Capture of Phnom Penh by Vietnamese-led Forces

January 7, 1979 · Phnom Penh, Cambodia Theater

January 7, 1979

Vietnamese forces and Cambodian liberation fighters enter Phnom Penh. Pol Pot, Ieng Sary, Nuon Chea, and the Khmer Rouge leadership flee west toward the Thai border, taking gold from the national treasury. The city is found almost entirely empty — a ghost capital. Survivors emerge from the countryside, skeletal and traumatized, searching for family members. The killing stops. The People's Republic of Kampuchea is proclaimed under Vietnamese protection.

• ●Capture of Phnom Penh by Vietnamese-led Forces