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A British Interlude: Allied Peace Enforcement, 1945–1947

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Cambodia and the West, 1500-2000

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Abstract

This chapter examines Britain’s brief but controversial post-World War Two management of Cambodia. Britain initially attempted to work alongside Cambodian nationalism. France, however, saw the re-establishment of French control as the rebirth of the French Empire rather than its denouement. Thus Britain was forced into assisting the French in the removal of the nationalist prime minister and the re-establishment of French colonial control. At the same time as internal tensions in Cambodia between the nationalists and the French colonial regime, Britain also had to keep the peace between France and Thailand. Hence Britain had to manage a continuing border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand that was complicated by the bullish presence of the French and historical bitterness between the Thai and the Khmer.

This chapter was previously published as ‘The Sideshow: Cambodia 1945’ within: T.O. Smith, Vietnam and the Unravelling of Empire: General Gracey in Asia 1941–1951 (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2014). It is a slightly amended version, which is reproduced here by kind permission of Palgrave Macmillan.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    S. Tonnesson, The Vietnamese Revolution of 1945: Roosevelt, Ho Chi Minh and de Gaulle in a World at War (London: Sage Publications, 1991), 362–5.

  2. 2.

    D.P. Chandler, A History of Cambodia, Third Edition (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2000), 137.

  3. 3.

    B. Kiernan, How Pol Pot Came to Power: Colonialism, Nationalism, and Communism in Cambodia, 1930–1975, Second Edition (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004), 41, 46, 49.

  4. 4.

    J.M. Burns, Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom 1940–1945 (San Diego: Harvest Book, 1970), 108–9.

  5. 5.

    Kiernan, How Pol Pot Came to Power, 41, 46, 49.

  6. 6.

    Chandler , A History of Cambodia, 81.

  7. 7.

    D. Lancaster, The Emancipation of French Indochina (London: Oxford University Press, 1961) 94–5.

  8. 8.

    A. Suhrke ‘Irredentism Contained: The Thai-Muslim Case’, Comparative Politics, vol. 7, no. 2 (January, 1975): 195; T.O. Smith, ‘Lord Killearn and British Diplomacy Regarding French Indo-Chinese Rice Supplies, 1946–1948’, History, vol. 96, no. 324 (2011): 482–4; for a detailed discussion of Anglo-Thai relations and the post-war peace process see N. Tarling, Britain, Southeast Asia and the onset of the Cold War 1945–1950 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 108–28.

  9. 9.

    Chandler , A History of Cambodia, p. 170.

  10. 10.

    M. Vickery , Kampuchea: Politics, Economics and Society, (London: Frances Pinter, 1986), 8; Chandler, A History of Cambodia, 171; for an excellent assessment of the internal dynamics of the Son Ngoc Thanh regime see D.P. Chandler, ‘The Kingdom of Kampuchea, March–October 1945: Japanese sponsored independence in Cambodia in World War II’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, vol. 17, no. 1 (March 1986): 80–93.

  11. 11.

    Archives Nationales d’Outre Mer, Aix en Provence [hereinafter ANOM], Government General of Indo-China files, GGI/65498, ‘Etudes sur les movements rebelles au Cambodge 1942–1952’, Annnex, ‘Le Nationalisme Khmer’, 3.

  12. 12.

    Chandler , A History of Cambodia, 171.

  13. 13.

    Tonnesson, The Vietnamese Revolution of 1945, 362.

  14. 14.

    V.M. Reddi, A History of the Cambodian Independence Movement 1863–1955 (Triupati: Sri Venkateswara University, 1973), 108.

  15. 15.

    Kiernan, How Pol Pot Came to Power, 51.

  16. 16.

    ANOM, Government General of Indo-China files, GGI/65498, ‘Etudes sur les movements rebelles au Cambodge 1942–1952’, Annnex, ‘Le Nationalisme Khmer’, 19–21.

  17. 17.

    Chandler , A History of Cambodia, 171.

  18. 18.

    The National Archives, Public Record Office, London [hereinafter TNA], War Office [hereinafter WO], 172/7009, Secret War Diary Headquarters Allied Land Forces Phnom Penh, ALF/PP/23/G, HQ 20th Division 9–31 October 1945, 4 November, Lt.-Col. Commanding Allied Force; TNA, WO 208/636, no. 14569, 12 November 1945; ANOM, Government General of Indo-China files, GGI/65498, ‘Etudes sur les movements rebelles au Cambodge 1942–1952’, Annnex, ‘Le Nationalisme Khmer’, 12–13.

  19. 19.

    TNA, WO 203/2151, Gracey to Mountbatten , Signal 99, COS 29, 25 September 1945.

  20. 20.

    TNA, WO 203/5644, Supreme Allied Commander 31st Miscellaneous Meeting Minutes, 28 September 1945.

  21. 21.

    P. Neville, Britain in Vietnam: Prelude to Disaster, 1945–6 (London: Routledge, 2007), 107.

  22. 22.

    For a full discussion of the current historiography see T.O. Smith, Vietnam and the Unravelling of Empire: General Gracey in Asia 1941–1951 (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2014), 1–9.

  23. 23.

    TNA, WO 203/5644, Supreme Allied Commander 31st Miscellaneous Meeting Minutes, 28 September 1945.

  24. 24.

    TNA, WO 203/5644, Supreme Allied Commander 286th Meeting, 28 September 1945.

  25. 25.

    TNA, Foreign Office [hereinafter FO], 371/46323/F6043/52/61, Balfour to Foreign Office, no. 5903, 28 August 1945.

  26. 26.

    TNA, WO 203/5644, Supreme Allied Commander 286th Meeting, 28 September 1945.

  27. 27.

    Reddi, A History of the Cambodian Independence Movement 1863–1955, 108–11; Lancaster, The Emancipation of French Indochina, 94, 111.

  28. 28.

    TNA, FO 371/46323/F6043/52/61, Minute by A.C.S. Adams, 31 August 1945.

  29. 29.

    TNA, WO 106/4820, FE(0)(45)19, 1 September 1945, Treatment of the boundary between Siam and Indo-China in the proposed Siamese settlement.

  30. 30.

    TNA, Cabinet Office [hereinafter CAB], 21/1950, Minute by E.A. Armstrong, 6 September 1945.

  31. 31.

    TNA, WO 203/894, Headquarters Supreme Allied Commander SEAC Joint Logistical Planning Committee, 1 September 1945.

  32. 32.

    Smith, Vietnam and the Unravelling of Empire, 32–56.

  33. 33.

    TNA, CAB 121/741, Dening to Foreign Office, no. 543, 27 September 1945.

  34. 34.

    TNA, CAB 21/1950, Cabinet Far Eastern Committee, FE(0)(45)31, Minute by E.A. Armstrong, 21 September 1945.

  35. 35.

    N. Sihanouk, Souvenirs Doux et Amers (Paris: Hachette, 1981), 113–14.

  36. 36.

    TNA, WO 172/7009, Secret War Diary Headquarters Allied Land Forces Phnom Penh, ALF/PP/23/G, HQ 20th Division 9–31 October 1945, 4 November, Lt.-Colonel Commanding Allied Force.

  37. 37.

    TNA, WO 172/7009, Allied Land Forces Phnom Penh, Instruction no. 1, 10 October 1945.

  38. 38.

    TNA, WO 203/2178, Gracey to CGS, no. 02210, 16 October 1945.

  39. 39.

    D.P. Marston, Phoenix from the Ashes: The Indian Army in the Burma Campaign (London: Praeger, 2003), 251; TNA, WO 172/7009, Allied Land Forces Phnom Penh, Instruction no. 1, 10 October 1945.

  40. 40.

    Meeting of the CCS, 24 July 1945, in Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers, The Conference at Berlin 1945 (The Potsdam Conference) Volume 2 (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1960), 377; TNA, WO 203/2173, HQSEA 31st Miscellaneous Meeting, 28 September 1945; the papers of Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten Earl of Burma, Mountbatten Archive, University of Southampton [MB], 1/C10/11, Mountbatten to D’Argenlieu, Mokan 128, 8 November 1945; the papers of Major-General Sir Douglas Gracey, The Liddell Hart Centre Archives, King’s College London [hereinafter: Gracey], 4/13, Mountbatten to Gracey, SC5/2205/G, 31 October 1945.

  41. 41.

    TNA, WO 172/7009, Secret War Diary Headquarters Allied Land Forces Phnom Penh, ALF/PP/23/G, HQ 20th Division 9–31 October 1945, 4 November, Lt.-Colonel Commanding Allied Force.

  42. 42.

    TNA, WO 172/7009, Secret War Diary Headquarters Allied Land Forces Phnom Penh, ALF/PP/23/G, HQ 20th Division, Appendix, no. J2, 12 October 1945.

  43. 43.

    Neville, Britain in Vietnam, 106.

  44. 44.

    TNA, WO 172/7009, Secret War Diary Headquarters Allied Land Forces Phnom Penh, ALF/PP/23/G, HQ 20th Division 9–31 October 1945, 4 November, Lt.-Colonel Commanding Allied Force.

  45. 45.

    TNA, WO 172/7009, Secret War Diary Headquarters Allied Land Forces Phnom Penh, ALF/PP/23/G, HQ 20th Division, Appendix, no. J3, 12 October 1945.

  46. 46.

    TNA, WO 172/7009, Secret War Diary Headquarters Allied Land Forces Phnom Penh, ALF/PP/23/G, HQ 20th Division, Appendix, no. J4, 13 October 1945.

  47. 47.

    N. Tarling, ‘Some Rather Nebulous Capacity: Lord Killearn’s Appointment in Southeast Asia’, Modern Asian Studies, vol. 20, no. 3 (1986): 559–60.

  48. 48.

    Gracey 4/8, Gracey to the Recorder SEAC, no. 1/DDG, 3 October 1946.

  49. 49.

    Neville, Britain in Vietnam, 106; TNA, WO 203/2178, Gracey to CGS, no. 02210, 16 October 1945.

  50. 50.

    TNA, WO 172/7009, Secret War Diary Headquarters Allied Land Forces Phnom Penh, ALF/PP/23/G, HQ 20th Division 9–31 October 1945, 4 November, Lt.-Colonel Commanding Allied Force.

  51. 51.

    TNA, Air Ministry, [AIR], 40/1451, Sum 172, 22 October 1945.

  52. 52.

    Report by Mountbatten to CGS, 30 June 1947, in Documents Relating to British Involvement in the Indochina Conflict 1945–65, (London: HMSO, 1965), 47–52.

  53. 53.

    ANOM, Government General of Indo-China Files, GGI/65498, ‘Etudes sur les movements rebelles au Cambodge 1942–1952’, Annnex, ‘Le Nationalisme Khmer’, 1–35.

  54. 54.

    TNA, WO 172/7009, Secret War Diary Headquarters Allied Land Forces Phnom Penh, ALF/PP/23/G, HQ 20th Division, ALF/PP/1/G, 26 October 1945.

  55. 55.

    B.R. Mullaly, Bugle and Kuri: The Story of The 10th Princess Mary’s Own Gurkha Rifles (Edinburgh: William Blackwood & Sons, 1957), 401.

  56. 56.

    TNA, WO 172/7009, Secret War Diary Headquarters Allied Land Forces Phnom Penh, ALF/PP/23/G, HQ 20th Division, ALF/PP/1/G, 26 October 1945.

  57. 57.

    TNA, WO 172/7009, Secret War Diary Headquarters Allied Land Forces Phnom Penh, ALF/PP/23/G, HQ 20th Division ALF Phnom Penh to 20th Indian Division, 31 October 1945.

  58. 58.

    TNA, WO 172/7009, Secret War Diary Headquarters Allied Land Forces Phnom Penh, ALF/PP/23/G, 1–30 November Report, 3 December 1945.

  59. 59.

    TNA, WO 172/7009, Secret War Diary Headquarters Allied Land Forces Phnom Penh, ALF/PP/23/G, 1–31 December Report, 4 January 1946.

  60. 60.

    TNA, CAB 121/742, Southeast Asia Chiefs of Staff to COS, no. 560, 2 December 1945.

  61. 61.

    TNA, WO 203/4432, Gracey to Headquarters Supreme Allied Commander Southeast Asia, COS 47, 15 December 1945.

  62. 62.

    TNA, WO 203/2463, Evans to Pyman, no. 0/220, 20 December 1945.

  63. 63.

    TNA, WO 203/2463, Headquarters Supreme Allied Commander Southeast Asia Commission 1 Saigon to Headquarters Southeast Asia, no. COS/168, 28 December 1945.

  64. 64.

    TNA, WO 203/2463, Gracey to Evans, no. COS184, 7 January 1946.

  65. 65.

    TNA, WO 203/2463, Evans to Gracey, no. 03189, 9 January 1946.

  66. 66.

    TNA, CAB 121/742, COS to Supreme Allied Commander Southeast Asia, COSSEA 448, 24 December 1945; TNA, CAB 121/742, Supreme Allied Commander Southeast Asia to Colonial Office for COS, SEACOS 611, 11 January 1946; TNA, WO 203/4455, COS to Mountbatten, COSSEA 448, 30 December 1945.

  67. 67.

    TNA, CAB 121/742, Mountbatten to COS, SEACOS 626, 26 January 1946.

  68. 68.

    TNA, CAB 121/742, JIC(46)4(0), 6 January 1946, Annex 14(45).

  69. 69.

    TNA, CAB 21/1950, Dening to Foreign Office, no. 353, 3 March 1946.

  70. 70.

    TNA, CAB 21/1950, Dening to Foreign Office, no. 354, 3 March 1946.

  71. 71.

    TNA, CAB 21/1950, Meiklereid to Foreign Office, no. 66, 16 March 1946; TNA, CAB 21/1950, Meiklereid to Foreign Office, no. 68, 17 March 1946.

  72. 72.

    TNA, CAB 21/1950, Foreign Office to Bangkok, no. 208, 9 March 1946; TNA, CAB 21/1950, Thompson to Killearn, no. 296, 26 March 1946.

  73. 73.

    TNA, CAB 21/1950, Foreign Office to Killearn, no. 56, 28 March 1946.

  74. 74.

    TNA, CAB 21/1950, Meiklereid to Foreign Office, no. 66, 16 March 1946.

  75. 75.

    The papers of Sir Miles Lampson, the Middle East Centre Archive, St Anthony’s College, University of Oxford, [hereinafter Lampson], 6/2, 97, 26 March 1946.

  76. 76.

    Lampson 6/2, 125, 1 May 1946.

  77. 77.

    Lampson 6/3, 207, 12 August 1946; Lampson 6/3, 211–12, 15 August 1946.

  78. 78.

    TNA, CAB 21/1951, Dominions Office to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, no. 544, 28 May 1946.

  79. 79.

    Lampson 6/2, 146–7, 30 May 1946.

  80. 80.

    TNA, CAB 21/1951, Dominions Office to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, no. 631, 5 June 1946.

  81. 81.

    TNA, CAB 21/1951, Dominions Office to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, no. 632, 5 June 1946.

  82. 82.

    TNA, CAB 21/1951, Dominions Office to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, no. 362, 17 August 1946.

  83. 83.

    TNA, CAB 21/1951, Dominions Office to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, no. 850, 13 September 1946; CAB 21/1951, Dominions Office to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, no. 362, 17 August 1946.

  84. 84.

    TNA, CAB 21/1951, Dominions Office to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, no. 850, 13 September 1946.

  85. 85.

    TNA, CAB 21/1951, Meiklereid to Bangkok, no. 100, 26 August 1946.

  86. 86.

    TNA, CAB 21/1951, Report of H.J.K Toms, Straits Steamship C. Ltd. visit to Thailand 15–26 August 1946, circulated at Cabinet 3 October 1946.

  87. 87.

    TNA, CAB 119/201, Foreign Office to COS, COS 1346/6, 3 November 1946.

  88. 88.

    TNA, CAB 119/201, COS to Supreme Allied Commander Southeast Asia, COSSEA 586, 9 November 1946.

  89. 89.

    TNA, CAB 119/201, Stopford to COS, SEACOS 784, 12 November 1946.

  90. 90.

    TNA CAB 119/201, COS 14 63/6, 22 December 1946, Annex 1 letter from the Foreign Office, F16703/10/40, 21 November 1946; TNA, CAB 119/201, COS 14 63/6, 22 December 1946, Annex 2, Foreign Office to COS, 22 November 1946; TNA, CAB 119/201, COS 14 63/6, 22 December 1946, Annex 3, Draft to Supreme Allied Commander Southeast Asia (undated), agreed COS(46)171, 25 November 1946; TNA, CAB 119/201, Stopford to COS, SEACOS 793, 25 November 1946.

  91. 91.

    TNA, CAB 121/742, Meiklereid to Foreign Office, no. 16, 8 January 1947.

  92. 92.

    C.E. Goscha, Thailand and the Southeast Asian Networks of the Vietnamese Revolution, 1885–1954 (Richmond: Curzon, 1999), 201–3.

  93. 93.

    Smith, ‘Lord Killearn and British Diplomacy Regarding French Indo-Chinese Rice Supplies, 1946–1948’, 485.

  94. 94.

    For a detailed discussion of British foreign policy towards French Indo-China during the formative years of the Vietminh’s guerrilla warfare offensive (1946–50) see T.O. Smith, Britain and the Origins of the Vietnam War: UK Policy in Indo-China 1943–50 (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2007); and for a useful volume of collected essays concerning the wider geo-historical interplay of decolonisation, the Cold War and the history of Southeast Asia see C.E. Goscha, and C.F. Ostermann, (Eds.), Connecting Histories: Decolonization and the Cold War in Southeast Asia, 1945–1962 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009).

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    T. O. Smith

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    T. O. Smith

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Smith, T.O. (2018). A British Interlude: Allied Peace Enforcement, 1945–1947. In: Smith, T. (eds) Cambodia and the West, 1500-2000. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55532-8_5

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