Sunday 19 July 2015

VIPs - Franco-Thai War peace conference

According to Wikipedia, here:
"The Franco-Thai War (October 1940–May 9, 1941) was fought between Thailand (Siam) and France over certain areas of French Indochina that had once belonged to Thailand."
Also:
"Japan stepped in to mediate the conflict. A Japanese-sponsored "Conference for the Cessation of Hostilities" was held at Saigon and preliminary documents for a cease-fire between the governments of Marshal Philippe Pétain's France and the Kingdom of Siam were signed aboard the cruiser Natori on January 31, 1941, and a general armistice had been arranged to go into effect at 10:00 hours on January 28. On May 9 a peace treaty was signed in Tokyo, with the French being coerced by the Japanese to relinquish their hold on the disputed border territories."
 
What Wiki does not mention is another conference that took place in Tokyo on February 7, 1941. Two days earlier, on February 5, a Thai delegation headed by Prince Wan Waithayakon arrived in Tokyo's Haneda airport aboard "Isokaze" (ocean wind) J-BJOD the civilian transport version of Mitsubishi G3M and was greeted by Thai expats. Stills below are from an NHK news reel, from HERE
 





Note the "air girl" talking to the
pilot in the background
The next day the French five member delegation headed by Georges Gautier, Secretary-General to the French High Commission in Indochina, arrived on a Douglas DC-3 named "Kusunoki" (camphor tree) and registered J-BHOS.



 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The February 7 conference was held at the official residence of the Japanese prime minister of the time Prince Konoe Fumimaro and the Japanese delegation was headed by Foreign Minister at the time, Matsuoka Yosuke.  



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