Battle for Prachuap Khiri Khan
| date | December 8, 1941 to December 9, 1941 |
|---|---|
| place | Prachuap Khiri Khan , Thailand |
| output | Japanese victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
Wing Commander Mom Luang Pravasd Chumsai |
Major Utsunomiya Kisoyoshi |
| Troop strength | |
| 5th Squadron 120 men reinforced by pilots, ground crew and police officers |
2nd Battalion of the 143rd Infantry Regiment of the 55th Division approx. 800 men |
| losses | |
|
38 dead, 27 wounded |
217 dead? 300 wounded? |
The battle for Prachuap Khiri Khan took place on December 8th and 9th, 1941 at the Thai air force base near the city of Prachuap Khiri Khan during the invasion of Thailand by Japan .
The Japanese army landed in several places on the east coast of Thailand and crossed the border from French Indochina with the intention of using neutral Thailand as a base for the attack against the British possessions in Burma and Malaya . The Thai troops put up stubborn resistance, but on December 9, 1941, the government under Prime Minister Field Marshal Phibul Songkhram ceased all fighting and allowed the Japanese army to operate on Thai territory. On December 21, 1941, Thailand formed a military alliance with Japan and on January 25, 1942, it declared war on the United States and Great Britain .
Course of the fight
On December 8, 1941 at around 3 a.m., under the command of Major Utsunomiya Kisoyoshi, the 2nd Battalion of the 143rd Infantry Regiment of the 55th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army began to land troops at Prachuap Khiri Khan. When Wing Commander Mom Luang Pravasd Chumsai, commander of the 5th Squadron of the Royal Thai Air Force stationed at Prachuab Khiri Khan, heard about it, he immediately gave the order to resist. The units at the airfield had several heavy and light machine guns with which they opened fire on the Japanese troops trying to encircle the airfield. The approximately 120 men of the airfield defense company under Pilot Officer Somsri Suchrittham were reinforced by the ground crew and the pilots. In addition, there were members of the local police and the Yuwachon Thaharn (a military youth organization) who had escaped from nearby Prachuab Khiri Khan after the Japanese occupied the telegraph office and the police station.
Although the Japanese had taken part of the airfield, the pilots of the 5th Squadron tried to take off with their planes at first dawn to attack the advancing Japanese with bombs and on-board weapons . Chief Warrant Officer Prom Chuwong was the first to take off in his Curtiss P-36 Hawk, but was immediately shot down and killed by Japanese ground fire. The Japanese shot down two more Hawks attempting to take off, killing both pilots, and wounding a third as it taxied to the runway . Only one pilot, Flying Officer Man Prasongdi, managed to get up in a Curtiss P-36 loaded with four 50 kg bombs. He attacked Japanese transport ships in the port of Manao , but scored no hits due to the thick fog and rain.
By 8:00 a.m., most of the hangars in the north of the airfield had fallen into the hands of the Japanese. After abandoning the runways, the Thais destroyed the instruments in the separate tower and burned it down. A new defensive ring was built, with the retreating air force soldiers receiving effective fire protection from a machine gun position on the tennis court of the air base.
After securing the landing head , the Japanese immediately occupied the remains of the burned hangars and runways, while reinforcements, including artillery and 10 tanks, were landed. The Thais continued to resist from their new positions. The battle dragged on with decreasing intensity over the entire afternoon to late evening. The machine gun on the tennis court was able to hold the Japanese back, while one of the light machine guns was used to constantly change positions to close gaps in the defense.
Rumors that sailors from the Royal Thai Navy fought their way to the airfield kept the Thai fighting spirit high during the night. The ammunition was already beginning to run out and some of the air force soldiers even fired blank cartridges .
On the morning of December 9, during a ceasefire, the exhausted defenders received a telegram from the Thai Interior Ministry through a postman asking them to stop firing because a ceasefire had been concluded between Thailand and Japan . To the annoyance of the attackers, however, the Thais ignored the telegram, which they viewed as a Japanese trick. The battle flared up again, the Japanese resuming their attacks with renewed strength and slowly pushing the defenders back. The lonely machine gun position on the tennis court was fought down, and the two soldiers inside suffered serious wounds.
At 10:00 a.m., as the Japanese were getting closer and closer, Wing Commander Pravasd ordered the headquarters building with all documents to be set on fire. Flying Officer Prayhad Kanchonwiroj, the chief medical officer , had the hospital evacuated and also set it on fire. As the hope for outside help waned, the squadron commander ordered that all officers should keep a cartridge for themselves and that anyone who so chose should try to break out and flee into the surrounding woods. The rest, which included the wounded, were to retreat to Mount Laum Muak to the east of the airfield.
Finally, at noon, a car marked with a white flag arrived. Some representatives of the Thai government emerged from him and handed Wing Commander Pravasd direct orders from Field Marshal Phibul Songkhram that all resistance should be stopped.
The fight officially ended on December 9, 1941 at 12:35 p.m.
losses
On the Thai side, 38 people were killed and 27 wounded among Air Force personnel, police officers and civilians. Squadron commander Pravasd's pregnant wife was among the dead. According to Japanese sources, the Japanese had 116 deaths, no information on the number of wounded is available. Thai estimates are at 217 dead and more than 300 wounded.
Worth mentioning
The fight for Prachuap Khiri Khan is extensively depicted in the Chumphon National Museum .
Web links
- http://www.geocities.com/thailandwwii/prachuap.html ( Memento from January 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive )