| Operation Menu | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Cambodian Civil War and Vietnam War | |
 B-52D bombers carry out a strike | |
| Operational scope | Tactical bombing |
| Location | Eastern Cambodia |
| Date | 18 March 1969 – 26 May 1970 |
| Executed by | United States Strategic Air Command (SAC) |
| Outcome | Strategic failure
|
Operation Menu was a covert United States Strategic Air Command (SAC) tactical bombing campaign conducted in eastern Cambodia from 18 March 1969 to 26 May 1970 as part of both the Vietnam War and the Cambodian Civil War. The targets of these attacks were sanctuaries and base areas of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN – commonly referred to during the Vietnam War as the North Vietnamese Army [NVA]) and forces of the Viet Cong (VC), which used them for resupply, training, and resting between campaigns across the border in the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). The impact of the bombing campaign on the Khmer Rouge guerrillas, the PAVN, and Cambodian civilians in the bombed areas is disputed by historians.
An official United States Air Force record of US bombing activity over Indochina from 1964 to 1973 was declassified by US President Bill Clinton in 2000. The report provides details of the extent of the bombing of Cambodia, as well as of Laos and Vietnam. According to the data, the air force began bombing the rural regions of Cambodia along its South Vietnam border in 1965 under the Johnson administration; this was three and a half years earlier than previously believed. From 1965 to 1968, 214 tons of bombs were dropped over Cambodia.[1] The Menu bombings were an escalation of what had previously been tactical air attacks. Newly inaugurated President Richard Nixon authorized for the first time use of long-range Boeing B-52 Stratofortress heavy bombers to carpet bomb Cambodia.[2]
Operation Freedom Deal immediately followed Operation Menu. Under Freedom Deal, B-52 bombing was expanded to a much larger area of Cambodia and continued until August 1973.
- ^ Owen, Taylor; Kiernan, Ben (October 2006). ""Bombs over Cambodia"" (PDF). The Walrus. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2023. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
- ^ High, Holly; Curran, James R.; Robinson, Gareth (2013). "Electronic Records of the Air War Over Southeast Asia: A Database Analysis". Journal of Vietnamese Studies. 8 (4): 86–124. doi:10.1525/vs.2014.8.4.86. ISSN 1559-372X. JSTOR 10.1525/vs.2014.8.4.86.