Associated Press Wire Photograph – Cambodian Family Sheltering During Bombardment of Phnom Penh – March 1975

Description

An original Associated Press wire photograph documenting civilian life during the final weeks of the Cambodian Civil War. The image depicts a Cambodian mother and her five children sheltering in a shallow bunker in Phnom Penh on 20 March 1975. The accompanying Associated Press caption describes the family anxiously looking skyward as shells from insurgent forces begin falling in the encircled capital city.

Photographed less than a month before the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge on 17 April 1975, the image captures the human cost of the conflict and the conditions endured by ordinary civilians trapped within the besieged capital. Unlike many military photographs of the period, this powerful documentary image focuses on the experience of non-combatants and provides a poignant visual record of the final collapse of the Khmer Republic. Such contemporary Associated Press photographs formed part of the international news coverage that brought the Cambodian crisis to a worldwide audience.

The photograph survives with its original Associated Press wire caption and comes from the photographic archive of the Shields Gazette, retaining the newspaper’s archive markings and provenance.

Condition

Very good condition. Minor edge wear, light creasing and handling marks associated with period newsroom use and archive storage. Original Associated Press caption and Shields Gazette archive stamp to the reverse.

Agency: Associated Press
Date: 20 March 1975
Size: 19.5 x 27.9 cm
Medium: Original wire photograph
Photographer: Not named
Provenance: Shields Gazette photographic archive
Subject: Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodian Civil War, civilian life, refugees, siege of Phnom Penh, Khmer Rouge period, Southeast Asian history

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