List of Thailand military equipment of World War II

Thailand entered World War II in October 1940, initially against Vichy French forces in the Franco-Thai War. But Japan intervened and forced the Thai government to align with Axis forces; relations with Japan remained tense until the end of the war. This page lists military equipment used during the Franco-Thai War as well as equipment later received from the Japanese.

Small arms

Pistols (manual and semi-automatic)

• Nambu pistol
• M1911 pistol

Automatic pistols and submachine guns

• MP 18

Rifles

• Type 45 Siamese Mauser
• Type 46 Siamese Mauser
• Type 47 Siamese Mauser
• Type 66 Siamese Mauser
• Arisaka

Grenades and grenade launchers

Japanese grenades were imported in 1941 for the use by marines.

Machine guns

Infantry and dual-purpose machine guns

• Madsen machine gun (type 66 light machine gun), adopted in 1924
• Type 92 heavy machine gun, adopted in 1941 to cope with the shortage of the 8mm ammunition
• M1917 Browning machine gun (type 66 heavy machine gun - rechambered for 8mm), adopted in 1924
• Commercial Vickers Machine Gun Class D (12.7mm rechambered for 8mm) - used for AA duties, adopted in 1935

Artillery

Infantry mortars

• Type 10 grenade discharger
• Type 94 90 mm Infantry Mortar

Field artillery

• 5cm M1906 Krupp gun (unclear model)
• Type 80 Howitzer (infantry gun) (75 mm L/40 Howizer) - adopted in 1938 via B.Grimm and CO.
• 75mm Type 63 Field gun (old Krupp gun?)
• Type 51 Mountain gun (7.5cm Gebirgskanone M1908) adopted in 1909
  • Type 63 Mountain gun (Type 41 75 mm Mountain Gun being the Japanese copy of 7.5cm Gebirgskanone M1908), adopted in 1921
• 10.5 cm kanon m/34 (unknown amount)
• 15 cm Autokanone M. 15/16 (unknown amount)

Anti-tank guns

• Type 94 37 mm Anti-Tank Gun
• Bofors 37 mm M1934 (unknown amount)

Anti-tank weapons (besides ant-tank guns)

• Type 97 automatic cannon AT/AA

Anti-aircraft weapons

Light anti-aircraft guns

• QF 2-pounder naval gun (pom-pom)
• Bofors 40 mm gun

Heavy anti-aircraft guns

• 7.5 cm luftvarns kanon L/30 (75mm L/30 h.S.K.M. 1914) - probably Bofors-made

Vehicles

Tankettes

• Carden Loyd tankette Mk VI - 60 imported
• Light Tank Mk VI
• Ford 3-Ton M1918 - 35 imported

Tanks

• Vickers 6-Ton Model B - 20 imported
• Vickers A4E11 amphibious tank - 2-6 purchased
• Type 83 tank - Type 95 Ha-Go purchased from Japan in 1941
• Landsverk Stridsvagn L-60 - 4 purchased

Self-propelled guns

• QF 2-pounder naval gun on Vickers 6-Ton tractor (upgrade level close to Dragon Mk IV) chassis -36 purchased

Armored cars

• Vickers-Morris M1931 - 12 purchased

Navy ships and war vessels

• coastal battleship HTMS Thonburi
• coastal battleship HTMS Sri Ayudhya
• HTMS Chonburi torpedo boat
• HTMS Chantaburi torpedo boat
• HTMS Songhkla torpedo boat
• HTMS Rayong torpedo boat
• HTMS Trad torpedo boat
• HTMS Phuket torpedo boat
• minelayer HTMS Nhong Sarhai
• fishery protection ship Thiew Uthok

Aircraft

• Martin B-10 bomber - 6 received from USA in 1937, 9 ex-Dutch aircraft from Japan in 1943
• Vought O2U Corsair - 12 bought 30 March 1933. 25 built in 1936. 50 more built in 1940. Locally designated Observation and Attacker Type 1 (Type A-1).
• Mitsubishi Ki-30?
• Mitsubishi Ki-21 - 9 delivered by Japanese in December 1941
• Curtiss P-36 Hawk - 48 imported in 1934-1938, 50 locally built in 1937-1939
• Avro 504, 20 imported in 1930, 50 locally produced
• Watanabe E9W - 6 imported in May 1938, locally designated WS.103S
• Nakajima E8N - 18 imported in late 1940
• Nakajima Ki-27 - 12 delivered in January 1942
• Nakajima Ki-43 - 24 delivered in 1943
• Tachikawa Ki-36 - 24 purchased in 1942, locally designated as "Trainer Type 6"

Bristol Blenheim import and license production agreement was cancelled in 1940. Also, the license production of North American P-64 was planned but cancelled when aircraft was turned back while en route in October 1940 due US arms embargo.

References