Battle of Prachuap Khiri Khan
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The Battle of Prachuap Khri Khan ( th, ยุทธการที่ประจวบคีรีขันธ์) was an early engagement of the
Japanese invasion of Thailand The Japanese invasion of Thailand ( th, การบุกครองไทยของญี่ปุ่น, ; ja, 日本軍のタイ進駐 , Nihongun no Tai shinchū) occurred on 8 December 1941. It was briefly fought between the Kingdom ...
in the Southeast Asian theatre of World War II. It was fought on 8–9 December 1941 at the airfield of Prachuap Khiri Khan, on the coast of 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 ...
along the Kra Isthmus. The
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
ese meant to use Thailand as a base to strike at British possessions in
Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
and
Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...
and attacked Thailand without warning. The last Thai veteran to have fought in this battle, Choi Lodthanong, died on 2 June 2021 at the age of 100.


Battle

About 03:00 on 8 December 1941, the 2nd Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment, 55th Division of the
Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...
, under the command of
Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
Kisoyoshi Utsunomiya, began landing troops at Prachuap Khiri Khan. When informed of the invasion, Wing Commander Mom Luang Prawat Chumsai of ''Kong Bin Noi'' (Squadron) 5 immediately gave orders to resist. The units on the airfield were equipped with six heavy and two light machine guns, which they immediately turned against the Japanese troops trying to surround the airfield. The small garrison of pilots and ground crew was reinforced by members of the constabulary and the Yuwachon Thaharn (a quasi-military teenage auxiliary) who had managed to escape from the town of Prachuap Khiri Khan after the Japanese captured the
telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
office and the police station. Despite the fact that the Japanese occupied part of the airfield, ''Kong Bin Noi'' 5's pilots attempted to take off at sunrise to bomb and strafe the advancing Japanese. Chief
Warrant Officer Warrant officer (WO) is a rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ranks, the mos ...
Prom Chuwong was first to take off in a
Hawk III The Curtiss BF2C Goshawk (Model 67) was a United States 1930s naval biplane aircraft that saw limited success and was part of a long line of Hawk Series airplanes made by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company for the American military, and f ...
. Japanese ground fire quickly shot him down, killing him. The Japanese shot down two more Hawks as they took off, killing both pilots, and wounded a third pilot as he brought his Hawk onto the runway. Only one other pilot managed to get airborne. Flying Officer Man Prasongdi took off in a Hawk III armed with four 50 kg bombs and attempted to attack Japanese transports in
Ao Manao Ao Manao ( th, อ่าวมะนาว, ), meaning "Lime Bay", is a bay in the west side of the Gulf of Thailand. It is five kilometres to the south of Prachuap Khiri Khan in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province. Geography The bay lies south of Pr ...
harbor, but he could not locate them due to heavy fog and rain. By 08:00, most of the northern hangars were in Japanese hands. The Thais smashed the instruments of the isolated airfield control tower and set fire to it, as the runways were abandoned. A new perimeter was set up and the withdrawing airmen were covered by a machine gun positioned in the clubhouse's
tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be u ...
, manned by Airmen Singto Saensukh and Kasem Wongkangya. The machine gun kept firing throughout the morning and into the afternoon.
Pilot Officer Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countri ...
Somsri Suchrittham and his men, whose strength was now around thirty, were forced to withdraw when their northern flank was threatened by the abandonment of the runways. Having successfully secured the beachhead, the Japanese proceeded to occupy what was left of the hangars and runways, and reinforcements, including artillery and ten tanks, were landed from the transports. The families of the airmen took refuge in guesthouses on Mount Lom Muak. The evacuation of the living quarters was supervised by Pilot Officer Phol Thongpricha. Another position was set up by defenders, who divided themselves into three groups. One group was stationed by the guest houses on Prachuap Bay and fired on anything coming up the road from the guard house. A second group, under the immediate command of Wing Commander Prawat, placed itself in the area around the command and administrative buildings. The final group occupied houses facing Manao Bay. These two groups fired on the approaches from the hangars and the runways. Fighting continued into late evening, but with lessening intensity. The machine gun at the tennis court held back the Japanese, while a light machine gun was held in reserve and moved to plug gaps in the perimeter. Rumours that Royal Thai Navy sailors were fighting their way through to relieve the airmen kept up Thai hopes through the night. Ammunition was low, and at one point the airmen fired blank rounds at the Japanese. The following morning, the exhausted Thais received a telegram from the Ministry of the Interior, brought in by a postman during a lull in the battle. The telegram ordered the defenders to cease fighting, as an armistice had been arranged by the government. The Thai defenders suspected this was a trick by the Japanese and continued to resist. The infuriated invaders now mounted assaults with renewed vigor. The defenders were slowly pushed back. About this time, the lone machine gun in the tennis court was taken out, both gunners severely wounded. By 10:00, with the Japanese closing in, Wing Commander Prawat ordered the command building to be burned, along with all military documents. As flames engulfed the building, Flying Officer Prayad Kanchonwiroj, the senior medical officer, ordered the hospital building evacuated and set on fire. Wing Commander Prawat ordered all officers to save a bullet for themselves and said those who wanted to were free to try to break out on their own. The others, including the wounded, were to fall back on Mount Lom Muak. At noon, a civilian car with a small white flag arrived. It contained a number of Thai government officials, including the provincial undersecretary, Jarunphan Isarangun na Ayutthaya. Jarunphan handed Wing Commander Prawat a direct order from the Prime Minister, Field Marshal Phibunsongkhram, telling him to cease resistance immediately. Fighting officially ended at 12:35 on 9 December 1941.


Casualties

The Thais suffered 42 killed and 27 wounded, including airmen, police, and civilians. Wing Commander Prawat's pregnant wife was among the dead, killed by a stray bullet. Japanese sources stated that the Japanese suffered 115 dead. However, Thai estimates of Japanese losses were put at 217 killed and more than 300 wounded. (The Japanese had cremated their dead and prevented the Thais from counting them.)


Memorials

A monument to the Thai defenders stands on the Royal Thai Air Force base at Prachuap Khiri Khan. Each December a memorial is held to honour those who fought and died defending their country from invasion.


References


External links

*
The Japanese Invasion of Prachuap Khiri Khan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prachuab Khirikhan World War II operations and battles of the Southeast Asia Theatre Battles of World War II involving Japan Battles involving Thailand Prachuap Khiri Khan province Royal Thai Air Force Military history of Thailand during World War II 1941 in Thailand December 1941 events 20th-century military history of Thailand