“On 8 November 1947, the military seized power by coup. Phibun was the figurehead, but the coup was plotted among veterans of the 1942 Shan States campaign – especially the expedition head, General Phin Choonhavan, and his aide and son-in-law Phao Siyanon – with firepower from Colonel Sarit Thanarat who controlled men and tanks in the capital. Phin claimed that Pridi’s ‘Seri Thai’ (resistance group during WWII) forces were about to launch a republican revolt.”
“For the next five years, the coup group and Pridi’s supporters waged a low-key civil war. After the coup, Pridi and a few others narrowly escaped overseas. The coup group purged the army of Seri Thai men, and replaced Pridi’s men on the boards of state enterprises and banks. In 1948, several northeastern supporters of Pridi were arrested and accused of plotting a rebellion, but subsequently released. In February 1949, Pridi returned to Bangkok and attempted to sieze power with the help of the Seri Thai arms cache
. Sarit again showed the importance of the city garrisons, bombarding Pridi’s forces inside the Grand Palace (hence the ‘Palace Rebellion’). Pridi fled once again, this time finally. A month later, three pro-Pridi MPs and one associate were shot while in police custody
. Another pro-Pridi MP was shot a month later after surrendering to the police
. In June 1951, some remaining Pridi supporters in the navy attempted a coup by seizing Phibun during the ceremony to accept a vessel donated by the US (the ‘Manhattan Coup’). Phibun’s lieutenants bombed the navy’s flagship to the bottom of the Chaophraya River
. The fact that Phibun was aboard and had to swim ashore
emphasized that power now lay with Sarit and Phao, rather than the figurehead.
(snorter: I'll say it did) They proceeded to dismember the navy. The Pridi group had lost to the gun.”