Khmer National Armed Forces

The Khmer National Armed Forces, known by its French initials FANK, were the combined military forces of the Khmer Republic, the short-lived nationalist state that existed in Cambodia from 1970 to 1975. FANK was essentially a continuation of the Royal Khmer Armed Forces, which had defended the Kingdom of Cambodia since independence from France in 1953 and by the late 1950s had ground, air and naval branches. After Prince Norodom Sihanouk was deposed in March 1970 by General Lon Nol, the force took a more partisan role in the Cambodian Civil War against the Khmer Rouge and units of the North Vietnamese Army. It was hit early by losses of territory and by a raid that destroyed much of its air force on the ground, and later by the cut in American aid after the Paris Accords, leaving an army of raw conscripts and demoralised veterans. It collapsed when Phnom Penh fell in April 1975.