Cambodian Civil War – Injured Child and Woman Following Rocket Attack near Phnom Penh Airport – Original Press Photograph – 28 February 1975

Description

A powerful original black-and-white press photograph documenting the aftermath of a Communist rocket attack on a market near Phnom Penh’s Pochentong airport during the final weeks of the Cambodian Civil War.

The photograph shows an injured young boy being restrained and attended by two men while, in the foreground, a gravely injured or deceased woman lies on the ground among scattered personal belongings. The child’s visible distress and the woman’s motionless figure create an exceptionally stark record of the effects of artillery and rocket attacks upon Phnom Penh’s civilian population.

The original newspaper caption attached to the reverse reads:

“An injured youngster is given attention while a woman victim lies on the ground after a Communist rocket attack on a market near Phnom Penh’s airport. Seven people were killed and 17 others wounded.”

The photograph was received by the Shields Gazette Library on 28 February 1975. The date and description correspond with the rocket attack upon the Pochentong central market that day, close to Phnom Penh’s principal airport. Other surviving Associated Press coverage of the same attack records severe civilian casualties at the market.

By early 1975, Phnom Penh had become an increasingly isolated government stronghold surrounded by Khmer Rouge forces. Pochentong airport was vital to the capital’s survival, providing an increasingly precarious route for supplies and evacuation as roads and waterways fell under insurgent control. The city was captured by the Khmer Rouge on 17 April 1975, less than seven weeks after this photograph was taken.

The image is significant not merely as a representation of conflict, but as a contemporary record of the indiscriminate civilian suffering that accompanied the siege of Phnom Penh. Its tightly framed composition, in which the injured child and fallen woman occupy separate but visually connected planes, gives the photograph considerable emotional and documentary force.

The reverse bears the original pasted newspaper caption, the Shields Gazette Library archive stamp, a contemporary receiving stamp dated 28 February 1975 and manuscript editorial markings. These elements establish its provenance as a genuine working newspaper photograph rather than a later reproduction.

Condition

Good condition for an original working press photograph. There is light overall toning, minor surface marking and general handling wear. Small creases and slight edge wear are present, together with marginal editorial marks and a black crop line across the upper edge of the image.

The reverse displays light age toning, faint vertical staining, manuscript editorial measurements and crop instructions, the original pasted caption and the Shields Gazette Library stamp. The central image remains clear, well contrasted and visually powerful.

Please study the photographs carefully as they form part of the description.

Agency: Unrecorded press agency
Photographer: Uncredited
Date: 28 February 1975
Location: Market near Pochentong airport, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Subject: Cambodian Civil War; civilian casualties; rocket attack
Provenance: Photographic archive of the Shields Gazette
Size: 23.5 × 16.5 cm
Process: Original black-and-white press photograph
Caption: Contemporary newspaper caption attached verso

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