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, Malaya and Burma campaign as well as equipment later received from the Japanese.
Edged weapons
- Japanese Type 30 bayonet for Arisaka rifle
- Siamese Type 45 bayonet for Mauser rifle
Small Arms
Pistols and revolvers (semi-automatic and manual)
- Astra 300
- Colt M1911
- FN M1900
- FN M1910
- FN M1903
- Nambu Type 14
- Type 78 Luger[1]
- Type 79 Colt Super[2]
- Type 80 Star[3]
- Type 82 Colt Police Positive[4]
Automatic pistols and submachine guns
- MP 35
- MP 18
- Nambu Type 100
- Type 80 machine pistol[5]
Rifles
Machine guns
Dual purpose and infantry machine guns
- Type 66 Browning M1917 (heavy machine gun rechambered for 8mm and adopted in 1924)
- Type 66 Madsen machine gun (light machine gun adopted in 1924)
- Type 92 heavy machine gun (adopted in 1941 to cope with the shortage of the 8mm ammunition)
- Vickers machine gun commercial D (12.7mm rechambered for 8mm, used for AA duties and adopted in 1935)
Grenades and grenade launchers
Japanese grenades were imported in 1941 for the use by marines and made by Ordnance Department [กรมช่างแสงทหารบก]
Grenade | Launcher | Introduced | Type | Weight, g | comments |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Type 91 Grenade | Type 10 | 1941 | fragmentation | 530 | improvement of Type 10 |
Type 97 Grenade | No | 1941 | fragmentation | 450 | evolution of Type 91 optimized for hand-throw |
Type 78 Grenade | No | 1935 | fragmentation | - | Produced by the Royal Thai Army Ordnance Department |
Anti-tank guns
Anti-tank weapons (besides anti-tank guns)
- Type 97 automatic cannon (anti-tank and anti-aircraft)
Anti-aircraft weapons
Light anti-aircraft guns
Heavy anti-aircraft guns
Artillery
Infantry mortars
Field artillery
- Bofors 75 mm mountain gun
- Type 49 Krupp M1906 mountain gun[9][10]
- Type 51 7.5 cm Gebirgskanone M1908 mountain gun[11] (the Type 1 was adopted in 1909)
- Type 51 7.5 cm Gebirgskanone M1908 mountain gun[12] (the Type 2 was adopted in 1909)
- Type 63 mountain gun[13] (the Japanese copy of the 7.5 cm Gebirgskanone M1908 was adopted in 1921)
- Type 77 Bofors 47/75 mm infantry gun[14] (adopted in 1934)
- Type 78 10.5 cm kanon m/34 heavy infantry gun[15] (adopted in 1935)
- Type 78 Bofors 150 mm M.15/16 heavy howitzer mortar[16] (unknown amount was adopted in 1935)
- Type 80 Bofors 75 mm L/40 light infantry howitzer[17] (adopted in 1937 from B.Grimm company as an agent)
- Type 80 Bofors 105 mm light howitzer[18] (adopted in 1937)
Vehicles
Trucks
- Morris truck (unknown number)
Armored cars
- Vickers-Morris M1931 (6 purchased)
Self-propelled guns
- Vickers Armstrongs QF 2-pounder naval anti-aircraft gun on Vickers 6-Ton tractor (upgrade level close to the Dragon Mk IV chassis, 36 purchased)
Tankettes
- Type 73 Carden-Loyd Mk VI tankette[19] (10 imported from England in 1930)
- Type 77 Carden-Loyd Mk VI modified tankette[20] (30 imported from England in 1934)
Tanks
- Type 76 Vickers 6ton Mk E light tank[21] (12 imported from England in 1933)
- Type 76 Vickers-Carden-Loyd A4E12 light amphibious tank[22] (2 purchased from England in 1933)
- Type 81 Vickers 6ton Mk B light tank[23] (8 out of 12 imported from England in 1938 but the other 4 refused)
- Type 83 light tank[24] (50 Type 95 Ha-Go were purchased from Japan in 1940)
Aircraft
- Avro 504 (strafing airplane, 20 imported in 1930, 50 locally produced)
- Curtiss BF2C goshawk (fighter Used 24 Made in Thailand 50 total 74 imported in 1934-1938.)
- Curtiss P-36 Hawk (fighter The Royal Thai Air Force procures 25 aircraft with 23 mm air cannons. )
- Martin B-10 (bomber airplane, 6 received from USA in 1937 and 9 ex Dutch airplanes from Japan in 1943)
- Mitsubishi Ki-21 (heavy bomber airplane, 9 delivered by Japanese in December 1941)
- Mitsubishi Ki-30 (light bomber airplane, 24 airplanes)
- Nakajima E8N (ship borne airplane, 18 imported in late 1940)
- Nakajima Ki-27 (fighter airplane, 12 delivered in January 1942)
- Nakajima Ki-43 (fighter airplane, 24 delivered in 1943)
- Tachikawa Ki-36 (24 purchased in 1942, locally designated as Type 6 trainer)
- Vought O2U Corsair (12 bought in 30 March 1933, 25 built in 1936, 50 more built in 1940, locally designated Type A-1 observation and attacker)
- Watanabe E9W (submarine borne airplane, 6 imported in May 1938, locally designated WS.103S)
- Mitsubishi A6M ( It was delivered in the A6M2 Model 21 and A6M5 Model 52 models. )
Bristol Blenheim import and license production agreement was cancelled in 1940, also the license production of North American P-64 and total amount 100 was planned but cancelled when the airplane was turned back while en route in October 1940 due US arms embargo
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