1977–1978
As Pol Pot's paranoia intensified, he turned on his own cadres. The Eastern Zone — whose leaders had fought alongside Vietnamese communists during the independence era — was accused of harboring 'Vietnamese minds in Khmer bodies.' Soldiers from the Southwest Zone were sent to liquidate Eastern Zone cadres, their families, and hundreds of thousands of civilians. Those executed were replaced by loyal Southwest Zone units. The survivors of the Eastern Zone purges fled to Vietnam — and became the nucleus of the Vietnamese-backed liberation force that would invade in 1978.
Commanders