Influenced by Britain, Thailand paid special attention to the navy in its early years. Although it is a small country located in Southeast Asia, with the help of the Japanese Empire, it has built a naval fleet stronger than China, with ships that China does not have, such as armored ships and submarines.
After the outbreak of World War II, France was defeated by Hitler's Germany at the beginning of World War II, Paris fell and was occupied by Nazi Germany. Vichy puppet regime came to power, and its government was established in the south of France and followed the overseas colonies of France. Vietnam, a subsidiary of the Far East, was also included in the axis of Germany, Italy and Japan.
When the government of French Indian zhina tried to maintain the territory it had acquired, Thailand, a western neighbor, had long been eyeing these territories. At that time, Thailand seemed neutral, but in fact it was controlled by Japan. Although Thailand and Vietnam are both within the sphere of influence of the Axis countries, they should live in peace.
However, Thailand actually used the French subjugation to have territorial ambitions for Vietnam, and Lu Haijun invaded Vietnam on a large scale. So on194117, a battle broke out between the navies of the two countries in the Thai-French war-the naval battle of Elephant Island.
In the face of the Thai army's attack, the French army resisted tenaciously, but the strength of the two sides was indeed very different. Thailand has 600,000 well-equipped army, 134 tanks, according to Asian standards. The French colonial army has only 1.5 million troops and 20 Renault FT- 17 light tanks produced in World War I. ..
Although the situation is grim, the arrogant French will certainly not give in easily. While organizing the army to counterattack, he decided to send his own small fleet to take the initiative to attack the Royal Thai Navy.
At that time, although the French army did not perform well in the European battlefield, it still defeated the Thai navy everywhere with its weapons and technological advantages. Many Thai ships were sunk and the French navy won a total victory. Finally saved a little face for Europe's failure in the Far East.
Seeing that the two sides were at loggerheads, Japan was afraid of hindering the major event of war with Britain and the United States, so it put pressure on both sides and intervened. Under the mediation of Japan, Thailand and France signed a peace agreement in Tokyo on May 9, and both sides only sounded the golden bell retreat.
France gave up its disputed territory in the Mekong region under the threat of Japan. Because Japan launched the Pacific War, fighter planes needed to be stationed at Saigon Airport to launch air strikes against Malaya and Singapore.
For the offensive in Myanmar, it is also necessary to use Thailand as a logistics base, so Japan will never allow this war to continue to spread. As for the loss of personnel in this naval battle, the caliber of the two sides is quite different.
Thailand claimed that 16 people died in the naval battle, while France believed that about 300 people died, and pointed out in particular that only 82 crew members were rescued from the lost ship in Thailand.
Among the post-war casualties, Thailand admitted that 4/kloc-0 sailors and marines died and 67 were injured. Maybe this is a more realistic number.
Elephant Island is the second largest island in Thailand. This fierce naval battle made the Thai people's blood red with blue water, and the Thai army was hit hard. The elite of the Royal Thai Navy was wiped out, and the remaining ships never dared to leave the base.
1945, when Japan surrendered, Thailand left the ranks of defeated countries on the grounds of "we were forced" (indeed forced) for fear of retaliation from France, refused to join the United Nations, and returned the occupied land of French Indian zhina to France.