Japanese Invasion of Thailand

The Japanese invasion of Thailand occurred on December 8, 1941. 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 French- Thai War. The Thai army was far from negligible and their soldiers were tough. If heavy Japanese casualties were to be avoided it was vital that the 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 going to win the war, 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. However, Phibu 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 they were invaded.