Naval forces in Bangkok attempted to carry out a coup d'état on June 29, when the Prime Minister, Marshal Pibul Songgram, was abducted by the insurgents. During a ceremony at which the U.S. Chargé d' Affaires was handing over a dredger presented by his Government to Thailand, a party of sailors armed with rifles and machine-guns suddenly landed from a naval launch, surrounded Marshal Pibul and his bodyguard, and carried him off at pistol-point to the Thai gunboat Sriayudhya. Later the same day a broadcast from the naval radio station accused the Cabinet of being controlled by a “corrupt military clique,” and announced that the “Liberation Army” had established a new Government with Sarasas Prahad as Prime Minister, Admiral Taharn as Deputy Premier, and Seni Pramoj as Foreign Minister.
Both Admiral Taharn, former ...