Do you think appeasing the Americans by making MacArthur Governor of Thailand woudl work?![]()
Wouldn't it be kinder just to carpet bomb them?
Do you think appeasing the Americans by making MacArthur Governor of Thailand woudl work?![]()
Did you have an unfortunate experience with a "lady" you met in a bar in Bangkok or something?I'm actually quite seriously considering this for Mac![]()
Did you have an unfortunate experience with a "lady" you met in a bar in Bangkok or something?
I'm actually quite seriously considering this for Mac![]()
As in FIC so too in China, things here will not be as they were, and we are looking at a very different set up. I am no champion of Generalissimo Chiang; he was without doubt a double dealing, amoral, megalomaniac, who couldn’t be trusted as far as he could be thrown. And his KTM administration was corrupt, ineffectual, and oppressive, and thanks to his paranoia rivern with factional infighting. His habit, of starving his best generals of men and equipment, to prevent them providing a meaningful challenge to his control, didn’t help matters either.
That said at the time he was the only game in town, and was always going to be given the support of the Americans, and surprisingly the Soviets too.
If it's the government, sure, but if it's a group led by a notably anti-Japanese figure then it's a bunch of dissenters, not a bunch of cowards. Hells, that was how the Free Thai Movement started.The Siamese have unfortunately committed one of the biggest sins in British eyes, up there with eating a man’s dog. They have gone back on their word, which makes them cads and bounders, while also playing to the worst of British prejudice, and will be labelled shifty Orientals.
Pragmatism will rule.
Thailand per se is a distraction. The target is Yamashita's army which is isolated by land communications - raising up Thai's against him helps economise on allied troop commitments.
I would have thought the main objective for the allies will be to defeat Japan with minimum forces while massing troops for the defeat of Germany. As Ramp says shortening the line releases a lot of men and sea power enables them to be projected at will anywhere there is a suitable landing ground.
If/When the IJA is defeated in Malaya having a hostile rear area for him to retreat into is a significant bonus if there is a reasonable prospect of the Thai's rising up and the price of that is rejecting frankly trivial territorial acquisitions the Generals will be pushing to take it - it avoids the complications of having to police the country after an invasion.
If it's the government, sure, but if it's a group led by a notably anti-Japanese figure then it's a bunch of dissenters, not a bunch of cowards. Hells, that was how the Free Thai Movement started.
Pragmatism will rule.
Thailand per se is a distraction. The target is Yamashita's army which is isolated by land communications - raising up Thai's against him helps economise on allied troop commitments.
I would have thought the main objective for the allies will be to defeat Japan with minimum forces while massing troops for the defeat of Germany. As Ramp says shortening the line releases a lot of men and sea power enables them to be projected at will anywhere there is a suitable landing ground.
If/When the IJA is defeated in Malaya having a hostile rear area for him to retreat into is a significant bonus if there is a reasonable prospect of the Thai's rising up and the price of that is rejecting frankly trivial territorial acquisitions the Generals will be pushing to take it - it avoids the complications of having to police the country after an invasion.
I disagree. Better or not, this is not an ISOT of OTL advisers back to do the best thing. If the intention was originally to take the Malay parts of Siam then, unless something changes to stop it, that must happen.I agree.
Better to use allready shaky alliance of Japan and Thailand against Japan than to harden it by insisting on annexation and occupation of Thailand.
This is were the racism comes in. The British will no longer trust the entire Thai system of government, as it's been proved it's not reliable...
Exactly. The British priority is not simply to defeat the Japanese, but to preserve the Empire. The best way to do that involves making Thailand an object lesson...
The British have an eye on the post-war situation. They know they'll be in dreadful economic trouble, and so need to minimise the cost of defending Malaya in future. Making sure Thailand can never be a threat again is part of this...
...The British can also cheaply garrison Thailand after conquering it with second line Indian divisions. Part of the point of this is having to police the country, as it allows you to essentially create a new government from scratch.
The government of Siam might change, but the Royal family will stay, for continuity, stability and royal deference.
I'd say a cordon between Malay Kra (ceded to Malaya) and the rest. Siam gets a military government with Indian garrison and some of the ANZ forces on the Siam FIC border. The ceded part of Kra might need some Singapore/Malay territorial units as well as police.
While Japan and Britain are the colonial players here, Malaya has been invaded by Siam, so ceding a region with the right ethnicity seems acceptable on the world stage.
Yes, 'Siam' is a given.Siam was renamed Thailand in 1939. I suspect that the name may get changed back though.
The plan iOTL was to essentially draw a line east from the most northern part of Malaya to where the western border of Pattani meets the sea, and directly annex that to Malaya, whilst demilitarising all of the Thailand south of the middle of Prachuap Khiri Khan and taking permanent de facto administrative control, whilst leaving them de jure Thai.
This would be as part of a general occupation of Thailand, as happened to Germany and Japan post war iOTL.
Unless I missed a butterfly, the King of Siam is like 14 and at school in Switzerland.The government of Siam might change, but the Royal family will stay, for continuity, stability and royal deference.
Unless I missed a butterfly, the King of Siam is like 14 and at school in Switzerland.
The Regent is the civil PM, but he is largely sidelined by the Defence minister Phibun, who promoted himself from Lieutenant-General to Field Marshal (the bounder!) and decided that he should supplant the monarchy as the recipient of the people's adulation through a cult of personality.
IMO all of you do not think about one thing: the fact that, if no Japanese invasion, Thailand wouldn't be any danger for Britain/Malaya.
So if we defeat Japan, we will defeat party in Thailand that wanted to take parts of other countries too.
That's the reason why I don't see the need for annexing/occupying Thailand.
If you wan't to annex some parts of Thailand ( that might even make good to Thailand ) than I would take yellow areas on that map ( where Malayans are the majority ) and half of those mixed areas. In mixed areas offer to resettle all those that want to stay on the other side of the border. That's pretty fair solution IMO.