The controversial Thai occupation of Shan State (1942-1945)

The infamous road between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son, blessed with hundreds of hairpin bends, is the only reminder of a long-forgotten piece of Thai war history. Just a few hours after the Japanese Imperial Army invaded Thailand on December 8, 1941, the Thai government – ​​despite fierce fighting back in places – decided to lay down its arms, believing that further resistance to the numerically stronger and better armed Japanese would be suicide. From that moment on, Britain and the United States regarded Thailand as an enemy-occupied country and a victim of Japanese aggression.

However, Field Marshal Phibun Songkhram, the not entirely uncontroversial Thai government leader at the time, believed that opportunities now presented themselves to settle a number of old scores. Not averse to some opportunism, he had already taken advantage of the German invasion of France in 1940 and the subsequent French capitulation to militarily to re-annex large tracts of territory east of the Mekong, which Siam had unwillingly handed over to the French at the end of the nineteenth century.

Behind the backs of the Allies and most members of his cabinet, Phibun sought rapprochement with Japan. As early as December 14, 1941, he signed a secret treaty in which he undertook to provide military assistance to a Japanese invasion of Burma, which was then in British hands. A week later, the Thai-Japanese alliance was already official when Phibun signed a military cooperation agreement at Wat Phra Kaeo in Bangkok. In exchange, Japan promised that Thailand would get back the Malay provinces that had been handed over to the British in 1909 and, as icing on the cake, also the 'lost regions' in Burma, especially the Shan state. This last guarantee was certainly debatable because Thailand, apart from two invasions in 1803-1804 and 1852-1854, had no leg to stand on to justify this claim on historical grounds. A few weeks later, Phibun went one step further by declaring war on Britain and the United States on January 25, 1942. A declaration of war that was not well received by all Thais, and certainly not by the least. Among others, former ministers Pridi Banomyong and Direk Jayanaman, the Thai ambassador in Tokyo, but also Seni Pramoj, the Thai ambassador in Washington, placed the biggest doubts about this decision. Pramoj flatly refused to hand over the declaration of war to the US government and promptly founded the Free Thai Movement.

Phibun, however, was not impressed and started a new army corps, the Northern Army to invade Burma under the command of Luang Seri Roengrit and take control of the area east of the Salween River, then known as the Eastern Shan State. The Japanese, who had guaranteed the return of Burmese territory in the secret treaty, made no objections in principle, but they strongly opposed Phibun's plans to immediately claim the Karen state as well. Tokyo was perhaps a bit bored with Phibun's drive. After all, the Japanese had meanwhile helped a puppet government in Burma led by the Burmese nationalist Ba Maw to power. The latter, understandably, was not very enthusiastic when he was informed of the Thai annexationist plans. During a meeting of Ba Maw with the Japanese Prime Minister, Major General Hideki Tojo in Singapore, a fierce exchange of words broke out, but the Japanese decided not to blow the whistle on Phibun. However, they tried to keep him on the ground with both feet, because the Thai leader, who was not always devoid of a sense of reality, believed that occupying the Shan state was a 'piece of cake' would become…

In reality, everything went a little less smoothly. First and foremost, there was the logistical problem. The northernmost Thai railway stopped in Chiang Mai. As a result, all transport from Chiang Mai had to take place over the often deplorable roads, sometimes even over dangerous mountain paths. Moreover, the army material made available did not really turn out to be the cream of the crop. Many of the soldiers involved came from Isaan and, in their thin uniforms, were unable to cope with the wintry weather conditions of the northern Thai mountains. Moreover, their motivation turned out to be quite lacking and most of them had no idea of ​​their mission, let alone who they would have to fight… What Phibun had certainly not counted on was the fact that he had to confront combat-experienced Chinese troops .

Almost immediately after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek had offered to the Allies to send his Nationalist Kuomintang troops to northern Burma to destroy the vital supply lines between Rangoon and the then Chinese to help secure the capital Chonqing. Units of the 93 departed from Yunnan^e Division that arrived in Shan State at the end of January 1942 and installed themselves in Kengtung. On 3 May 1942, 27 Thai planes attacked Kengtung in two waves as a prelude to the arrival of the Northern Army a few weeks later. The Kuomintang retreated to the mountains and jungle around Kengtung and the Thai vanguard under Field Marshal Pin Choonhavan occupied the city without a fight.

An enraptured Phibun praised the bravery and soldierly value of his troops, declared the Shan state "freed from the enemy', renamed the area 'original Thai state' and installed a provisional Thai administration in Kengtung. The rainy season, which erupted in violence shortly afterwards, prevented further military operations, but formed a new test for the Thai troops. A shortage of food and medicine meant that malaria and dengue fever outnumbered the fighting. It was not until January 1943 that Phibun took care of this problem by sending ten tons of quinine to the North. When, a few weeks later, the leader himselforiginal Thai state' visited he was shocked by the state in which he found his troops. He immediately sent orders to Bangkok for uniforms, staff officers, sugar, money, medical personnel and a hundred bullock carts of bananas. With the support of the Japanese, who had closely followed the Thai troops, he had hundreds of kilometers of new roads built to connect Chiang Mai to the Shan state. For example, the road to Mae Hong Son was created.

Phibunsongkhram

As the odds of war gradually turned in favor of the Allies, Thai governments slowly began to realize that Phibun might be on the wrong track. Japan, meanwhile, officially recognized in August 1943 by means of a treaty that the Shan State and the Malay provinces of Kelantan, Trengganu, Perlis and Kedah were Thai territory. In the 'original Thai state' it all looked much less rosy. Chased by Kuomintang troops and still battling health problems, life for the soldiers of the Thai Northern Army no fun. Sick or wounded soldiers sent back to Bangkok for treatment were unpleasantly surprised by the manifest lack of enthusiasm for their adventures. Despite Phibun's propaganda stories, no one seemed interested in what had happened to them... Moreover, the Japanese occupation troops, with their well-known arrogance, appeared to be ruthless in keeping the indigenous population under control. Ethnic Chinese were slaughtered, expelled, or used as forced laborers. A sad'Highlight' was the total destruction of the Chinese Hui Muslim community in Panglong in Hopang District. With this heavy-handed policy, the Japanese made it painfully clear to the Thai troops who the real masters of the 'original Thai state' goods…

As the war dragged on, it got Northern Army more and more forgotten. In Bangkok, after the British had launched an offensive in Burma in the spring of 1944, other cats had to be flogged. The Thai capital increasingly became the target of allied bombing, while dissatisfaction with the way the Japanese handled their Thai 'allies' around, increased visibly. After Japanese Prime Minister Tojo resigned on July 18, 1944, it was also amen and out for Phibun, who was seen as Tojo's protégé. Phibun was forced to resign on July 24, 1944 by the Thai Legislative Assembly. His successor Khuang Aphaiwong was considered influential Free Thai Movement pressured to change camp and enter into negotiations with the Allies in the greatest secrecy. After all, it was an open secret that the British, who were more than incensed about Phibun's stab in the back, were out for revenge. It was thanks to heavy diplomatic pressure from the United States – which needed Thailand as a future ally for geopolitical reasons – that Churchill finally refrained from punitive measures against Thailand.

The end of the war also marked the end of theoriginal Thai state'.  Almost immediately after Japan's capitulation, it took off Northern Army back to Thailand. However, some soldiers chose to stay in the Shan state and start a new life there. This also applied to a number of Kuomintang soldiers. I wrote about what happened to them afterwards in my article about the 'Forgotten Army' from Mae Salong.