgear for ARK/ANK all-ranks was a lightweight beret made of light khaki cotton cloth surnamed the "gourka", adopted by

5418-604: The ARK and the mixed infantry units of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps (CEFEO), placed at the disposal of the French High Commissioner for Indochina. The formation and instruction of the ARK units was entrusted to a French Military Training Mission (French: Mission Militaire Française d'Instruction Militaire ), staffed by French Army officers and NCOs, who acted as instructors and military advisers. Three days later,

5544-515: The ARK, but seldom used. ARK officers received a light khaki service peaked cap based on the French M1927 pattern (French: Casquette d'officier Mle 1927 ) to wear with the khaki service dress, whilst a white summer top version was worn with the FARK white full dress uniform; both versions were worn with a gilded metal FARK cap badge bearing the royal coat-of-arms. After March 1970 these caps were replaced by an Olive Green version – incidentally,

5670-513: The English word "bread"). The "r", trilled or flapped in other dialects, is either pronounced as a uvular trill or not pronounced at all. This alters the quality of any preceding consonant, causing a harder, more emphasized pronunciation. Another unique result is that the syllable is spoken with a low-rising or "dipping" tone much like the "hỏi" tone in Vietnamese . For example, some people pronounce ត្រី [trəj] ('fish') as [tʰəj] :

5796-503: The FANC consisted of ground and naval branches, with the former reverting to its original designation of Khmer Royal Army (ARK). In response to the coup against President Ngô Đình Diệm in South Vietnam, Prince Sihanouk cancelled on 20 November 1963 all American aid, and on 15 January 1964 the U.S. MAAG aid program was suspended when Cambodia adopted a neutrality policy. The ARK continued to rely on French military assistance but at

5922-539: The FANC consisted of ground forces only, although plans were being laid by the French for the creation in a foreseeable future of Air and Naval components. On 9 November 1953, the Kingdom of Cambodia officially proclaimed its independence from France. Meanwhile, the expansion of the newly created FANC continued with the addition that same month of two new light infantry battalions, the 9th BCK raised in Svay Rieng and

6048-759: The French CEFEO forces stationed in Cambodia. New Khmer rifle battalions were formed, specialized combat-support units were established, and a framework for logistical support was set up. A third Rifle Battalion (3rd BCK) was raised in August 1948 at Takéo , followed in January 1951 by other two rifle battalions (5th BCK and 6th BCK) at the French-run Pursat Infantry Training Centre (French: Centre d'Entrainement de Infanterie – CEI). Two armoured car squadrons were formed,

6174-603: The Khmer Empire but part of Vietnam since 1698. Khmers are persecuted by the Vietnamese government for using their native language and, since the 1950s, have been forced to take Vietnamese names. Consequently, very little research has been published regarding this dialect. It has been generally influenced by Vietnamese for three centuries and accordingly displays a pronounced accent, tendency toward monosyllabic words and lexical differences from Standard Khmer. Khmer Khe

6300-662: The Khmer National Armed Forces at the beginning of the 1970s, French military influence was still perceptible in their uniforms and insignia. The basic Royal Cambodian Army (ARK) work uniform for all-ranks was a local copy of the French Army's tropical working dress (French: Tenue de toile kaki clair Mle 1945 ), consisting of a light khaki cotton shirt and pants modelled after the WWII US Army tropical "Chino" khaki working dress. The M1945 shirt had

6426-563: The Khmer National Guard and half in the mobile reserve. The latter at this time comprised three rifle battalions, with one of its battalions been allocated to French Union forces elsewhere in Indochina . Cambodian military units were given wider responsibility, including the protection of the rubber plantations along the middle Mekong River region, and surveillance of the coastal areas of the southern Cambodian provinces and of

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6552-756: The Mon-Khmer sub-grouping and place the Khmer language as its own branch of Austroasiatic equidistant from the other 12 branches of the family. Khmer is spoken by some 13 million people in Cambodia , where it is the official language. It is also a second language for most of the minority groups and indigenous hill tribes there. Additionally there are a million speakers of Khmer native to southern Vietnam (1999 census) and 1.4 million in northeast Thailand (2006). Khmer dialects , although mutually intelligible, are sometimes quite marked. Notable variations are found in speakers from Phnom Penh (Cambodia's capital city),

6678-462: The President of the Khmer Republic and FANK Commander-in-Chief Lon Nol . ARK skill and trade badges came in gilt metal and/or ennamelled pin-on versions, with cloth embroidered yellow or black-on-green subdued variants being introduced after 1970. On dress and service uniforms, they were worn on both collars by all-ranks if shoulder boards were worn, but in the field officers did not wore them on

6804-627: The Standard Khmer system and that of the Battambang dialect on which the standard is based. In addition, some diphthongs and triphthongs are analyzed as a vowel nucleus plus a semivowel ( /j/ or /w/ ) coda because they cannot be followed by a final consonant. These include: (with short monophthongs) /ɨw/ , /əw/ , /aj/ , /aw/ , /uj/ ; (with long monophthongs) /əːj/ , /aːj/ ; (with long diphthongs) /iəj/ , /iəw/ , /ɨəj/ , /aoj/ , /aəj/ and /uəj/ . The independent vowels are

6930-605: The U.S. Army OG-107 utilities and the M1967 Jungle Utility Uniform , which quickly replaced the older ARK khaki working uniform and the drab green French fatigue clothing. As with the ARVN , the Cambodians soon produced their own interesting variety of versions of these jungle utilities or had tailors to modify them to suit their tastes and needs, with mix-and-match combinations being far from uncommon. It

7056-492: The active duty officers' and NCO corps. Certain Khmer reserve officers were placed in the territorial commands, while the upper echelons of command were filled by Khmer senior civil servants hastily commissioned as military officers, whose grade was based on their civilian rank. In this system, a provincial governor or the president of a tribunal could become a Lieutenant colonel or Colonel without having ever received military training of any sort. The FANC continued to expand in

7182-583: The centuries; its modern features include subscripted versions of consonants used to write clusters and a division of consonants into two series with different inherent vowels . Khmer is a member of the Austroasiatic language family, the autochthonous family in an area that stretches from the Malay Peninsula through Southeast Asia to East India. Austroasiatic, which also includes Mon , Vietnamese and Munda , has been studied since 1856 and

7308-410: The change of colour made it to resemble more the U.S. M1954 Visor Cap – for wear with the new Americanized dress uniform adopted by the ANK, worn with a new distinctive gilded metal FANK cap badge now bearing the Khmer Republic coat-of-arms. An olive green sidecap was adopted by female personnel to wear with their Olive Green service and working uniform. In the field, ARK officers and enlisted men wore

7434-414: The clusters consisting of a plosive followed by /ʔ/, /b/, /d/ , in those beginning /ʔ/, /m/, /l/ , and in the cluster /kŋ-/ . After the initial consonant or consonant cluster comes the syllabic nucleus , which is one of the vowels listed above. This vowel may end the syllable or may be followed by a coda , which is a single consonant. If the syllable is stressed and the vowel is short, there must be

7560-460: The colonial French Union Army . A second rifle battalion (French: 2éme Bataillon de Chasseurs Khmères – 2nd BCK), created out from locally recruited Khmer irregular auxiliaries (French: Supplétifs ) was raised at Kratie in December that year. Both battalions were posted to the mobile reserve in January 1947. Led by a cadre of French officers and senior NCOs, and intended to be used on internal security operations to reinforce CEFEO regular troops,

7686-580: The combined service emblem of the FANK General Headquarters. Female personnel were issued a service and working olive green OG-107-style short-sleeved blouse based on their male counterparts' versions, provided with two patch breast pockets closed by straight or pointed flaps and shoulder straps. The blouse was worn with a matching service and working olive green knee-length skirt. French " Lizard " (French: Ténue Leopard ) camouflage M1947/51, M1947/52 and M1947/53-54 TAP jump-smocks and M1947/52 TTA vests with matching trousers were issued to ARK airborne troops since

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7812-527: The consonants /ɡ/ , /f/ , /ʃ/ and /z/ occur occasionally in recent loan words in the speech of Cambodians familiar with French and other languages. Various authors have proposed slightly different analyses of the Khmer vowel system. This may be in part because of the wide degree of variation in pronunciation between individual speakers, even within a dialectal region. The description below follows Huffman (1970). The number of vowel nuclei and their values vary between dialects; differences exist even between

7938-460: The country. The small armoured corps was also organized into an Armoured Half-Brigade (French: Demi-Brigade Blindée Khmère ) consisting of two independent tank battalions – one stationed at Phnom Penh and the other at Kampong Cham – and an armoured reconnaissance regiment, 1st ARR (French: 1re Régiment de Reconnaissance Blindée ) at Sre Khlong in Kampong Speu Province . Although a sizeable reserve cadre of trained officers and NCOs did exist, there

8064-411: The descendants of this group. Their dialect is thought to resemble that of pre-modern Siem Reap. Linguistic study of the Khmer language divides its history into four periods one of which, the Old Khmer period, is subdivided into pre-Angkorian and Angkorian. Pre-Angkorian Khmer is the Old Khmer language from 600 CE through 800. Angkorian Khmer is the language as it was spoken in the Khmer Empire from

8190-566: The earlier weaponry, particularly in the case of the territorial units and rear-echelon support formations. In October 1970, the ANK command sought to expand its armoured corps but, despite repeated requests for the delivery of more modern M41 Walker Bulldog light tanks and M-706 armoured cars , their requests were declined by Washington. Thus Cambodian armoured units continued to rely on their ageing fleet of U.S. M24 and French AMX-13 light tanks and M8, M20 and AML armoured cars until 1974, when mounting combat losses and maintenance problems forced

8316-427: The early months of the War, most Cambodian infantry units fought the People's Army of Vietnam and Khmer Rouge with a mix of surplus World War II-vintage French and U.S. and modern Soviet and Chinese infantry weapons either inherited from Khmer Royal Army stocks or delivered as emergency aid by the Americans. ANK infantry battalions later sent to South Vietnam for retraining between February 1971 and November 1972 under

8442-501: The eastern border areas with Cochinchina to prevent infiltration attempts by Vietminh guerrilla units. Although French-trained Khmer junior officers and NCOs slowly began to take a leading role over time, the ARK was still kept firmly under the control of the French High Command through its military training mission, renamed in 1951 "French Military Mission to the Government of Cambodia" (French: Mission Militaire Française près du Gouvernment du Royaume du Cambodge ). The ARK General Staff

8568-401: The entire length of Route 13 inside Cambodia. The only elements that remained subordinated to the French Commander-in-Chief in Cambodia were the Military Mission and the GOBM. The ARK and the Khmer National Guard were consolidated into a new national defense force comprising 17,000 men, the Cambodian National Armed Forces (French: Forces Armées Nationales Cambodgiennes – FANC). At this stage

8694-538: The exception of the light khaki and camouflage versions – which were manufactured in three pieces –, all other corps' berets were made of wool in a single piece attached to a black (or tan) leather rim provided with two black tightening straps at the back, following the French M1946 (French: Bérét Mle 1946 ) or M1953/59 models (French: Bérét Mle 1953/59 ). French M1946 and M1957 light khaki sidecaps (French: Bonnet de police de toile kaki clair Mle 1946 and Bonnet de police de toile kaki clair Mle 1957 ) were also adopted by

8820-408: The fall of the Khmer Empire in the early 15th century, the Dongrek Mountains served as a natural border leaving the Khmer north of the mountains under the sphere of influence of the Kingdom of Lan Xang . The conquests of Cambodia by Naresuan the Great for Ayutthaya furthered their political and economic isolation from Cambodia proper, leading to a dialect that developed relatively independently from

8946-528: The field, all Army personnel wore brown leather U.S. M-1943 Combat Service Boots and French M1953 "Rangers" ( French : Rangers modéle 1953 ) or French canvas-and-rubber Pataugas tropical boots, and sandals; paratroopers received the calf-length French M1950 or M1950/53 TAP (French: Bottes de saut modéle 1950 et 1950/53 ) black leather jump-boot models. After 1970, the ANK standardized on the American black leather M-1967 model with "ripple" pattern rubbler sole and Jungle boots , Canadian Bata tropical boots and

9072-400: The final syllable, with secondary stress on every second syllable from the end. Thus in a three-syllable word, the first syllable has secondary stress; in a four-syllable word, the second syllable has secondary stress; in a five-syllable word, the first and third syllables have secondary stress, and so on. Long polysyllables are not often used in conversation. Compounds, however, preserve

9198-715: The first entirely Cambodian regular military unit, the 1st Khmer Rifle Battalion (French: 1ér Bataillon de Chasseurs Khmères – 1st BCK), was raised by the French Military Mission in Phnom Penh , formed by elements transferred from both the Khmer National Guard (French: Garde Nationale Khmère – GNK) and the Cambodian Rifle Regiment (French: Régiment de Tirailleurs Cambodgiens – RTC), comprising three rifle battalions, of

9324-467: The following months to accommodate new ground units and branches of service. An autonomous Cambodian armored battalion (French: Bataillon Blindée Cambodgien – BBC) was set up by the French, equipped with US armored cars, half-tracks and scout cars, and a naval and riverine service, the Royal Khmer Navy (French: Marine Royale Khmère – MRK) was officially established on 1 March. By April 1954,

9450-522: The form of the U.S. M-1 and French M1951 NATO (French: casque Mle 1951 OTAN ) models were standard issue in the ARK, with paratroopers receiving either the U.S. M-1C jump helmet and its respective French-modified versions (French: Casque USM1 TAP type Métropole and Casque USM1 TAP type EO ) or the French M1951 TAP variant (French: Casque type TAP, modéle 1951 ). During the Republic,

9576-404: The government sponsored Cultural Committee to define and standardize the modern language, they championed Khmerization, purging of foreign elements, reviving affixation, and the use of Old Khmer roots and historical Pali and Sanskrit to coin new words for modern ideas. Opponents, led by Keng Vannsak , who embraced "total Khmerization" by denouncing the reversion to classical languages and favoring

9702-526: The hundreds. Following a world tour to publicize his campaign for independence, King Sihanouk retired to a "free zone of independence" set up at Battambang Province , where he was soon joined by 30,000 ARK troops and Police in a show of support and strength. In October that year, the French High Command finally agreed to transfer responsibility for Cambodian national security to the ARK and for that effect, another French-Khmer military agreement

9828-951: The increasing number of troops mobilized, let alone resupplying them over long distances. To remedy the inequities of its transportation system during the first year of the War, Army field commanders resorted to commandeering civilian buses and other commercial vehicles to get their troops to the front. In 1971–72, the transport corps was re-organized and expanded with the help of the U.S. and Australia, who provided 350 M151A1 ¼-ton (4x4) utility trucks (a number of which were converted into makeshift armoured cars for security and road convoy escort duties), Dodge M37 ¾-ton (4x4) 1953 utility trucks , M35A2 2½-ton (6x6) cargo trucks and M809 5-ton (6x6) cargo trucks , followed by 300 militarized GMC / Chevrolet C-50 medium-duty trucks and GMC C7500 heavy-duty trucks assembled in Australian plants. The Artillery Corps

9954-642: The issued combat jacket or shirt was not provided with buttoned shoulder straps, a single chest tab (French: patte de poitrine ) pinned to the front fly following French practice could be worn instead. As for senior (French: Officiers subalternes ) and junior NCOs (French: Sous-officiers ), they wore metal or cloth chevrons pinned to the chest; NCOs serving in combat units were entitled to wear their chevrons pointed upwards whereas their counterparts assigned to non-combatant, rear-echelon support formations had to wear their chevrons pointed downwards. Privates (French: Hommes de troupe ) wore no insignia. This basic system

10080-416: The language of higher education and the intellectual class. By 1907, the French had wrested over half of modern-day Cambodia, including the north and northwest where Thai had been the prestige language, back from Thai control and reintegrated it into the country. Many native scholars in the early 20th century, led by a monk named Chuon Nath , resisted the French and Thai influences on their language. Forming

10206-517: The last syllable instead of falling. Khmer is primarily an analytic language with no inflection . Syntactic relations are mainly determined by word order. Old and Middle Khmer used particles to mark grammatical categories and many of these have survived in Modern Khmer but are used sparingly, mostly in literary or formal language. Khmer makes extensive use of auxiliary verbs , "directionals" and serial verb construction . Colloquial Khmer

10332-405: The late 1970s they would provide the founding cadre for the anti-Vietnamese Sihanoukist National Army (ANS) and Khmer People's National Liberation Front (KPNLF) guerrilla forces. The Cambodian Army owed its origin and traditions to the Khmer colonial ARK and CEFEO troops on French service of the First Indochina War , and even after the United States took the role as the main foreign sponsor for

10458-428: The left shoulder. By the late 1960s pocket hangers had been phased out in the ARK and after March 1970, all ranks wore shoulder unit insignia. Parachute wings were worn above the right shirt or jacket pocket, whilst foreign airborne qualification badges went over the left pocket. Full-color and subdued nametapes were occasionally worn above the right shirt or jacket pocket on field dress; plastic nameplates were worn with

10584-515: The maneuver elements for the 32 brigades, of which 20 would remain independent and 12 were to be distributed among new four Mechanized Infantry Divisions (French: Divisions d’Infanterie ) created from existing Brigade Groups: A fifth division, the understrength 9th Guards Division was later raised in April 1974. The Armour, Artillery, Signals, Transport, and Engineer arms were left untouched by this reorganization and retained their separate brigade structure under their own commands. The General Reserve

10710-576: The mass of ground forces' combat formations, a major reshuffle was implemented between July and December 1972 along American lines. The old organizational structure modelled after the French Army was abandoned in favour of a modern conventional organization based on the U.S. Army model. By January 1973, all brigade group headquarters (HQs), 17 regimental HQs, 16 brigade HQs, and 13 battalions had been dissolved, replaced by newly created 32 infantry brigades, 202 infantry battalions, and 465 territorial infantry companies. Out of these totals, 128 battalions formed

10836-571: The midpoint of the Middle Khmer period. This has resulted in a distinct accent influenced by the surrounding tonal languages Lao and Thai , lexical differences, and phonemic differences in both vowels and distribution of consonants. Syllable-final /r/ , which has become silent in other dialects of Khmer, is still pronounced in Northern Khmer. Some linguists classify Northern Khmer as a separate but closely related language rather than

10962-504: The modern Khmer language dictionary that is still in use today, helping preserve Khmer during the French colonial period. The phonological system described here is the inventory of sounds of the standard spoken language, represented using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The voiceless plosives /p/, /t/, /c/, /k/ may occur with or without aspiration (as [p] vs. [pʰ] , etc.); this difference

11088-428: The new Khmer battalions saw their first combat in 1947 against Vietminh guerrilla forces in north-eastern Cambodia. Small-scale counter-insurgency operations, this time against the Cambodian nationalist Khmer Issarak rebel movement, continued over the next three years, during which the Khmer battalions gradually assumed responsibility for the defence of Battambang and Kampong Thom Provinces , which had been part of

11214-582: The outer edge, and a miniature royal coat-of-arms featuring a combined crown-and-crossed spears device was incorporated on the inner end of the shoulder boards for all-ranks. The colour sequence of the FARK shoulder boards also varied according to the arm of service: general service – very dark blue or black; airborne troops – light green; medical corps – maroon. On both the khaki working and olive green (OG) field uniforms, Generals' and senior officers' ranks (French: Officiers supérieures ) were usually worn on shoulder strap slides (French: passants d'épaule ) but, if

11340-555: The rechristened Khmer National Army (French: Armée Nationale Khmère – ANK), had rapidly expanded to 110,000 men and women, though most of them were untrained raw recruits organized into a confusing array of French- and American-modelled combat formations, staffed by elderly NCOs and inexperienced young officers. At the same time, there were several changes regarding field organization. Regular infantry battalions were at first amalgamated into autonomous regiments (French: Régiments d'Infanterie Autonomes – RIA), soon abolished in favour of

11466-1339: The remainder light infantry battalions (French: Bataillons de Chasseurs ) and border commando battalions (French: Bataillons Commando ). Elite troops and some support units, including the Khmer Royal Guard (French: Garde Royale Khmère ), Phnom Penh garrison, Airborne troops (French: Parachutistes or Troupes Aeroportées ), Signals (French: Transmissions ), Engineers (French: Génie ), Artillery (French: Artillerie ), Anti-Aircraft (French: Defense Antiaérienne ), and Transport (French: Train or Transport ) were organized into six larger formations termed Half-Brigades (French: Demi-Brigades ). Other technical branch services such as Medical (French: Service de Santé , or simply Santé ), Military logistics (French: Service de Matériel ), Ordnance (French: Munitions ), Military Fuel / Petrol, Oil and Lubricants – POL (French: Service de Essence ), Quartermaster (French: Service de Intendance ), Military Police (French: Prevôtée Militaire or Police Militaire – PM), Military Justice (French: Justice Militaire ), Social and Cultural Services (French: Services Sociales et Culturelles ), Geographic Services (French: Service Geographique ), and Veterinary Services (French: Service Vétérinaire ) were placed under

11592-781: The remaining Cambodian Army units and garrisons still holding on to the provincial capitals and some key towns. Throughout the country, thousands of demoralized Cambodian men and women who had the misfortune of being captured wearing the Army uniform – ranging from officers to NCOs, and even ordinary soldiers, regardless if they had committed any war crimes or not – were rounded up by Khmer Rouge guerrilla units and massacred. In Phnom Penh and elsewhere, some officers and enlisted men narrowly avoided capture by quickly changing to civilian clothes and went into hiding. While scores of surrendering Cambodian soldiers were simply shot by firing squad and had their bodies dumped into shallow graves dug in forest areas,

11718-507: The responsibility for the pacification of the provinces under their jurisdictions; to accomplish this mission they were given each a counter-insurgency force consisting of one independent Khmer infantry company. Late that year, a military assistance agreement was signed between the United States and France, which provided for the expansion of indigenous military forces in Indochina, and by 1952 ARK strength had reached 13,000 men, outnumbering

11844-551: The responsibility of the Service Directorates subordinated to the Ministry of National Defense. Cambodia was divided since September 1969 into seven military districts termed "Military Regions" – MRs (French: Régions Militaires ) encompassing one to ten military sub-districts (French: Subdivisions ) of unequal size roughly corresponding to the areas of the country's 23 provinces and districts. They comprised

11970-642: The responsibility of the transport corps, equipped with a variety of liaison and transportation vehicles. The motor pool consisted in a mixed inventory totalling 150 vehicles, including WWII-vintage U.S. Willys MB ¼-ton (4x4) jeeps , Land Rover (4x4) Series II , Soviet GAZ-69A (4x4) field cars and GAZ-63 (4x4) 2-ton trucks . Heavier transport vehicles ranged from ex- French Army WWII-vintage U.S. GMC CCKW 2½ ton (6x6) and Chevrolet G506 1½ ton (4x4) trucks to Chinese Yuejin NJ-130 2.5 ton (4x2) trucks and Jiefang CA-30 general purpose 2.5 ton (6x6) trucks . Following

12096-423: The roles of technical advisors or instructors, while others kept their posts in the various unit headquarters' staffs and technical branch services. However, due to the lack of a clear development plan for the FANC, and to compensate for the shortages of trained officers, its officer corps was expanded by replacing the departing French cadres with poorly-trained Khmer reserve officers, who were simply incorporated into

12222-431: The royal and religious registers , through Hinduism and Buddhism , due to Old Khmer being the language of the historical empires of Chenla and Angkor . The vast majority of Khmer speakers speak Central Khmer , the dialect of the central plain where the Khmer are most heavily concentrated. Within Cambodia, regional accents exist in remote areas but these are regarded as varieties of Central Khmer. Two exceptions are

12348-578: The rural Battambang area, the areas of Northeast Thailand adjacent to Cambodia such as Surin province , the Cardamom Mountains , and southern Vietnam. The dialects form a continuum running roughly north to south. Standard Cambodian Khmer is mutually intelligible with the others but a Khmer Krom speaker from Vietnam, for instance, may have great difficulty communicating with a Khmer native of Sisaket Province in Thailand. The following

12474-676: The same time turned to the Soviet Union , the People's Republic of China , Czechoslovakia , Britain , Belgium and West Germany for weapons, equipment and training. By January 1970, the Royal Khmer Army stood at about 35,000 officers and enlisted men and women, organized according to the French Army model into 53 regiments (actually, battalions) and 13–15 regional independent companies; slightly over half were designated infantry battalions (French: Bataillons d'Infanterie ), and

12600-665: The service and dress uniforms. Khmer language Khmer ( / k ə ˈ m ɛər / kə- MAIR ; ខ្មែរ , UNGEGN : Khmêr [kʰmae] ) is an Austroasiatic language spoken natively by the Khmer people . This language is an official language and national language of Cambodia . The language is also widely spoken by Khmer people in Eastern Thailand and Isan , Thailand , also in Southeast and Mekong Delta of Vietnam . Khmer has been influenced considerably by Sanskrit and Pali especially in

12726-595: The shirt collars if metal pin-on collar rank insignia was being worn; enlisted ranks usually wore branch insignia on both collars: Like the South Vietnamese ARVN and the Laotian RLA , the Cambodian Army was given to creating unit insignia for formations even down to the company level. Following the French example, ARK officers initially wore metal unit insignia suspended from pocket hangers over their right breast button; enlisted personnel wore cloth versions on

12852-504: The size of a Division, but lacking support units. Of these, only three were military effective by January 1972, other three were still undergoing training, and the remaining nine were only marginally reliable. The Artillery, Signals, Engineer, Transport, and Armoured Half-Brigades were also brought to brigade strength, with the latter becoming the 1st Khmer Armoured Brigade (1st Arm. Bde, 1re Brigade Blindée Khmère in French). To streamline

12978-415: The sleeves had false turnbacks; the front fly and pocket flaps were secured by gilt buttons. The uniform was worn with a matching Khaki shirt and black tie on service dress whereas the white version was worn with a white shirt and a black tie instead. After March 1970, as part of the U.S.-sponsored MAP re-equipment program, the Cambodian Army (ANK) was supplied with new American olive green tropical uniforms,

13104-622: The southern regions of Northeast Thailand and is treated by some linguists as a separate language. Khmer Krom, or Southern Khmer, is the first language of the Khmer of Vietnam , while the Khmer living in the remote Cardamom Mountains speak a very conservative dialect that still displays features of the Middle Khmer language. Khmer is primarily an analytic , isolating language . There are no inflections , conjugations or case endings. Instead, particles and auxiliary words are used to indicate grammatical relationships. General word order

13230-584: The speech of the capital, Phnom Penh , and that of the Khmer Khe in Stung Treng province , both of which differ sufficiently enough from Central Khmer to be considered separate dialects of Khmer. Outside of Cambodia, three distinct dialects are spoken by ethnic Khmers native to areas that were historically part of the Khmer Empire . The Northern Khmer dialect is spoken by over a million Khmers in

13356-417: The start of a syllable are /str/, /skr/ , and (with aspirated consonants analyzed as two-consonant sequences) /sth/, /lkh/ . There are 85 possible two-consonant clusters (including [pʰ] etc. analyzed as /ph/ etc.). All the clusters are shown in the following table, phonetically, i.e. superscript ʰ can mark either contrastive or non-contrastive aspiration (see above ). Slight vowel epenthesis occurs in

13482-628: The stress patterns of the constituent words. Thus សំបុកចាប , the name of a kind of cookie (literally 'bird's nest'), is pronounced [sɑmˌbok ˈcaːp] , with secondary stress on the second rather than the first syllable, because it is composed of the words [sɑmˈbok] ('nest') and [caːp] ('bird'). Khmer once had a phonation distinction in its vowels, but this now survives only in the most archaic dialect ( Western Khmer ). The distinction arose historically when vowels after Old Khmer voiced consonants became breathy voiced and diphthongized; for example *kaa, *ɡaa became *kaa, *ɡe̤a . When consonant voicing

13608-643: The territory returned to Cambodia by Thailand in early 1947. This period saw a rapid expansion of ARK units and by January 1947, its effective strength stood at about 4,000 men, of which 3,000 served in the GNK. In July 1949, a second French–Khmer military agreement was signed, granting Cambodian military forces further operational autonomy in the Siem Reap and Kampong Thom provinces. Under an additional protocol signed in June 1950, Cambodian provincial governors were assigned

13734-471: The use of contemporary colloquial Khmer for neologisms, and Ieu Koeus , who favored borrowing from Thai, were also influential. Koeus later joined the Cultural Committee and supported Nath. Nath's views and prolific work won out and he is credited with cultivating modern Khmer-language identity and culture, overseeing the translation of the entire Pali Buddhist canon into Khmer. He also created

13860-470: The vowels that can exist without a preceding or trailing consonant. The independent vowels may be used as monosyllabic words, or as the initial syllables in longer words. Khmer words never begin with regular vowels; they can, however, begin with independent vowels. Example: ឰដ៏, ឧទាហរណ៍, ឧត្តម, ឱកាស...។ A Khmer syllable begins with a single consonant, or else with a cluster of two, or rarely three, consonants. The only possible clusters of three consonants at

13986-569: The withdrawal of most of these vehicles (in particular the French ones, after France placed a spare parts embargo) from frontline service, being gradually replaced by M113 APCs. The ANK also received after 1970 a new influx of much-needed softskin transport and liaison vehicles. Early in the War, the Army Command was confronted with a serious logistical problem – the small number of outdated U.S., Soviet, and Chinese military trucks available from its transport corps soon proved insufficient to carry

14112-425: The words they modify). Some grammatical processes are still not fully understood by western scholars. For example, it is not clear if certain features of Khmer grammar, such as actor nominalization , should be treated as a morphological process or a purely syntactic device, and some derivational morphology seems "purely decorative" and performs no known syntactic work. Ta Khmao (city) Approximately 60% of

14238-492: Was a persistent lack of reserve units. Some units were posted to the General reserve forces, which consisted merely of the Phnom Penh garrison troops – a half-brigade made of two light infantry battalions – and the combat support units (signals, engineers, armoured, and artillery half-brigades). With the exception of a few specialized units, most of these formations actually fell below strength, were poorly trained and equipped in

14364-419: Was almost identical to the sequence laid out by the French Army 1956 regulations and common to all branches of service, differing only in some details. Removable stiffened shoulder boards (French: pattes d'épaule ) were worn by officers on their dress uniforms as per in the French practice, except that Cambodian Generals’ (French: Officiers géneraux ) wore their stars above gold laurel-like leaf embroidery on

14490-482: Was also re-structured under U.S. lines in 1972–73, receiving additional twenty-five M101A1 105 mm towed field howitzers , M102 105 mm towed light howitzers , ten M114A1 155 mm towed field howitzers and eight tracked M109 155 mm self-propelled guns , meant to replace the Soviet and Chinese artillery pieces gradually withdrawn from service due to a lack of spare parts and ammunition. On 17 April 1975

14616-556: Was also reorganized by Marshal Lon Nol in April 1972 by sub-dividing it into three groups: the Forces A , attached to a MR for combat operations; Forces B , the General Staff reserve comprising five brigades; and Forces C , two airborne battalions under the personal command of Lon Nol. The ANK order-of-battle by mid-1973 thus consisted of four infantry divisions, nine independent infantry brigades, two airborne brigades (one of which

14742-438: Was emerging from the transitional period represented by Middle Khmer, Cambodia fell under the influence of French colonialism . Thailand, which had for centuries claimed suzerainty over Cambodia and controlled succession to the Cambodian throne, began losing its influence on the language. In 1887 Cambodia was fully integrated into French Indochina , which brought in a French -speaking aristocracy. This led to French becoming

14868-498: Was filled entirely by French senior and intermediate rank officers, who did most of the command-and-control support, intelligence work and training, and supervised weaponry and equipment deliveries to the Khmer military units. By mid-1953, however, at the instigation of their youthful King Norodom Sihanouk , Khmer military personnel began not only to participate in anti-French nationalistic demonstrations calling for complete Cambodian independence, but they also deserted French-led units by

14994-517: Was first proposed as a language family in 1907. Despite the amount of research, there is still doubt about the internal relationship of the languages of Austroasiatic. Diffloth places Khmer in an eastern branch of the Mon-Khmer languages . In these classification schemes Khmer's closest genetic relatives are the Bahnaric and Pearic languages . More recent classifications doubt the validity of

15120-407: Was lost, the distinction was maintained by the vowel ( *kaa, *ke̤a ); later the phonation disappeared as well ( [kaː], [kiə] ). These processes explain the origin of what are now called a-series and o-series consonants in the Khmer script . Although most Cambodian dialects are not tonal , the colloquial Phnom Penh dialect has developed a tonal contrast (level versus peaking tone) as a by-product of

15246-403: Was maintained during the Republic, though standard black shoulder boards without the royal crest were adopted in 1970 for all services and from 1972 onwards some Cambodian officers began wearing metal pin-on collar rank insignia, obviously inspired by American practice. Although the system of military ranks remained unchanged, the rank of Field Marshal (French: Maréchal ) was created in 1970 for

15372-626: Was never brought to strength, and was disbanded that same year), one armored brigade, one Lake Brigade , one battalion-sized Special Forces unit , five support services' brigades, 15 regional infantry brigades attached to the Military Regions (MR), and one air defense half-brigade. Territorial units included 58 infantry battalions assigned to each of the military sub-districts within the larger MRs, 529 independent infantry companies, and 76 field artillery batteries. Cambodian army strength stood at 220,000–230,000 troops on paper by mid-1972, but

15498-445: Was not infrequent to see Cambodian male and female soldiers wearing an OG-107 shirt accompanied by a pair of M1967 Jungle Utility trousers or vice versa. The OG-107 trousers were often converted by the addition of cargo pouches; shirts and jackets had their sleeves cut at elbow level, shoulder straps were added, single-buttoned pocket flaps could be replaced by two-button versions (with either clip or round corners) or concealed ones, and –

15624-488: Was officially created on 20 November 1946, after the signing of a French–Khmer military agreement which defined the provisional organization of both the ARK and the mixed French-Cambodian troops. The terms of the agreement stipulated that the new armed forces would consist of indigenous territorial units stationed within Cambodia to help maintain order and a mobile reserve (French: Reserve Mobile ) comprising 8,000 Khmer soldiers, to be divided on equal halves of 4,000 each between

15750-479: Was patterned after the French Army M1946/56 khaki dress uniform (French: Vareuse d'officier Mle 1946/56 et Pantalon droit Mle 1946/56 ); for formal occasions, a light summer version in white cotton (which was the standard FARK full dress uniform) was also issued. The open-collar jacket had two pleated breast pockets closed by pointed flaps and two unpleated at the side closed by straight ones whilst

15876-726: Was signed. Under the terms of this agreement, the French-led Khmer military units were to be transferred to the control of the Cambodian national authorities, and that an operational zone was to be created in the east bank of the Mekong and assigned to the French Union forces. The latter was held jointly by the French Lower Mekong Operational Group (French: Groupement Opérationnel du Bas Mékong – GOBM) and ARK units, which provided security to

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