Background
To invade Malaya and Burma, the Japanese needed to make use of Thai ports, railways, and airfields. The Thai people, however, were fiercely proud of never having been colonised and were determined to maintain their independence, having just beaten Vichy France in the Franco-Thai War. The Thai army was far from negligible and their soldiers were at combat readiness. If heavy Japanese casualties were to be avoided, it was vital that early landings across the beaches in southern Thailand should be unopposed.
To facilitate this, the Japanese opened secret negotiations with the Thai government. At the time it looked as though the Axis powers were winning the war in Europe, and in October 1940 Thai dictator Plaek Pibulsonggram gave a secret verbal promise to support them in the event of a Japanese invasion of Malaya. In return for his secret alliance, the Japanese guaranteed Thailand provinces in Malaya which had been ceded to the British in 1909, as well as Burma's Shan State.
However, Phibun seemed to have been quite ready to forget this promise if circumstances had changed and asked both the British and Americans in 1941 for guarantees of effective support if Thailand was invaded. Neither country could give them, although British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was in favour of giving a public warning to Japan that an invasion of the Southeast Asian kingdom would result in a British declaration of war.
This drove the Japanese planners to distraction as they unsuccessfully strove to obtain agreement to a right of passage through Thai territory, on which their whole operational plan depended. Finally it was General Count Terauchi who took the decision for the invasion fleet to sail and land in Thailand with or without permission.
| “ | There is a possibility of imminent Japanese invasion of your country. If you are attacked, defend yourselves. The preservation of the true independence and sovereignty of Thailand is a British interest, and we shall regard an attack on you as an attack upon ourselves. - Prime Minister Winston Churchill's message to Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsonggram, which was promptly ignored whilst seeking an armistice with Japan | ” |
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