The Air Force B-52"s brought their own monsoons into Communist sanctuaries. They carried one hundred eight bombs, payloads providing sixty thousand pounds of explosive power, They annihilated targets not only in Vietnam but Cambodia and Laos as well. Although bombing operations were officially restricted to the Vietnamese theater of war, military commanders were loathe to recall sorties that spotted enemy troops and convoys fleeing across borders in hopes of safe refuge.
Prince Sihanouk, ruler of Cambodia, was a weak man appointed by nepotism who feared the power of the NVA and the VC running rampant throughout his border country. He was greatly troubled by the ascension of the Red Khmers who posed a political and military threat to his regime. This insurrectionist group developed through
