Franco-Thai War
Franco-Thai War | |||||||||
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Part of the aftermath of the Japanese invasion of French Indochina and World War II | |||||||||
Map of the French Indochina prior to World War I | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Thailand | |||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Jean Decoux | Plaek Phibunsongkhram | ||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
50,000 men (38,000 colonials) 20 light tanks 100 aircraft 1 light cruiser 4 avisos |
60,000 men 134 tanks 140 aircraft[5] 3 coastal defense ships 12 torpedo boats 4 submarines | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
Land: 321 killed or wounded 178 missing 222 captured 22 aircraft destroyed Sea: None[6][7] Total: 721+ casualties |
Land: 54 killed[8] 307 wounded 21 captured 8–13 aircraft destroyed Sea: 36–300+ killed[6][7] 3 torpedo boats sunk[6] 1 coastal defense ship grounded Total: 418–700+[6][7] casualties | ||||||||
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The Franco-Thai War (October 1940 – January 28, 1941, Thai: กรณีพิพาทอินโดจีน, romanized: Krṇī phiphāth xindocīn; French: Guerre franco-thaïlandaise) was fought between Thailand and Vichy France over certain areas of French Indochina.
Negotiations shortly before
The German and Italian military occupation of
Opposing forces
French
The French military forces in Indochina consisted of an army of approximately 50,000 men, 12,000 of whom were French, organized into forty-one
The
The Vichy French Air Force (Armée de l'Air) had approximately 100 aircraft, of which roughly 60 could be considered front-line. These included thirty Potez 25 TOE reconnaissance/fighter-bombers, four Farman 221 heavy bombers, six Potez 542 bombers, nine Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 fighters, and eight Loire 130 reconnaissance/bomber flying boats.[11]
Thai
The slightly larger Thai Army was a relatively well-equipped force. tanks made up the bulk of the army's tank force.
The
Campaign
While nationalist demonstrations and anti-French rallies were being held in
On 5 January 1941, following the report of a French attack on the Thai border town of
At dawn on January 16, 1941, the French launched a large counterattack on the Thai-held villages of Yang Dang Khum and Phum Preav, initiating the fiercest battle of the war. Due to poor coordination and nonexistent intelligence against the entrenched and well-prepared Thai forces, the French operation was stopped and fighting ended with a French retreat from the area. However, the Thais were unable to pursue the retreating French, as their forward tanks were kept in check by the gunnery of French Foreign Legion artillery.
With the situation on land rapidly deteriorating for the French, Admiral Decoux ordered all available French naval forces into action in the
On 24 January, the final air battle took place when Thai bombers raided the French airfield at Angkor, near Siem Reap. The last Thai mission bombing Phnom Penh commenced at 07:10 on 28 January, when the Martins of the 50th Bomber Squadron set out on a raid on Sisophon, escorted by thirteen Hawk 75Ns of the 60th Fighter Squadron.[5][11]
Armistice
Japan subsequently stepped in to mediate the conflict. A general ceasefire had been arranged to go into effect at 10:00 on 28 January, and a Japanese-sponsored "Conference for the Cessation of Hostilities" was held at Saigon, with preliminary documents for an armistice between the governments of Marshal
- Phra Tabong Province
- Phibunsongkhram Province
- Nakhon Champassak Province
- Lan Chang Province
Treaty
The resolution of the conflict was widely acclaimed by the people of Thailand, and was seen as a personal triumph for Phibun. For the first time in its history, Thailand had been able to extract concessions from a European power, albeit a weakened one. For the French in
To commemorate the victory, Phibun erected the
The Japanese wanted to maintain both their working relationship with Vichy and the status quo; therefore, the Thais were forced to accept only a quarter of the territory that they gained from the French, in addition to having to pay six million piastres as a concession to the French.
However, the real beneficiaries of the conflict were the Japanese, who were able to expand their influence in both Thailand and Indochina. The Japanese wanted to use Thailand and Indochina as their military bases to invade
Relations between Japan and Thailand were subsequently stressed, as a disappointed Phibun switched to courting the British and Americans to ward off what he saw as an imminent Japanese invasion.
After the war, in October 1946, northwestern Cambodia and the two Lao enclaves on the Thai side of the
Casualties
The French army suffered a total of 321 casualties, of whom 15 were officers. The total number of missing after 28 January was 178 (six officers, 14 non-commissioned officers and 158 enlisted men).[12] The Thais had captured 222 men (17 North Africans, 80 Frenchmen, and 125 Indochinese).[5]
The Thai army suffered 54 men killed in action and 307 wounded.[8] 41 sailors and marines of the Thai navy were killed, and 67 wounded. At the Battle of Ko Chang, 36 men were killed, of whom 20 belonged to HTMS Thonburi, 14 to HTMS Songkhla, and two to HTMS Chonburi. The Thai air force lost 13 men. The number of Thai military personnel captured by the French was just 21.
About 30 percent of the French aircraft were rendered unserviceable by the end of the war, some as a result of minor damage sustained in air raids that remained unrepaired.[13] The Armée de l'Air admitted the loss of one Farman F221 and two Morane M.S.406s destroyed on the ground, but its losses were really greater.[11]
In its first experience of combat, the Royal Thai Air Force claimed to have shot down five French aircraft and destroyed 17 on the ground, against the loss of three of its own in the air and another five to 10 destroyed in French air raids on Thai airfields.
See also
- Thailand in World War II
- Japanese occupation of Cambodia
- Japanese coup d'état in French Indochina
- HTMS Sri Ayudhya
References
- ^ Tucker, World War II: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection p. 649
- ^ Fall, p. 22. "On the seas, one old French cruiser sank one-third of the whole Thai fleet ... Japan, seeing that the war was turning against its pupil and ally, imposed its 'mediation' between the two parties."
- ISBN 0-8117-1700-3.
- ISBN 0-306-81386-6.
- ^ a b c d Royal Thai Air Force. (1976) The History of the Air Force in the Conflict with French Indochina. Bangkok.
- ^ a b c d Journoud, Pierre (2012). Face à la France, une victoire de Thaïs (8 ed.). fr:Guerres & Histoire. p. 72.
- ^ a b c d "The Battle of Koh Chang (January 1941)" netmarine.net
- ^ a b Sorasanya Phaengspha (2002) The Indochina War: Thailand Fights France. Sarakadee Press.
- ^ Stone, Bill. "Vichy Indo-China vs Siam, 1940-41".
- ISBN 2-7025-0436-1page 90
- ^ a b c Ehrengardt, Christian J; Shores, Christopher (1985). L'Aviation de Vichy au combat: Tome 1: Les campagnes oubliées, 3 juillet 1940 - 27 novembre 1942. Charles-Lavauzelle.
- ^ a b c Hesse d'Alzon, Claude (1985). La Présence militaire française en Indochine. Vincennes: Publications du service historique de l'Armée de Terre.
- ^ a b c d e Young, Edward M. (1995) Aerial Nationalism: A History of Aviation in Thailand. Smithsonian Institution Press.
- ^ Elphick, Peter. (1995) Singapore: the Pregnable Fortress: A Study in Deception, Discord and Desertion. Coronet Books.
- ^ Vichy versus Asia: The Franco-Siamese War of 1941
- ^ Charivat Santaputra (1985) Thai Foreign Policy 1932–1946. Thammasat University Press.
- ISBN 0-8248-1393-6
- ^ Terwiel, B.J. (2005) Thailand's Political History: From the Fall of Ayutthaya to Recent Times. River Books.
Bibliography
- Young, Edward M. (1984). "France's Forgotten Air War". ISSN 0143-5450.
Further reading
- Paloczi-Horvath, George. "Thailand's War with Vichy France." History Today (1995) 45#3 pp 32–39.
- Wong, Ka F. Visions of a Nation: Public Monuments in Twentieth-Century Thailand, White Lotus, Bangkok 2006
External links
- "France 1940...something"
- "The French-Thai War" at the Wayback Machine (archived October 27, 2009)
- The 1941 franco-siamese war in the World War II context
- (in French) La bataille de Koh Chang, netmarine.net