From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaTingTongJohn wrote:From the History Web page
On this day, Thailand, a Japanese puppet state, declares war on the Allies.
When war broke out in Europe in September 1939, Thailand declared its neutrality, much to the distress of France and England. Both European nations had colonies surrounding Thailand and hoped Thailand would support the Allied effort and prevent Japanese encroachment on their Pacific territory. But Thailand began moving in the opposite direction, creating a "friendship" with Japan and adding to its school textbooks a futuristic map of Thailand with a "Greater Thailand" encroaching on Chinese territory.
Thailand's first real conflict with the Allies came after the fall of France to the Germans and the creation of the puppet government at Vichy. Thailand saw this as an opportunity to redraw the borders of French Indochina. The Vichy government refused to accommodate the Thais, so Thai troops crossed into French Indochina and battled French troops. Japan interceded in the conflict on the side of the Thais, and used its political alliance with Germany to force Vichy France to cede 21,000 square miles to Thailand.
On December 8, 1941, the Japanese made an amphibious landing on the coast of Thailand, part of the comprehensive sweep of South Pacific islands that followed the bombing raid at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Japanese had assistance, though: Thailand's prime minister, Lang Pipul, collaborated with the Japanese, embracing the Axis power's war goal of usurping territory in China and ruling over the South Pacific. Pipul wanted to partake in the spoils; toward that end, he declared war on the United States and England. In October, he took dictatorial control of Thailand and became a loyal puppet of the Japanese.
Allied bombing raids on the Thai capital city of Bangkok began even before Thailand had declared war, since the Empire of Japan was using the country as a staging area for its invasions of both Malaya and Burma, with the agreement of the Thai government after Japan's successful invasion of the southeast Asian country. The first raid came on January 7, 1942, when Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft flying from Rangoon, attacked military targets in the city.[1][2] The American Volunteer Group, together with seven No. 113 Squadron RAF and three No. 45 Squadron RAF Blenheim bombers, were involved in the first raid.[3] No. 113 Squadron's planes were piloted by No. 60 Squadron's air crew. The second night raid was carried out with 8 Blenheims on 24-25 January and included No. 60 Squadron RAF aircrew.[4] A final raid was made three days later by four Blenheims. This was the last raid by Blenheims until May or June 1945.[citation needed]
After Rangoon fell to the Japanese on March 7, heavy bombers, such as RAF and American Tenth Air Force B-24s, based in India and China, attacked Thailand.[5][6] The raids were carried out because Bangkok by then was a command centre for the Japanese on the South East Asian front. RAF and USAAF bombers carried out the raids as part of the Pacific campaigns. The bombers targeted installations useful to the occupying Japanese military, but the raids were also intended to pressure the government of Thai military strongman Plaek Pibulsongkram to abandon his unpopular alliance with Imperial Japan. The major targets were the newly completed Port of Bangkok and the Thai railway system. Raids by RAF, USAAF, and other Allied air forces continued with growing intensity from India and, after the liberation of Rangoon on May 3, 1945, from Rangoon up until the end of the war in August that year. Blenheim bombers and Mustangs operated out of Rangoon against Bangkok in this later phase of the bombing.[citation needed]
First B-29 Superfortress combat mission[edit]
B-29 Superfortress
In its first combat mission, the American B-29 Superfortress was used by the XX Bomber Command's 58th Air Division to strike targets in Bangkok, before it was deployed against the Japanese home islands.[7] The decision for using the B-29s to bomb Bangkok dated back to 1943 and was mentioned in a communique between US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in which Roosevelt suggested that they be used to bomb the port and railways.[8]
On 5 June 1944, 98 B-29s led by the 58th's commander, General LaVerne Saunders, flew out from airfields in India to attack the Makasan railway yards in Bangkok. The raid was the longest distance mission to that date in the war. It was a 2,261-mile round trip. Only 77 of the B-29s made it to Bangkok, with 21 having had to return home because of various engine problems. Arriving at the Thai capital at about 11:00 am, the bombers found the target obscured by bad weather which in turn caused an element of confusion in the attack. The B-29s were meant to have dropped their bombs from between 22–25,000 feet altitude but instead did so from between 17–27,000 feet. Only 18 bombs hit their intended targets. The others destroyed a Japanese military hospital and damaged the Japanese secret police headquarters. On the return leg, 42 B-29s had to divert to other airfields because of a lack of fuel and five crashed on landing, although none were lost to enemy fire. Further raids were carried out by the Superfortresses against strategic targets in Bangkok
Not something talked about much in Thailand
