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This article is a tribute to a distinguished field commander, Gen.
Dien Del, of the Khmer Republic from 1970-1975 and of the Khmer
People's National Liberation Armed Forces. Dien Del fought Vietnam's
military occupation of Cambodia from 1979-1990.
Born in 1932 at
Soc Trang, Kampuchea Krom, now southern Vietnam, Dien Del passed away in
Phnom Penh on Feb. 13. His body was cremated on the 17th.
I knew Dien Del as a friend and a comrade-in-arms. We met in Cambodia when I took a semester out of graduate school to observe the situation in the field after the March 18, 1970, deposal of then Chief of State Prince Sihanouk. Dien Del was a lieutenant colonel.
We did not meet again
until sometime after May 1975, in the United States. This time, Dien
Del was a refugee. The Khmer Republic collapsed on April 17, after the
U.S. withdrew from the region. Most government members declined the U.S.
offer to be airlifted to safety -- including Republican leader Prince
Sisowath Sirik Matak, who was executed by the Khmer Rouge.
Rising young star
A young rising star, Dien Del was a brigadier general commanding the
2nd Division in 1972, and was commander of the Territorial Forces and
governor of Kandal Province from 1974 until April 16, 1975.
His
and others' dreams to set up a rear base in northwestern Cambodia as
the Khmer Rouge entered Cambodia's towns and cities were thwarted
because of volatile conditions on the ground, and their helicopters
landed them in Thailand.
At the end of May 1975, Dien Del, his wife, and two children, arrived as refugees in Alexandria, Va. I reconnected with him.
Two
years later, in May 1977, he left the U.S. for France. There he and
Khmer senior statesman Son Sann formed a committee for liberation of
Cambodia. On Feb. 1, 1979, he left Paris for Bangkok, and subsequently
made his way to the border region.
He persuaded 13 different armed
groups to merge. On March 5, 1979, Dien Del proclaimed the Khmer
People's National Armed Forces; he was named chief of general staff.
In
the fall 1980, Dien Del, wearing army fatigues, drove an oxcart as he
escorted me, fresh from the U.S., down a muddy road to show off the
KPNLAF "liberated zone."
At Banteay Ampil, Dien Del and his
civilian colleague, Hing Kunthon, enrolled me in Class V of political
warfare training. Dien Del signed my certificate in October 1980. The
year after, 1981, Dien Del sent me to the Military School for a crash
course in the KPNLAF's first officer training class.
Adapt to integrate
Dien Del and Hing Kunthon were determined to integrate me into the
nascent movement. They insisted one must adapt (I was ill for a week
from impure water and eating snails from a local pond) in order to be
adopted by the KPNLAF. In order to be accepted, I was coached that I was
to watch, listen and remain quiet. I should speak, I was told, only
after a lengthy period of observation and reflection, or I would not
earn the trust of those in the field.
Foreign observers'
descriptions of Dien Del in Wikipedia are accurate: Dien Del commanded
respect from superiors, colleagues, subordinates; seasoned journalists
who saw Dien Del in combat "admired" his appearance of calm and control;
he was "perhaps (the army's) best general, a man with a merry sparkle
in his eyes ... (strutting) up and down in his tiger suit, pistol at his
hip, saying he would fight to the last."
I worked with Dien Del
in good and bad times. He had his strengths and weaknesses. When I was
with him in the field, his confident demeanor sometimes belied the
danger at hand. Though he seemed to hesitate before signing the
authorization for my first mission with a KPNLAF company to probe the
heavily mined Vietnamese-held area of Beung Ampil, a stone's throw away,
he did let me go. A Brit with a movie camera also went.
As we
moved, the company commander radioed progress to HQ. When a firefight
broke out, Dien Del's voice was heard as I busily snapped photos of a
combatant falling, a couple with blood on their clothes. Suddenly an arm
dragged me, and we jumped behind a small mound. As a mortar shell
crashed on the very spot I stood seconds earlier, I rose with my camera;
a soldier pushed me down. The company commander radioed that we two
civilians were all right, no thanks to my naiveté, but it was a close
call.
Was good with troops
When Dien Del received intelligence reports from his foreign friends
-- the exact date the enemy would attack the headquarters -- he let me
stay at HQ in a bunker. I watched as Dien Del met with his commanders.
He took me with him as he toured the defense line. He joked with troops,
suggested how best to raise huge columns to obstruct tanks, where else
to implant mines.
Reaching a tall tree, which some said was home to a bad spirit, Dien Del pulled his pistol and fired shots at the tree.
"That should do it," he said. Those around him let out nervous laughter.
As
expected, the enemy opened fire before dawn, followed by continuous
artillery shelling until mid-morning. I was in the bunker, praying the
roof wouldn't collapse as a shell exploded above. Come morning, Dien
Del, puffing a cigarette and smelling of alcohol, told me to run to the
border.
"Someone has to live to continue the struggle. We
shouldn't all die here," he shouted, as I replied there wasn't enough
time to reach the border. Dien Del shoved me out.
Ampil never
fell. Reporters were skeptical as we reported that the KP forces had
destroyed more than one tank. It was not until a few years later that
troops went back and photographed a rusted tank at the site of the
battle. Dien Del was then KPNLAF deputy commander-in-chief. This
charismatic, larger-than-life figure gave his all to bring a republican
form of government to Cambodia, and will be well-remembered by his
countrymen.
Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University
of Guam. He was a former assistant to the Commander-in-Chief of the
Khmer People's National Liberation Armed Forces. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.
3 comments:
Where the other half truth to make full picture of Gen.DD
Ampil fell to VN and Heng Samrin troops. The columm of spearhead by VN T-55 broke through midline between Gen. DD troops and his fierce opponent commander of Samlor Camp, which adjacent to Ampil. Gen. DD fled to Dang Rek Camp,which located about 15 Km NorthEast of Ampil, where he continued to conduct hit and run VN troop station in Ampil Camp.
Note:Due respect to the brave general, he was in Kampuchea
Krom. Correct me if I'm wrong, I thought he was very much dislike Youn, But why he decided to serve as MP of VN supported CPP,which he found fiercely against in 1980 to 1993.
If that true all his dead troops, who fought along side him, their souls must have been shaken in their graves.
With due respect to his soul, I wish that he rest in peace. However, I wish to clear some issues.
Gen. Dien Del was an ardent supporter of the republican regime of Gen. Lon Nol. He hates the monarchy, especially Sihanouk. He swore that he would never work under or for Sihanouk.
In 1979 or early 1980, Gen. Del Dien said to his close associates that "If there is Sihanouk, there will be no Dien Del. If there is Dien Del, there will be no Sihanouk" - meaning that him and Sihanouk would never work together. But in the 1998 election he was recruited by Prince Ranariddh to serve as MP for the Funcinpec Party, a party founded by Sihanouk. Hypocrisy?
Also, during his as commander of the resistance fighters in the jungle in the 1980s, there were many claims that he had committed many crimes - ordering the killings of his subordinates who were suspected of disrespect, disloyalty or suspected spies or simply made him angry or upset about something. Many of his subordinates or people who knew about his cruelty are so terrified of him.
Maybe Dr. Pengmeth can answer all these allegations for him because he can no longer defend himself now
Nothing wrong to serve our country Cambodia.
Maybe the General Dien Del just loves our country Cambodia so much same as other Khmer Krom born, who ready to diefor the country of our ancestor.
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