British Pathé Newsreels on the End of World War II in Southeast Asia
British Pathé, a company that used to produce newsreels of events around the world, has placed over 80,000 videos on YouTube. There are many from Southeast Asia. Some have sound,…
Getting Back a Commandeered Car in the Japanese Occupied Philippines
I came across a letter that José Laurel, the president of the Philippines when it was under Japanese occupation, wrote to the Japanese consul general in Manila on February 9,…
The Views of Moderate Cochinchinese in 1946
On March 6, 1946, President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam Hồ Chí Minh and Special Envoy of France Jean Sainteny signed an agreement that declared Vietnam to be a…
Making Money in World War II North Borneo
In 1945, the Australian Imperial Forces were given the task of retaking from the Japanese the former British territories on the island of Borneo. To do this, the Australians had…
Visualizing Nationalists in 1945 Vietnam
I came across a report from October 1945 that was created by the US State Department. It contains biographies of nationalists in Indochina. In the fall of 1945, Ho Chi…
Whistling La Marseillaise in Vichy-Controlled Phnom Penh
There is a very famous scene in the movie Casablanca where some German officers in a nightclub in Vichy-controlled Casablanca start to sing “Die Wacht am Rhein” and then the…
Overseas Chinese in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945
I recently found out that the National Library of Vietnam has digitized some newspapers. They’ve done a very good job, and it is wonderful to be able to read these…
Three Women Remember World War II in Southeast Asia
I had never heard of the Imperial War Museum (IWM) until someone mentioned it to me today (THANK YOU). It is fabulous!! As more of a cultural/social historian of Southeast…
The Kachin Rangers on Film
During World War II, a group known as “Detachment 101” of the Office of Strategic Services (the precursor of the CIA) started to work inside Burma to gain intelligence about…
A Letter from Lord of Thailand Tengku Abdullah Osman
On 21 October 1945, Lord of Thailand Tengku Abdullah Osman sent a letter to “Mr. D. Headley, Lieutnent (sic) Colonel & Chief Commander Civil Affairs, Trengganu Government.” Headley probably found…