Um Savuth

The son of a government chauffeur, and the younger brother of politician Um Samuth,Corfield, J. and Summers, L. Historical dictionary of Cambodia, 2003, p.437 Savuth began his career in the Royal Cambodian Army under the regime of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, and became a supporter of General Lon Nol after the latter's 1970 coup against Sihanouk.

Savuth was largely paralyzed down one side of his body, walked with the aid of a cane, and was, reputedly, continually drunk to numb the pain of his condition. This had come about due to an incident earlier in his career in which he had drunkenly insisted that a subordinate shoot a live cat off his head, stating that it was a direct order when the soldier resisted. The shot missed, and part of Savuth's head was blown away: nevertheless, he continued his military career.Corfield, J. Khmers Stand Up! a history of the Cambodian government 1970-1975, Monash University, 1994, {{ISBN|978-0-7326-0565-0}}, p.61A number of other versions of the story state that the object was a tin of condensed milk, rather than a cat.

Under Sihanouk's regime, Savuth (along with a fellow officer, Les Kosem) was closely involved in the formation of FULRO, a guerrilla resistance movement seeking autonomy for the Degar tribes of Vietnam. When Kosem disagreed with the direction being taken by FULRO's leader, Y-Bham Enuol, he forcibly detained him and placed him under house arrest at Savuth's residence in Phnom Penh. Like Kosem, Savuth was also known to be deeply implicated in Sihanouk's secret arrangement with North Vietnam by which weapons were smuggled through Cambodia (along the "Sihanouk Trail") to the Viet Cong.Ahern, T. [http://www.foia.cia.gov/vietnam/4_GOOD_QUESTIONS_WRONG_ANSWERS.pdf Good Questions, Wrong Answers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090724215323/http://www.foia.cia.gov/vietnam/4_GOOD_QUESTIONS_WRONG_ANSWERS.pdf |date=2009-07-24 }}, declassified CSI study on arms shipments through Sihanoukville during Vietnam War

Subsequent to the Khmer Republic's declaration, Savuth rose to the rank of Brigadier general. Despite assurances, from the Republic's US backers, that Savuth was "better drunk than most Cambodian officers sober", his most prominent campaign, Operation Chenla I, was a military disaster.

In 1971, Savuth wrote to US President Richard Nixon, offering him his pet elephant "Khaat" ("Little Frog") as a gift. Nixon did not respond to the offer, though Savuth's wife told Peter R. Kann of the Wall Street Journal that she was rather pleased with this as "giving away an elephant is bad luck".Kann, P. R. In a Cambodian Week Of Crisis, an Elephant Makes Weight Felt, Wall Street Journal, Nov 18, 1971. When it was pointed out to Mrs Savuth that another elephant, captured from the Viet Cong, was being sent as a gift from Lon Nol to Admiral John S. McCain, Jr., she retorted that "giving away captured elephants brings good luck". Savuth's men commented that the small, fat Khaat was a "funny elephant".(Kann, ibid.)

Savuth was killed in a car accident in November 1972, though Khmer Rouge radio claimed that he had died during an attack by CPNLAF troops along National Route 5.FBIS Daily Report: Asia & Pacific, 8-11-72, p.227 ("Traitorous Gen. Oum Savouth was killed suddenly as a result of a courageous attack by the CPNLAF along Route 5") A newsreel of his subsequent cremation (in accordance with traditional Buddhist practices) is still held by the Documentation Center of Cambodia.[http://www.dccam.org/Archives/Films/KR_Film_in_Eng.pdf DCCAM list of films] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100712233331/http://www.dccam.org/Archives/Films/KR_Film_in_Eng.pdf |date=2010-07-12 }}, Documentation Center of Cambodia

{{reflist|30em}}

{{refbegin|30em}}

• Kenneth Conboy, FANK: A History of the Cambodian Armed Forces, 1970-1975, Equinox Publishing (Asia) Pte Ltd, Djakarta 2011. {{ISBN|978-979-3780-86-3}}
• Kenneth Conboy, Kenneth Bowra, and Mike Chappell, The War in Cambodia 1970-75, Men-at-arms series 209, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1989. {{ISBN|0-85045-851-X}}
• Justin Corfield and Laura Summers, Historical Dictionary of Cambodia, Asian/Oceanian Historical Dictionaries No. 43, Scarecrow Press, Inc., Lanham, Maryland, and Oxford 2003. {{ISBN|0-8108-4524-5}} – [https://archive.org/details/historicaldictionaryofcambodia]
• Sak Sutsakhan, The Khmer Republic at War and the Final Collapse, U.S. Army Center of Military History, Washington D.C. 1980. – available online at Vietnam.ttu.edu [https://web.archive.org/web/20190412060055/https://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/star/images/239/2390505001A.pdf Part 1 PDF], [https://web.archive.org/web/20070221083105/http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/star/images/239/2390505001B.pdf Part 2 (PDF)], [https://web.archive.org/web/20070221083124/http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/star/images/239/2390505001C.pdf Part 3 (PDF)], [https://web.archive.org/web/20180419053236/http://www.virtual.vietnam.ttu.edu/cgi-bin/starfetch.exe?97laG21WoZlsnsWDvnA31cNKtjxPNll0tmML2jW%40FwEn4i8u1B8IEc.QazoGZ6EyR.jZs3iSmJy.%40b5lWydOtg737NiWUVNgTGwUSqlvIfg%2F2390505001D.pdf Part 4 (PDF)].

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Category:1972 deaths

Category:Cambodian generals

Category:Cambodian anti-communists

Category:Year of birth missing