The Franco-Thai War (October 1940 – January 28, 1941, th, กรณีพิพาทอินโดจีน, Krṇī phiphāth xindocīn; french: Guerre franco-thaïlandaise) was fought between
Thailand and
Vichy France over certain areas of
French Indochina.
Negotiations with France shortly before
World War II had shown that the French government was willing to make appropriate changes in the boundaries between Thailand and French Indochina, but only slightly. Following the
Fall of France
The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second World ...
in 1940, Major-General
Plaek Pibulsonggram
Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram ( th, แปลก พิบูลสงคราม ; alternatively transcribed as ''Pibulsongkram'' or ''Pibulsonggram''; 14 July 1897 – 11 June 1964), locally known as Marshal P. ( th, จอมพล ...
(popularly known as "Phibun"), the prime minister of Thailand, decided that France's defeat gave the Thais an even better chance to regain the vassal state territories that were ceded to France during King
Chulalongkorn
Chulalongkorn ( th, จุฬาลงกรณ์, 20 September 1853 – 23 October 1910) was the fifth monarch of Siam under the House of Chakri, titled Rama V. He was known to the Siamese of his time as ''Phra Phuttha Chao Luang'' (พ ...
's reign.
The German military occupation of
Metropolitan France rendered France's hold on its overseas possessions, including French Indochina, tenuous. The colonial administration was now cut off from outside help and outside supplies. After the Japanese
invasion of French Indochina in September 1940, the French were forced to allow Japan to set up military bases. This seemingly subservient behavior lulled the Phibun regime into believing that France would not seriously resist a military confrontation with Thailand.
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
infantry battalions, two
artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieg ...
regiments
A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation.
In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...
, and a battalion of
engineers. The
French Army had a shortage of
armor, and it could field only 20
Renault FT tanks against the nearly one hundred
Royal Thai Army armored vehicles. The bulk of the French forces stationed near the Thai border
consisted of the Indochinese infantry of the 3rd and 4th Regiments of
Tonkinese Rifles (''Tirailleurs Tonkinois''), together with a battalion of
Montagnards (indigenous
Vietnamese highlanders), French regulars of the Colonial Infantry (''
Troupes coloniales''), and
French Foreign Legion units.
The
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in th ...
had one
light cruiser and four
avisos in French Indochina .
The Vichy
French Air Force
The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Army; ...
(''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-bomber
A fighter-bomber is a fighter aircraft that has been modified, or used primarily, as a light bomber or attack aircraft. It differs from bomber and attack aircraft primarily in its origins, as a fighter that has been adapted into other roles, wh ...
s, four
Farman 221
The Farman F.220 and its derivatives were thick-sectioned, high-winged, four engined monoplanes from Farman Aviation Works. Based on the push-pull configuration proven by the F.211, design started in August 1925 and the first flight of the pr ...
heavy
bombers, six
Potez 542
The Potez 540 was a French multi-role aircraft of the 1930s. Designed and built by Potez, it served with the French Air Force as a reconnaissance bomber, also serving with the Spanish Republican Air Force during the Spanish Civil War. Although ob ...
bombers, nine
Morane-Saulnier M.S.406
Aéroplanes Morane-Saulnier was a French aircraft manufacturing company formed in October 1911 by Raymond Saulnier (1881–1964) and the Morane brothers, Léon (1885–1918) and Robert (1886–1968). The company was taken over and diversified ...
fighters, and eight
Loire 130 reconnaissance/bomber
flying boat
A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...
s.
Thai
The slightly larger
Thai Army was a relatively well-equipped force.
Consisting of 60,000 men, it was made up of four
armies. The largest were the
Burapha Army with five
divisions and the
Isan Army
Northeast Thailand or Isan (Isan language, Isan/ th, อีสาน, ; lo, ອີສານ; also written as Isaan, Isarn, Issarn, Issan, Esan, or Esarn; from Pali ''īsānna'' or Sanskrit ईशान्य ''īśānya'' "northeast") consis ...
with three divisions. Independent formations under direct control of the army high command included two motorized
cavalry
Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating a ...
battalions, one artillery battalion, one
signals battalion, one engineer battalion, and one armored regiment. The artillery was a mixture of
Krupp guns and modern
Bofors guns and
howitzer
A howitzer () is a long- ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like ot ...
s, while 60
Carden Loyd tankette
The Carden Loyd tankettes were a series of British tankettes of the period between the World Wars, the most successful of which was the Mark VI, the only version built in significant numbers. It became a classic tankette design worldwide, was l ...
s and 30
Vickers 6-ton tanks made up the bulk of the army's tank force.
The
Royal Thai Navy included two
''Thonburi''-class coastal defense ships, 12
torpedo boats, and four Japanese-made
submarines
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely o ...
.
[Young, Edward M. (1995) ''Aerial Nationalism: A History of Aviation in Thailand''. Smithsonian Institution Press.] The Royal Thai Navy was inferior to the French naval forces in
Southeast Asia, but the
Royal Thai Air Force held both a quantitative and qualitative edge over the local ''Armée de l'Air'' units.
Among the 140 aircraft that composed the Royal Thai Air Force's first-line strength were 24
Mitsubishi Ki-30
The was a Japanese light bomber of World War II. It was a single-engine, mid-wing, cantilever monoplane of stressed-skin construction with a fixed tailwheel undercarriage and a long transparent cockpit canopy. The type had significance in ...
light bombers, nine
Mitsubishi Ki-21 heavy bombers, 25
Curtiss Hawk 75N fighter planes, six
Martin B-10 medium bombers, and 70
Vought O2U Corsair observation
Observation is the active acquisition of information from a primary source. In living beings, observation employs the senses. In science, observation can also involve the perception and recording of data via the use of scientific instruments. The ...
/
attack aircraft
An attack aircraft, strike aircraft, or attack bomber is a tactical military aircraft that has a primary role of carrying out airstrikes with greater precision than bombers, and is prepared to encounter strong low-level air defenses while pr ...
.
[Royal Thai Air Force. (1976) ''The History of the Air Force in the Conflict with French Indochina''. Bangkok.]
Campaign
While nationalist demonstrations and anti-French rallies were being held in
Bangkok, several border skirmishes erupted along the
Mekong frontier. The superior
Royal Thai Air Force then conducted daytime bombing runs over military targets in
Vientiane,
Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh (; km, ភ្នំពេញ, ) is the capital and most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since the French protectorate of Cambodia and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its economic, indus ...
,
Sisophon
Serei Saophoan ( km, សិរីសោភ័ណ, UNGEGN: ; lit. 'Beautiful Freedom') is the capital and largest city of the Banteay Meanchey Province and the fourth most populous city in Cambodia. The city separates Cambodia's National H ...
, and
Battambang
Battambang ( km, បាត់ដំបង, Romanization of Khmer#UNGEGN, UNGEGN: ) is the capital of Battambang Province and the third largest city in Cambodia.
Founded in the 11th century by the Khmer Empire, Battambang is the leading rice-pr ...
with impunity. The French retaliated with their own air attacks, but the damage they caused was less than equal. The activities of the Thai air force, particularly in the field of dive-bombing,
was such that Admiral
Jean Decoux, the governor of French Indochina, grudgingly remarked that the Thai planes seemed to have been flown by men with plenty of war experience.
On 5 January 1941, following the report of a French attack on the Thai border town of
Aranyaprathet, the Thai
Burapha and
Isan Armies launched an offensive on
Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
and
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...
. French response was instantaneous, but many units were simply swept aside by the better-equipped Thai forces. The Thai army swiftly overran Laos, but the French forces in Cambodia managed to rally and offer more resistance.
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
Gulf of Thailand
The Gulf of Thailand, also known as the Gulf of Siam, is a shallow inlet in the southwestern South China Sea, bounded between the southwestern shores of the Indochinese Peninsula and the northern half of the Malay Peninsula. It is around in l ...
. In the early morning of 17 January, a French naval squadron caught a Thai naval detachment by surprise at anchor off
Ko Chang island. The subsequent
Battle of Ko Chang was a tactical victory for the French and resulted in the sinking of two Thai torpedo boats and the disabling of a coastal defense ship, with the French suffering no casualties.
["The Battle of Koh Chang (January 1941)" netmarine.net] Fearing the war would turn in France's favor, the Japanese intervened, proposing an armistice be signed.
On 24 January, the final air battle took place when Thai bombers raided the French airfield at
Angkor, near
Siem Reap
Siem Reap ( km, សៀមរាប, ) is the second-largest city of Cambodia, as well as the capital and largest city of Siem Reap Province in northwestern Cambodia.
Siem Reap has French colonial and Chinese-style architecture in the Old F ...
. 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
Serei Saophoan ( km, សិរីសោភ័ណ, UNGEGN: ; lit. 'Beautiful Freedom') is the capital and largest city of the Banteay Meanchey Province and the fourth most populous city in Cambodia. The city separates Cambodia's National H ...
, escorted by thirteen Hawk 75Ns of the 60th Fighter Squadron.
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
Philippe Pétain's French State and the Kingdom of Thailand signed aboard the cruiser
''Natori'' on 31 January 1941. On 9 May, a peace treaty was signed in
Tokyo,
with the French being coerced by the Japanese to relinquish their hold on the disputed border territories. France ceded the following provinces to Thailand from
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...
and
Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
:
*
Battambang
Battambang ( km, បាត់ដំបង, Romanization of Khmer#UNGEGN, UNGEGN: ) is the capital of Battambang Province and the third largest city in Cambodia.
Founded in the 11th century by the Khmer Empire, Battambang is the leading rice-pr ...
and
Pailin, which were reorganized as
Phra Tabong Province
*
Siem Reap
Siem Reap ( km, សៀមរាប, ) is the second-largest city of Cambodia, as well as the capital and largest city of Siem Reap Province in northwestern Cambodia.
Siem Reap has French colonial and Chinese-style architecture in the Old F ...
,
Banteay Meanchey and
Oddar Meanchey, which were reorganized as
Phibunsongkhram Province
*
Preah Vihear, which was merged with a part of
Champassak Province of
Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
opposite
Pakse
Pakse (or ''Pakxe''; French: ''Paksé''; Laotian: ປາກເຊ 'mouth of the river'; th, ปากเซ) is the capital and most populous city of the southern Laotian province of Champasak, and the second most populous city in Laos. Locat ...
to form
Nakhon Champassak Province
*
Xaignabouli
Sainyabuli, ( lo, ໄຊຍະບູລີ; alternatively spelled ''Xaignabouli'', ''Xayaburi'', or ''Xayaboury'') is the capital of Sainyabuli Province, Laos. It lies on Route 4 which along with Route 13 connects it to Luang Prabang, roughly 8 ...
, including part of
Luang Prabang
Luang Phabang, ( Lao: ຫລວງພະບາງ/ ຫຼວງພະບາງ) or ''Louangphabang'' (pronounced ), commonly transliterated into Western languages from the pre-1975 Lao spelling ຫຼວງພຣະບາງ (ຣ = silent r) ...
Province, which was renamed
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 French Indochina, the conflict was a bitter reminder of their isolation after the
Fall of France
The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second World ...
. They felt that an ambitious neighbor had taken advantage of a distant colony being cut off from a weakened parent. Without hope of reinforcements, the French had little chance of offering a sustained resistance.
To commemorate the victory, Phibun erected the
Victory Monument in Bangkok. Thailand invited Japan and Germany to join in the celebration of its construction.
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
British Burma
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
and
British Malaya
The term "British Malaya" (; ms, Tanah Melayu British) loosely describes a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore that were brought under British hegemony or control between the late 18th and the mid-20th century. U ...
later. The Japanese won from Phibun a secret verbal promise to support them in an attack on Malaya and Burma.
Phibun did not keep his word.
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.
[Judith A. Stowe. (1991) ''Siam becomes Thailand: A Story of Intrigue''. University of Hawaii Press. ] However, on 8 December 1941, the Japanese
invaded Thailand at the same time as the
Japanese invasion of Malaya. Pearl Harbor was attacked one-and-a-half hours after Malaya and Thailand were. Fighting between Japanese and Thai forces lasted only five hours before a ceasefire was agreed. Thailand would be
allied with Japan until 1945.
After the war, in October 1946, northwestern Cambodia and the two Lao enclaves on the Thai side of the
Mekong River were returned to French sovereignty when the
French provisional government threatened to veto Thailand's membership in the
United Nations.
[Terwiel, B.J. (2005) ''Thailand's Political History: From the Fall of Ayutthaya to Recent Times''. River Books.] This led to the conclusion of the
Franco-Siamese Settlement Treaty of 1946 that settled the issue and paved the way to restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
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).
The Thais had captured 222 men (17 North Africans, 80 Frenchmen, and 125 Indochinese).
The Thai army suffered 54 men killed in action and 307 wounded.
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.
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.
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
The Japanese occupation of Cambodia ( km, ការត្រួតត្រារបស់ជប៉ុននៅកម្ពុជា) was the period of Cambodian history during World War II when the Kingdom of Cambodia was occupied by the Japa ...
*
Japanese ''coup d'état'' in French Indochina
*
HTMS ''Sri Ayudhya''
References
Bibliography
*
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"*
*
''La bataille de Koh Chang'' netmarine.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Indochina
Conflicts in 1940
Conflicts in 1941
Wars involving France
Wars involving Thailand
Military history of Thailand during World War II
Military battles of Vichy France
1940 in France
1941 in France
1940 in Thailand
1941 in Thailand
Wars involving Vietnam
France–Thailand military relations
Franco-Thai War