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Following the Fall Of France in 1940, the Prime Minister of Thailand, Major-General Phibunsongkhram saw Thailand's chance of regaining the territories she had lost to the French during King Chulalongkorn 's reign. Metropolitan France's collapse made the French hold over Indochina hazardous and difficult. The isolated colonial administration, cut off from outside help and supplies, was forced to allow the Japanese to set up troop bases in Indochina. Its meek resistance and seemingly subversivient nature thus convinced the Phibun regime that a military conflict would prove highly beneficiary for the Thais. While nationalistic demonstrations and anti-French rallies were held in Bangkok , border skirmishes erupted along the Mekong frontier. The superior Royal Thai Air Force conducted daytime bombing runs over Vientiene , Sisophon , and Battambang with impunity. The French retaliated with their own planes, but the damage caused was less than equal. The activities of the Thai air force was so that Admiral Jean Decoux , the governor of Indochina, grudgingly remarked that the Thai planes seemed to have been flown by men with plenty of war experience. In early January 1941, the Thai Burapha and Isaan Armies lauched their offensive on Laos and Cambodia . French resistance was instantaneous, but many units were simply swept along by the better-equipped Thai forces. The Thais swiftly took Laos, but Cambodia proved a much harder nut to crack. At dawn on January 16, 1941 the French launched a large counterattack on the Thai-held villages of Yang Dang Khum and Phum Preav, initiating the fiercest battle of the war. The French counterattacks were cut to pieces (primariliy because of over-complicated orders and nonexistent intelligence on enemy strengths and dispositions), and fighting ended with a French withdrawal from the area. The Thais were unable to pursue the retreating French, as their forward tanks were kept in check by the gunnery of French Foreign Legion artillerists. As the situation on land was exacerbating for the French, Admiral Decoux ordered the available French naval forces into action in the Gulf Of Thailand . In the early morning of January 17, the French navy caught the a Thai naval detachment anchored off the island of Koh Chang . The subsequent Battle Of Koh Chang proved a victory for the French and resulted in the sinking of the Thai coastal defence ship Thonburi by the French light cruiser Lamotte-Piquet. However, reverses were waiting in store for the French. On January 24, the final air battle took place when Thai bombers raided the French airfield at Angkor. The Japanese mediated the conflict, and a general armistice was declared on January 28. On May 9 a peace treaty was signed in Tokyo, with the French being coerced by the Japanese into relinguishing its hold on the disputed territories. FURTHER READING
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