Just an Illusion

The reverse suffered by the French army at the hands of the Japanese aggression led the new Thai government to strongly reaffirm its intention to reintegrate Laos and Cambodia into the motherland. The state of latent war came to a sudden end on 10 January 1941 when the Thai Army …

1941-01-16

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J070

The reverse suffered by the French army at the hands of the Japanese aggression led the new Thai government to strongly reaffirm its intention to reintegrate Laos and Cambodia into the motherland. The state of latent war came to a sudden end on 10 January 1941 when the Thai Army went on the offensive. On Colonial Road 1, the main artery in Cambodia, the attack was strong and the French troops had to fall back in order to establish a more solid defensive line. Despite appearances, the French high command had made arrangements for just such an occurrence and it ordered an immediate counterattack on the Thai Army’s left flank.

Phum Preav, French Indochina

The Franco-Thai War (October 1940 – January 28, 1941) was fought between Thailand and Vichy France over certain areas of French Indochina. Negotiations with France shortly before World War II had shown that the French government was willing to make appropriate changes in the boundaries between Thailand and French Indochina, but only slightly. Following the Fall of France in 1940, Major-General Plaek Pibulsonggram (popularly known as "Phibun"), the prime minister of Thailand, decided that France's defeat gave the Thais an even better chance to regain the vassal state territories that were ceded to France during King Chulalongkorn's reign. The German military occupation of Metropolitan France rendered France's hold on its overseas possessions, including French Indochina, tenuous. The colonial administration was now cut off from outside help and outside supplies. After the Japanese invasion of French Indochina in September 1940, the French were forced to allow Japan to set up military bases. This seemingly subservient behavior lulled the Phibun regime into believing that France would not seriously resist a military confrontation with Thailand.

Thai

Vichy French

Scenario Type = Standard