Riverine Incursion into Cambodia

A SEALORDS combined South Vietnamese-U.S. naval task force proceeds up the Mekong River into Cambodia as part of the Cambodian Incursion. Its main objective is to disrupt North Vietnamese and Viet Cong use of the river as an infiltration route into South Vietnam. The task force consists of river patrol, assault, and transport boats as well as helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.

South Vietnamese naval units reach the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh. U.S. personnel are allowed only a short distance into Cambodia and stop halfway to Phnom Penh at Neak Luong, securing the strategic Highway 1 river crossing over the Mekong. U.S. boats return to South Vietnam by the end of June, but South Vietnamese forces continue to guard the Cambodian stretches of the Mekong through the summer.¹