Women soldiers ride a Japanese motorcycl

Women soldiers ride a Japanese motorcycle in the streets of the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, in April 1975. On New Year's Day 1975, Communist troops led by Pol Pot and Ieng Sary, launched an offensive to oust Lon Nol's Khmer Republic. The Lon Nol governement in Phom Penh surrendered 17 April 1975 after 117 days of the hardest fighting of the war. Immediately after its victory, the PCK ordered the evacuation of all cities and towns. Many of the foreigners and some Cambodians, who couldn't or wouldn't flee Cambodia, took refuge at the embassy from which they were taken by truck to Thailand two weeks later. AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read STF/AFP via Getty Images)