Thailand role in WW2

[lonelywombat]

On Gaybutton, Hedda made this claim

"I wonder if the folks promoting this site even realize that Thailand was on "the wrong side" of that war 50 years ago".

I assume this indicates in her opinion that Thailand supported the japanese.

I have always believed that Thailand did not get involved on either side.

That;'s a bit strong even if technically correct. Remember that even China had fallen to the Japanese. When the Japs arrived in Thailand the Government with far inferior forces decided to "invite" them in and saved the useless loss of many lives. The Japs forced the Government to declare war on the Allies. The story is that the Thai Ambassador refused to deliver the declaration and subsequently the US Government took it for what it was a forced decision having no military threat. The Japs were not very nice in Thailand. I read that the Thais were mainly very kind to Western POWs and the imported forced labour and then were kind to the Japs when the Allies were punishing them.

It is worth mentioning Thai support for the Allies in the First World War when several hundred troops went to fight in France.

When you think of all the wars, terrorism and civil wars in S E Asia, Thailand has done well to avoid nearly all and managed to turn round the Thai Communist party very effectively.

[elephantspike]

WW II was a big tangled web. Thailand's position was similar to France's. That is, they let the Japanese take-over without resistance the same way France let Germany take-over them. The resistance movement in Thailand was perhaps as strong as it was in France.

Thailand fought a short Naval war with France (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French-Thai_War) in 1940, payback for having to cede Laos to them some 80 years earlier. Thailand won most of that war until France dealt them a devastating blow, sinking a good portion of their fleet in one battle. Japan intervened and ceded some of the Laos territory back to Thailand.


Thailand had just undergone the bloodless revolution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Thailand_%281932-1973%29) that led to it becoming a Constitutional monarchy a few years earlier. It was an absolute Monarchy before that. The king that allowed the transition to constitutional monarchy in 1932 (King Prajadhipok, or King Rama VII) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prajadhipok) abdicated the throne and moved to France when he became convinced that the bloodless revolutionaries, were not in fact Democratic, but instead intended to institute an oligarchy with themselves assuming the former powers of the absolute monarch.

When King Prajadhipok abdicated, it was determined that his young nephew Ananda Mahidol (King rama VII) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ananda_Mahidol) was to be the successor to the throne (King Prajadhipok was childless), and the leaders of the bloodless coup were left pretty much in charge. They sympathized with Japan. They ordered the Thai ambassador to the USA to deliver a declaration of war. The Thai ambassador refused, and the USA never officially recognized the war declaration.

I wouldn't recommend taking history lessons from Hedda...

[manfarang-old]

The Thai were allies of the Japanese, although they were hardly what one would call active allies. The anti-Chinese actions of the Japanese fit in well with military strongman Phibul Songgram's efforts to reduce the strong Chinese presence in the Thai economy, and the anti-West message of Japan's "Asia for Asians" philosophy also synced with Thailand's strong sense of independence. (One forgets that in many Asian countries the Japanese were initially welcomed as liberators from the Western colonial powers.)

In December 1941 Japan asked for passage rights through Thailand. Phibul was away from Bangkok visiting the Indochinese provinces that had recently been "liberated" by the Thai (Bangkok's Victory Monument was initially built to commemorate the Thai "victory" in Indochina) and the Thai foreign minister refused the request. Earlier that year the Thai National Assembly had also passed a resolution calling for massive resistance in the event of a Japanese invasion. Japan invaded and Thai forces resisted until Phibul returned to Bangkok, at which time a ceasefire was arranged and Thailand agreed to an alliance with the Japanese. War was declared against the US and Britain, although, as Elephantspike points out, the Thai ambassador to the US Seni Pramoj refused to deliver the declaration and, in fact, worked with the OSS to form the Free Thai underground movement.

Still, at the outset the general Thai feeling appears to have been pro-Japanese and Thailand gained territory at the expense of Burma and French Indochina. Thailand was also the only country within the Japanese "Co-Prosperity Sphere" to not have a puppet government installed and essentially retained its independence. As the war progressed it was clear that Japan was going to lose the war and in 1944 Phibul was forced from government, coinciding with the fall of General Tojo's government in Japan. At the end of the war Britain and France pressed Thailand for several concessions, including the return of the territories acquired during the war, but in the end it was generally recognized that Thailand had not really participated in the war effort against the Allies. Phibul did regain power in 1948 and controlled the government until he was forced into exile in 1957. In general, the western powers supported his strongly anti-Communist government and, for all his many MANY faults, Phibul is largely credited with Thailand's modernization and economic development in the post-war years. For a much better account of Thailand's war years, I recommend David K. Wyatt's book, Thailand: A Short History.

As a side note, for a long time I've been searching for the long out-of-print VCD of the Thai film "Boys Will Be Boys, Boys Will Be Men," a drama about the students of a Thai military school attempting to fight off Japanese invaders. Needless to say, it does not end well for the students. If anyone happens to run across a copy of this film, I'd appreciate a pm as to where you found it.

Thanks so much to w/p, e/s and m/f for putting into perspective this attempted slight against the Thais.

BTW, not really "that war 50 years ago" for example today is the 62nd anniversary of the Japanese bombing of mainland Australia (the city of Darwin) - time flies.

[Hmmm]

I wonder how much Thais are taught of this recent history ? Few students in my bf's university Humanities class apparently even knew when Siam became Thailand ! (he was very surprised that I knew). Also, most of them thought "Thailand" meant "Land of Smiles" ! That may say something for the Tourism Authority of Thailand, but not much for the education system.

As manfarang says, Wyatt's book is a good source. There was a 2nd edition a few years back that finally added about 15 pages for the rather interesting period from the 1960s to the present day.

Also, "A History of Thailand" by Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit came out last year.

[lonelywombat]

To the person that sent a PM that I should have studied the pacific campaign in my army days, my military history studies for promotion were the Burma Campaign, Slims excellent book Defeat into Victory as the primary reference, the fall of Singapore and the New Guinea campaigns.

Slim did not arrive in theatre until after the fall of Rangoon and although the Japanese aims in the Pacific were required reading, what happened in Thailand was not included in our study references. That is why I was surprised by Heddas comments.

Apart from promotion studies, our military studies were more directed to Dien Bien Phu, the actions against the CT in Malaysia and the war in Vietnam.

I just checked Amazon to see if Field Marshall Slims book is still available and after all these years, they have both new and second hand copies for sale.

Thanks to all those who replied, Ive enjoyed reading your contributions.