French missionaries tried to convert Siamese people since 1550 but without success. One century later, they established some missions, and a Siamese delegation came to France in 1684 and 1686; it was received by King Louis the XIV. Some ambassadors, military councilors, soldiers and Jesuits were sent into the country to curb the British influence. But a revolution at the end of the 17th century put an end to the French presence.

Both countries established new diplomatic relations in 1856. A few years later, the French settled in Indochina, namely in Tourane in 1858, and took control of the Mekong Delta between 1859 and 1867. The King of Cambodia accepted a protectorate of France in 1863, without the agreement of Siam which was holding sway over Cambodia. But this situation was accepted by a peace treaty signed on July 15, 1867.

France extended its colonization of the country by the conquest of the Red River Delta and of Hanoi in 1873. In 1887, the Indochinese Union was created with Tonkin, Annam, Cochinchina and Cambodia. Laos would join later, in 1893.

Few people know that a war happened in Indochina, between France and Thailand in 1940-1941. Tourist guides are silent on the subject, and tours of the city of Bangkok never show the Victory Monument built after the conflict. 

The Origins of Conflict

Siam resented the integration of Laos in the Indochinese Union. Many skirmishes happened on the border, and France sent a warship off Bangkok. Without any help from the British, Siam accepted this situation.

New incidents erupted in 1906 and 1907 because of new territorial claims concerning territories in Cambodia and in Laos. After a British mediation, some exchanges of land were made, and the problem was solved by an agreement in 1909.

During WWI, Siam joined the Allies in July 1917, and an expeditionary force of 1,284 volunteers was sent in France. They were mainly assigned to services such as drivers, medical service and ordnance. One hundred of them were trained as aircraft pilots.

After the War and for 20 years, no trouble occurred between France and Siam. In 1932, after a coup d’état, the King was forced to accept a constitutional regime. Lieutenant-Colonel Prajadhipok, also known as Phibun, became the leader of the country. He was a former cadet of the French Military Academy and an admirer of Mussolini. He established a strong, nationalist, authoritarian government. He changed the name of the country of Siam into “Thailand” and claimed the incorporation to Thailand of all Thai people living in Burma and Laos. After discussions with France, a no-aggression agreement was reached and signed on June 12, 1940.

Hostilities

After the disaster of June 1940 and the defeat of France, Thailand expressed again territorial claims. Japan was probably part of this scheme. Japan issued an ultimatum to the French to allow the Japanese Army to march through Tonkin and take the control of the railway between Hanoi and the Chinese border. General Catroux, commanding the French Army in Indochina declined, but he was dismissed by the Vichy French government and replaced by Admiral Decoux. 

Decoux reached an agreement on September 22, 1940, with the Japanese. They were allowed to use French air bases and set up 6,000 men on the Northern bank of the Red River. On the same day in the evening, 30,000 Japanese soldiers invaded Indochina. Despite the resistance of the French, 4 days later, the Japanese occupied the country. But strangely, the French administration remained in place. 

During this time in Thailand, Phibun became general and prime minister, setting up an authoritarian policy. 

He believed that he could take advantage of the weakness of France to send an ultimatum to the government of Vichy, claiming the territories lost during King Chulalongkorn’s reign: Melou Prei and Tonle, Repou in 1904; and Battambang, Sisophon and Siem Reap in 1907. 

In November 1940, taking advantage of the French being busy quelling a rebellion among peasants, Thai Armed Forces crossed the Cambodian border on several locations. The Thai Air Force dropped bombs on Thatket and Savannakhet in Laos. After December 1, new incidents happened in Cambodia: bombing and artillery shelling. In retaliation, several Thai air bases were attacked by the French Air Force. 

In January 1941, Thai forces attacked both Cambodia and Laos. They invaded Yang Dang Khum and Phum Preav, and the French forces reeled back. Admiral Decoux set up a counter-attack with the 5th French Foreign Legion Infantry regiment on January 16. Several Thai villages were taken, but the troops could not hold on the battlefield. Thai tanks tried to pursue but were stopped by an anti-tank gun. 

Admiral Terreau, the French Navy commander, received the order to set up urgently a naval force. He rallied all the warships available: the Lamotte-Picquet cruiser, the Dumont d’Urville, Amiral Charner, Tahure and Marne corvettes. Its commander was Captain Bérenger. He attacked the superior Thai fleet in the Koh Chang Gulf. After 2 hours, the torpedo boats Songhkla, Chonburi and Trad were sunk; the Donburi and Sri Ayudhya armoured gunboats, severely damaged. 

End of the War and the Japanese Mediation 

On January 19, 1941, the Thai Army reached the South of Laos, and Angkor was bombed. One day later, Japan imposed its mediation. On January 30, an armistice was signed in Saigon, and hostilities stopped for 2 weeks. The troops had to pull back 6 miles from the frontline. 

Negotiations were opened in Tokyo on February 7. At first, the French delegation rejected the Thai claims. But at that moment, Admiral Darlan became the head of the Vichy government, favoring cooperation, and it had to submit. 

A peace treaty was signed on March 11; Thailand recovered the territories given to France: Battambang, Siem Reap, Kampong Thom and Stung Treng in Cambodia; Sayabouri and Champasak in Laos. 420,000 people and 19,000 square miles were involved. The monarchs of Cambodia and Laos were not even consulted! The territories annexed by Thailand were returned to France only on November 1947.

Retaliation

These annexations and the growing Japanese influence had a negative influence on the relations between Japan and the United States, which declared an embargo on steel and oil sales to Japan.

Meanwhile, the American secret services and the British set up a local resistance against the Japanese called “Seri Thai.”

Epilogue

After the war between France and Thailand, Japan invaded Cambodia and demanded to march through Thailand into Malaysia and Burma.

Without any answer from the Thai government, Japan invaded Thailand. Despite the resistance of the Thai Army, the government was forced into an agreement with Japan, and an alliance treaty was signed on December 21, 1941. Thailand declared war on Great Britain and on the United States on January 25, 1942. The Thai troops clashed with the British in Burma. A resistance was organized by the OSS.

At the end of war, the government of Thailand was overthrown and Phibun stepped down . He was arrested by the Allies as a war criminal, but could not be put in court because of a strong popular support; he was ultimately released. 

In 1950, Korea was a state divided by the political machinations of the United Nations, an organization central to the Truman administration’s foreign policy but barely five years old. The Chinese civil war was only two years ended, and Stalin was testing the resolve of the World War II allies all along his “iron curtain.” World War II had only recently brought forty years of Japanese colonialism to an end, and General Douglas MacArthur was establishing himself as nominal king of Japan. Committing the same blunders of intelligence and deployment that assured disaster in the Philippines less than a decade earlier, Americans were surprised by eight divisions of the North Korean People’s Army that struck south without warning on June 25.

The Marines were called to Korea about a week after the well-planned deluge of North Koreans, and the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade came ashore at Pusan on August 2 to reinforce the ill-prepared U.S. and Korean armies that had wilted under the armor, mechanized artillery, and massed infantry of the invaders. Marines brought the best equipment proved in WWII, and the visitor will find examples of the M-1 Garand, The M-1 and M-2 Carbine, the BAR, and Browning heavy and light machine guns. Interestingly absent is the M-3 “grease gun” that officially replaced the Thompson submachine gun, but never won the hearts of the Marines. An F4U-4 (an improved but obsolescent Corsair) and an F9F Panther jet symbolize the aircraft used by Marine fighter squadrons to assist in stabilizing the Pusan perimeter.

Not impressed by American assessments that the terrain was unsuitable for armor, the North Koreans deployed large numbers of T-34 tanks and SU-76 self-propelled guns. Just as the German Wehrmacht had discovered to its dismay, the U.S. military found mere bazookas, mines and grenades ineffective against these well designed weapons deployed along with massed infantry. An SU-76 and an M1942 ZIS 3 field gun are included in the museum displays to emphasize the unexpected well-equipped nature of the invading army.

Much has been written about the remarkable success of MacArthur’s daring amphibious assault at Inchon, an undertaking made possible by the Marine Corps’ expertise and specialized equipment from late WWII. Many serving officers and men had direct experience from places like Saipan and Okinawa. On display are LVT-1 and LVT-3 tracked landing vehicles and an M-26 Pershing tank, machines that made the rapid strike at Inchon and across the Korean peninsula possible. The hardheaded defense of the Pusan perimeter and the shocking success of the Inchon landings led to a rapid collapse of the North Korean logistic support structure. As they fell rapidly back to the north, the communists committed many atrocities, murdered American prisoners of war, and the museum visitor will need a strong stomach to view some of the photographs.

In a doomed advance from the Korean East Coast to the Chosin reservoir, the Marines met a new and enormous army crossing the Yalu River directly from communist China. The story of their orderly withdrawal is a featured lesson in sharp contrast to the collapse of June 1950. The Chinese were stopped near the 38th Parallel, the original dividing line, and held in a stalemate that continues to this day. Several technical advancements that allowed the Americans to hold their own, if not to prevail, are featured at Quantico. Bell and Sikorsky helicopters may cue the MASH television show watchers, but really represent the first true implementation of air-ground force integration. Recoilless rifles allowing organic artillery, all-terrain “Weasel” vehicles, and many other items, including a selection of Chinese mortars, are displayed for close examination.

The Marine Corps Air-Ground Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, from April 1 to November 15, 10am to 5pm. Located at the Marine Corps Combat Development Command, Quantico, Virginia 22134-5001, and on the USMC webpage, the museum can also be telephoned at (703) 784-2606 weekdays and (703) 784- 2425 on weekends. Two other buildings house exhibits addressing the Marine experience through World War I and World War II, and a standing exhibit detailing the history of the Corps from 1775 can be found at the Washington, D.C. Navy Yard, just forty miles to the north.

By Robert Bruce

“The pattern of machine gun operation in Korea is highly unconventional and contrary to the book, but the ground permits of nothing else. Good fields of fire for the machine gun are rarely met…[this] deprives the weapon of its normal tactical power and persuasion, and throws an extra load on the mortars, the BARs, and the riflemen.” Operations Research Office Report R-13, Oct 1951

John M. Browning’s water-cooled .30 caliber M1917 machine gun was introduced late in WWI and was still going strong during the Korean War more than 30 years later. His air cooled, belt-fed thirties, fielded in the late 1920’s initially for cavalry use, also served in “The Forgotten War.” Built on the same receiver but dispensing with the cumbersome and often impractical water jacket, they were considerably lighter yet still capable of sustained fire. This last characteristic was to prove indispensable against massed formations of Chinese attackers.

BARs vs. BMGs

The remarkable Browning Automatic Rifle, also a late WWI development, is unquestionably one of the most highly praised infantry arms in combat accounts from WWII and the Korean War. Not much bigger than the Garand rifle and weighing only about 20 pounds, this selective fire shoulder weapon was highly portable, accurate, dependable under all weather conditions and hard-hitting. Able to punch out powerful .30-06 bullets at a cyclic rate of some 550 rpm to a maximum effective range in excess of 500 yards, its only significant limitations came from 20 round magazine feed and lack of sustained fire capability.

So, because of the tendency of both North Korean and Communist Chinese to utilize “human wave” assault tactics, vastly outnumbered units of the US Army and Marines counted on belt-fed Brownings of .30 and .50 caliber to even the odds of survival. (A separate feature by Robert Bruce on the .50 cal. M2HB M2 is included in this issue – Editor).

The M1917A1 water cooled .30 cal., capable of almost continuous fire limited only to supplies of ammunition and water, was theoretically ideal for this task and could be found in the weapons mix of every infantry battalion. But, as previously stated, this multi man crewed 95 pound system was found to be impractical due primarily to excessive weight and its need for skilled and frequent attention.

In contrast, the M1919A4, an air-cooled version of this same gun, weighed considerably less at about 50 lbs. on an M2 tripod. Its maximum effective range and cyclic rate of fire were essentially the same as that of the heavier gun with the added benefit of dispensing with water for the jacket (and anti-freeze in winter) plus all the special parts, tools and skills needed to keep the water from seeping out without locking up the barrel. Broken down into three main loads of gun, tripod and a good supply of ammunition, the A4 system was far more easily humped up and down the jagged ridges that characterized much of the Korean countryside. Problem solved, right?

“The interrogations indicate that in the mind of the average gunner “firing in short bursts” is about synonymous with lifting the finger from the trigger for a few seconds at frequent intervals rather than resting the gun at all times when there are no manifest targets and no compelling tactical reasons for firing. This affords no relief to the weapon as far as over-heating is concerned, and it does not conserve ammunition.” ORO-R-13

There is no free lunch, however, and the A4 Browning had its own limitations. In addition to the need for frequent cleaning and proper lubrication that varied depending on weather conditions, the air cooled gun would overheat rather quickly from prolonged firing. Despite having a heavier barrel that acted as a heat sink and radiator, only about 1 belt – 250 rounds — could be fired in a minute before a too-long pause for cool down or panic barrel change was necessary. Since swapping barrels was a several minute exercise that also required careful setting of headspace, this was often a life-threatening problem.

Combat Crapout

“Not less surprising is the percentage of failure in machine gun fire at some time during the course of the average engagement because of mechanical trouble of one kind or another, faulty handling by the crew, etc.” ORO-R-13

Interviews with Eighth Army troops following combat action in the winter of 1950-51 suggested a failure rate for air-cooled thirties in excess of twenty percent. Various reasons were both observed and theorized, including poor mechanical training, neglect of regular and proper cleaning of the guns, and failure to keep ammo clean and correctly seated in the cloth or metallic belts. None of these, by the way, is inherent in Browning’s excellent design that – in the proper hands – is highly regarded for combat efficiency.

The ORO report cites an average figure for company-sized infantry units of just two guns in operation per engagement and, all too frequently, not even one gun was working. When these luckless GIs experienced a total loss of their base of fire belt feds in the heat of an assault or defense, the full burden of firepower was thrown primarily on BARs and M1s. Fortunately, both the auto rifles and the Garands were almost invariably up and running no matter how hostile the weather or their handling.

Epilogue

Disappointment with combat utility of the A4 and A6 Brownings in Korea led to postwar development of the M60 General Purpose Machine Gun. Fielding of the new “Sixty” and its companion, the selective fire M14, was nearly complete when America began sending combat units to yet another Asian misadventure. This time it was Vietnam.

Primary References

FM23-55 and TM 9-2005

Brig. Gen. S.L.A. Marshall, “Commentary on Infantry Operations and Weapons Usage in Korea; Winter of 1950-51,” Johns Hopkins University, Operations Research Office Report ORO-R-13, Oct 27, 1951