A unique first-hand perspective on the Cambodian Civil War of 1970–75 by a senior military insider of the Lon Nol regime. Sak Sutsakhan was a senior Cambodian general and diplomat in the Khmer Republic and the last chief of state of that ill-fated regime. He had a behind-the scenes view of the war, from the US's involvement and details of combat operations to the internal machinations of Cambodian politics. After the collapse of 17 April 1975, when he narrowly escaped the victorious Khmer Rouge army, the US Army commissioned him to write this monograph about the war from his unique perspective. Herein, he gives a detailed analysis of the military and political evolution of the conflict regarded by outsiders as merely a "sideshow" of the Vietnam War, but a devastating force of destruction for his country caught in the maelstrom. This military history is accompanied by numerous maps illustrating the ebb and flow of the war, as well as charts and photographs, and culminates in an account of the general’s own harrowing escape.