REVISION IN MILITARY STRATEGY?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: Library of Congress
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): LOC-HAK-537-7-10-7
• Release Decision: RIPLIM
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: January 11, 2017
• Document Release Date: March 7, 2011
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: March 8, 1972
• Content Type: REPORT

No Objection to Declassification in Part 2012/10/18 : LOC-HAK-537-7-10-7 ~1~..~v
DIA and JCS
reviews
completed.
No Foreign Dissem/Background Use .only
Reysiart in Mi.Zztar~ Strat~c z~?
The ~~ambodian Army General Staff has drafted a.
revised plan for military operations during the re-
mainng months of the current dry season. Under
the proposed plan, the country. would be div~.ded into
three "zones," to which military resources would be
.?allocated on a basis of priorities. First priority
would go to the consolidation of government control
over the densely populated and agriculturally rich
area south of the Route 9: - Phnom Penh -Route 1
arc, called Zone 1. The army's goal would be to
re-establish secure local administrations, to protect
all major lines of communication, and to eliminate
all enemy forces.
$ March 19 72
No Foreign?Dissem/Background Use Only
dd ~..~~aPi'~~.. ~a~ y1'1~ s~ ..7 ~~,w?.9J B) r^i I.s ./~~rL"~"~ .~R~,! a^r~~ ~ney ~~a ~~,:^9 da
No Objection to Declassification in Part 2012/10/18 : LOC-HAK-537-7-10-7
 No Objection to Declassification in Part 2012/10/18 : LOC-HAK-537-7-10-7
~raP sECRET vMBR~~
No Foreign Dissem/Background Use Only
,Zone 2 would encompass the territory north of
Zane 1 t4` the soTcalled "'Lon Nol line," which is
'
rough7.y
demarcated by Routes G and'7 from the Thai
border in the'went to the South Vietnam bander in
the east. The mayor objective in Zone 2 would be
to defend mayor population centers such as Komgong
Cham, Siem Reap, Battambang, and Pursat with ter-
ritorial forces augmented by units from the. army
general reserve as required. A secondary obaective
`-would be to maintain the security of lines of com--
muncation at the present level. Tn Zone 3, which
takes in all of the area above the "Lon Nol line"--
the isolated and sparsely settled north and the
Communist--contro7~led northeast, the government
merely would try to maintain pressure on the enemy
"from the -air.
According to tYie US defense attache, Cambodian
Army planners feel.compeJaed to recommend a'.new..
plan because of the uncertainties surrounding South
Vietnamese willingness to participate in campaigns
..remote from their own borders, because of the an--
ta:cipated difficulty in eliminating the threat ~.
that Communist Phuoc Long Front elements in thee,
proposed Zone l could again pose to Fhnvm Penh, :and
because of insufficient assets to support simultaneous
large-scale operata.ans'in widely separated areas.
With only a few months remaining in the dry season,
it is questionable if the tentative plan could
actually be implemented---assuming that Lon Nol'
accepts it. Military planners may feel, however,
that if Lon Nol agrees to their plan now they will.
have a headstar.t on waging a more effective dry
,season campaign in 1973. (SECRET)
Lon Non's Activities
No Foreign Dissem/Background Use Only
TOP SECRET UMBRA
No Objection to Declassification in Part 2012/10/18 : LOC-HAK-537-7-10-7
50X1-HUM