- Title: KHMER REPUBLIC: HEAVY FIGHTING CONTINUES ON HIGHWAY FOUR SOUTHWEST OF PHNOM-PENH.
- Date: 24th November 1973
- Summary: 1. GVs armoured Personnel Carriers drive along High-way (4 shots) 0.13 2. SV Officer giving orders 0.21 3. GVS APCs firing 106 mm. cannons and machine guns at the front line (2 shots) 0.43 4. SV Officer using walkie talkie on Highway, with troops (2 shots) 0.50 5. SVs APCs leave Highway and cross field (2 shots) 1.09 6. GV Troops crossing paddy field under fire (5 shots) 1.26 7. SV dead and wounded soldiers being carried into camp (3 shots) 1.41 8. SV Ambulance 1.46 9. SV Injured receive medical aid (3 shots) 1.58 10. SV Troops examining remains of a pagoda (2 shots) 2.08 Initials AE/20.06 AE/20.33 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 9th December 1973 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: HIGHWAY FOUR, KHMER REPUBLIC
- Country: Cambodia
- Reuters ID: LVACAQWT873ZWCTDT1R1DO7V95J
- Story Text: Heavy fighting was continuing on Thursday (22 November) along the vital Highway Four in the Khmer Republic, linking the capital Phnom Penh with its deepwater port of Kompong Som in the Gulf of Siam.
Military sources said government troops backed by artillery and armoured cars were continuing their sweep against communist forces.
By Thursday, every major highway in the Khmer Republic was cut by the communists amid heavy fighting. On Friday night (23 November), Communist Forces shelled three provincial centres around Phnom Penh. Military sources said at least ten people had been killed and 25 wounded by shelling in the provincial capital of Takeo, 40 miles (60 kms) south of Phnom Penh, in five days.
On Thursday, the town of Mohasaing on Highway Four fell to communist forces. Troops and armoured personnel carriers of the Khmer's most successful unit, the 28th Infantry Brigade, were rushed in to stop the communist advance. More than forty armoured personnel carriers (APC's) and two battalions of infantry were thrown into the battle. At first there was little resistance from the communists, but after several hours the Khmer forces were halted by heavy mortar and rocket fire, which inflicted serious casualties.
The monsoon season in the region has already lasted a month longer than usual. In the ten days before the Mohasaing battle, three towns were lost by the government to the communists.
Observers in Phnom Penh say Highway Four is vital to the defence of the capital, because it is the route for essential supplies coming into the country through the port of Kompong Som.
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