7 - The OSS commits to Pridi

Summary

Although the Free Thai agents in Bangkok established radio contact with the OSS station at Ssumao on 5 October 1944, relations between the Thai regent, Pridi Phanomyong, and the Americans developed slowly. Complications included the ongoing OSS rivalry with the SOE, suspicions roused by the nature of the information radioed from Bangkok, and the uneasy alliance between Pridi and Police General Adun Adundecharat (RUTH and BETTY as they were code-named). The connection would solidify only after OSS made a full commitment to Pridi and dispatched American officers into Bangkok.

Obviously relieved and elated that his HOTFOOT gamble had paid off, Detachment 404's Colonel Heppner radioed General Donovan on 10 October 1944 that “evidently” Wimon had reached Pridi and “made arrangements” for the China group to establish contact. “No one not a member of OSS has any knowledge of this, and the whole operation was completed with the greatest secrecy,” Heppner added. Responding to word that an American air support unit might be placed at his disposal, Heppner suggested the necessity of “numerous drops of personnel and supplies” to follow up “our first notable success in Thailand.”

The Bangkok contact also greatly buoyed the spirits of the OSS group at Ssumao, China. When the first supply plane in two months reached the remote base on 9 October, Nicol Smith seized the opportunity to report to his superiors, including his old acquaintance and benefactor, General Chennault, in Kunming. From there, Smith traveled on to New Delhi to meet Coughlin and Heppner.