Thailand in World War II
Deaths in combat included 150 in the Shan States, 180 on 8 December 1941 (the day of both the brief Japanese invasion and the failed British assault on the Ledge), and 100 during the brief Franco-Thai War.
[citation needed] Phibun and Luang Wichitwathakan, the government's ideological spokesman, copied the propaganda techniques used by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini to build up the cult of the leader.
During the Second World War, newspapers were instructed to print only good news emanating from Axis sources, while sarcastic comments about the internal situation were banned.
[citation needed] Meanwhile, all cinemas were instructed to display Phibun's picture at the end of every performance as if it were the king's portrait, and the audience were expected to rise and bow.
[citation needed] At the start of World War II, Phibun shared many of his countrymen's admiration of fascism and the rapid pace of national development it seemed to afford.
[citation needed] The regime also revived irredentist claims, stirring up anti-French sentiment and supporting restoration of former Thai territories in Cambodia and Laos.
[12] Although the Thais were united in their demand for the return of the lost provinces, Phibun's enthusiasm for the Japanese was markedly greater than that of Pridi Banomyong, and many old conservatives as well viewed the course of the prime minister's foreign policy with misgivings.
[citation needed] The recovery of this lost territory and the regime's apparent victory over a European colonial power greatly enhanced Phibun's reputation.
[2] Relations between Japan and Thailand subsequently stressed as a disappointed Phibun switched to courting the British and Americans in the hopes of warding off what he saw as an imminent Japanese invasion.
The Royal Thai Police resisted British Commonwealth forces invading Southern Thailand in December 1941 at The Battle for The Ledge, following the Japanese invasion of Malaya.
[citation needed] Thailand was rewarded for Phibun's close co-operation with Japan during the early years of war with the return of further territory that had once been under Bangkok's control, namely the four northernmost Malay states after the Malayan Campaign.
To promote greater military and economic co-operation, Pridi was removed from the cabinet and offered a seat on the politically impotent Regency Council of the absent king, which he subsequently accepted.
[2] Japan meanwhile stationed 150,000 troops on Thai soil and built the famous Burma Railway through Thailand using Asian labourers and Allied prisoners of war, with more than 100,000 dying in the process.
Thai resentment on this issue lasted throughout the war, however, and resulted in Phibun refusing to attend the following year's Greater East Asia Conference.
[2][19] In September 1942, there was a long rainy season in Northern, Northeastern and Central regions of Thailand, causing great floods in many provinces, including Bangkok.
Although the majority of Thais were initially "intoxicated" with Japan's string of brilliant victories in early 1942, by the end of the year there was widespread resentment as a result of arrogant Japanese behaviour and war-induced privation.
[2] Even during the early stages of the war there was friction over issues such as the confiscation of Allied property and economic and monetary matters, as well as the treatment of Thailand's ethnic Chinese community.
A vicious contest for saw mills and teak forests owned by British companies erupted early on, followed by similar disputes over the control of enemy energy and shipping facilities within the country.
For a time Germany continued actively purchasing Thai products, but once shipping difficulties became intractable, Japan became Thailand's sole significant trading partner.
Similarly, Thailand had to rely on the Japanese for consumer goods previously imported from Europe and the United States, which Japan was increasingly unable to provide as the war wore on.
The Royal Thai Navy contracted the Japanese Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation of Kobe and Mitsubishi to construct coastal defence ships and submarines.
[2] In January 1943 he had two of the Phayap Army's divisional commanders arrange the return of a group of Chinese prisoners-of-war as a gesture of friendship designed to open secret negotiations with Chongqing.
His frequent absence from Bangkok led morale to plummet, while a sudden proclamation that the capital and its inhabitants immediately be moved north to malaria-infested Phetchabun was greeted with near-universal bemusement and discontent.
[4][30] Coinciding with Phibun's efforts to distance himself from the Japanese, the Allied Invasion of Italy and the downfall of Benito Mussolini sent shock waves through the Thai government, and an emergency cabinet meeting was convened to discuss the European situation.
Pridi, the regent, from his office at Thammasat University, ran a clandestine movement that, by the end of the war, had, with Allied aid, armed more than 50,000 Thais to resist the Phibun government and the Japanese.
[11] In 1944 he managed to engineer the unseating of Phibun, who was replaced by Khuang Aphaiwong, the civilian son of a minor nobleman and linked politically with conservatives like Seni.
Fortifications, in the guise of air raid shelters, had been dug at key crossroads, and additional troops had been brought into the city in small groups in civilian clothing.
The task of Free Thai forces elsewhere would be to thwart Japanese efforts to reinforce their Bangkok garrison by cutting communications lines and seizing airfields.
[citation needed] In early September the leading elements of Major-General Geoffrey Charles Evans's Indian 7th Infantry Division landed, accompanied by Edwina Mountbatten.
[11] As a result of the contributions made to the Allied war efforts by the Free Thai Movement, the United States refrained from dealing with Thailand as an enemy country in post-war peace negotiations.
