The quick collapse of France during WW2, was a shock to many in the world.
It's colonial empire was largely administered from a German puppet government, Vichy France,
and their was a major worry from the Allied High Command, of antagonizing the puppet French
government enough, that they'd openly fight against the Allied forces.
However, other nations, not formally with either faction, saw this as an opportunity
to gain influence at the expense of a heavily weakened French nation.
In today's episode, we will be looking at one of these conflicts.
The Franco-Thai War.
Before talking about the war itself, we need a little bit of background information.
The fall of mainland France in mid 1940, shocked many in the world, who expected a repeat of
the slow, grinding attrition of the first World War.
With France occupied, a puppet state, Vichy France, was created.
This government over-saw the vast colonial empire that the nation wielded, yet, protection
of this was dodgy at best, and some foreign powers, saw this as an opportunity to themselves
expand in influence.
Japan saw the solitary French colony in the area, Indo-China as a prime target, and issued
ultimatums on June the 19th to the governor Georges Catroux.
This Ultimatum demanding the closure of all supply routes to China and the admission of
a 40-man Japanese inspection team on that demand.
Initially, Catroux refused the demand, stating that such a thing would a breech of sovereignty,
however, once he became aware of the Japanese land and naval units in position, he accepted
their demands, knowing that his forces couldn't hope to defend the territory, and that assistance
from the mainland or even other colonies wasn't forth-coming.
On the 22nd of June more demands were brought forth, them being naval basing rights at Guangzhouwan
and the total closure of the Chinese border by 7 July.
On July the third, another demand was presented, air bases and the right to transit combat
troops through Indochina.
Catroux was replaced before the government responded to the two new demands, and the
new governor, Jean Decoux, urged the government to reject them.
Jean knew that the colony wasn't strong enough to defeat the Japanese, but saw it as strong
enough to deter them from invading in the first place.
The still neutral United States, was contracted in providing aircraft to the colony, and Decoux
had over 50,000 men under his direct command, with over half the force being regulars.
While this force was the largest of any French colony at the time, it wasn't enough to deter
the Japanese.
Plans were drawn up, and yet another ultimatum issued on September the 20th.
Citing that Japanese troops would be entering the territory regardless of French response.
The invasion started on September the 22nd, and heavy fighting erupted along the northern
border, but the French were only able to hold off for a day before needing to retreat, following
the same path that they did during the Sino-French war sixty years prior.
By the 26th fighting had died down and the Japanese were allowed to station tens of thousands
of units within Indo-China as part of the peace.
But they didn't do so just yet, fearing retaliation from the Americans.
Who had already been trying to force Japan to leave China.
After this fighting with the Japanese, the Thai government, the only independent nation
in South Asia, saw this as a golden opportunity to gain back territory that had been lost
years prior.
Franco-Thai tensions have sparked during the past, and disagreements between where the
border actually was, had been an on-going debate for years.
In the previous century, Thailand had to give up a large amount of territory that was now
held by Indo-china.
Prior to the outbreak of WW2, negotiations between the two nations saw a possibility
of some small border adjustments, now however, Thai Major-General Plaek Pibulsonggram, saw
the weak governmental response to the Japanese occupation, as a great way to get the land
back that they wanted.
Getting lukewarm acceptance from the Japanese, Plaek drew up plans for war.
In November of 1940 Thai units started probing Indochina�s defenses with artillery strikes
and border raids.
With a full on invasion starting in January of the following year.
Thailand�s forces were a mixture of western and eastern material.
The air force consisted of American-built Corsairs and Curtiss Hawks with a supplement
of Japanese Mitsubishi bombers.
The army fielded German Krupp guns and 30 British Vickers tanks, as well as five dozen
Carden Loyd tankettes.
The navy was comprised mainly of torpedo boats manufactured in Italy, but also two Japanese-built
coastal defense ships.
And while not large by WW2 standards, Thailand was able to field about 60,000, well equipped
and trained men in four separate armies.
Even with advance warning, Indochina faced a dire predicament.
Though the army was not significantly smaller at 50,000 men, only 12,000 of these were regular
units, and the Indochinese army also had the duty of maintaining order within its own borders.
Native rebellions plagued the colony, drawing soldiers away from the front to police the
local populace.
Against Thai armor the French could only field one operational tank company of Renault FT,
a WW1 era light-tank.
While they had a more powerful navy, having a light cruiser and four medium-sized warships,
Their air force was considerably inferior, being able to muster only 100 obsolete aircraft,
made up of mostly of the Potez 25, a 1920,s single engine bomber.
To make matters worse, the colony was cut off from the home country, and local shortages
ensured material such as oil went to Japan first, and the British in the Indian ocean
and beyond, prevented Vichy ships from ever reaching the distant colony.
In the first few days of fighting Thai pilots took the skies and never relinquished them,
while the accuracy of Thai fighter-bombers surprised French commanders.
The ground war was little different.
Just a week into the conflict the Thai army gained control of Laos and most of the Mekong
River�s western bank.
Advances into Cambodia proved more difficult however.
Thailand sent the bulk of its invasion forces into the disputed Cambodian province of Battambang.
But strong resistance from native colonial rifles kept Thai gains to much less than in
the Laotian invasion.
The French attempted to counter-attack at Yang Dang Khum but the result was disastrous.
The Thai Air-wing managed to control the sky with impunity, and the thick jungle made unit
coordination almost impossible.
The French were also using morse-code to communicate, which allowed the Thai leaders to be able
to pick up the transmissions and relay them to the units on the ground.
It was only a handful of legionaries that managed to prevent a complete route, as they
managed to blow apart some of the Thai tanks, and hold the advance off, for long enough,
to let the main French columns retreat.
Yet, a French victory did come in from the sea.
In the early morning of 17 January 1941, a French naval squadron caught a Thai naval
detachment by surprise 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 heavy damage to a coastal defense ship, with the
French suffering only minor casualties.
This heavily boosted French morale, and reignited resolve within the colony.
In turn, the Thai's had lost the initiative, and were being stalled in making any more
advances in Cambodia, and by early February, fighting had stalled all along the line.
Fearing that the French might get the upper hand.
Japan showed up in force at the Mekong Delta and �brokered� an armistice between the
two powers.
On 9 May, a formal peace treaty was signed in Tokyo, officially ending the war.
The brokered peace treaty forced France to cede northwestern Cambodia and two Laoan enclaves
to Thailand; yet made the Thia's pay millions in restitution to the Vichy government.
In appreciation, Thai Prime Minister Pibulsonggram secretly pledged military support for Japan
should Japan engage in a war with the United Kingdom, and a monument was constructed, The
Victory Monument in Bankok, to commemorate the victory over a European Power.
What the ceasefire agreement demonstrated was who controlled events in Southeast Asia.
Japan made it apparent that Indochina�s independence rested at Tokyo�s whim.
Japan also allowed it to legitimately increase its presence in the area and gain further
access to the corridors that led straight through Thailand to Malaysia and Burma.
Phibun, who had hoped for greater cooperation with his country�s Asian neighbor, realized
Japan had no interest in his nation except for its strategic position.
He feared an invasion in the future and later secretly approached the British and Americans
seeking aid if Japan invaded Thailand.
Phibun was right to be worried in this regard.
As on December the 8th of 1941, Japan would invade Thailand, in combination with it's
strike south and bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Putting an end to this chapter in history, and starting the printing, of a new one.