ABSTRACT
Before dawn on 24 June 1932, a small group of Thai army officers arrived outside the cavalry barracks in Bangkok. They comprised the mastermind of the incipient coup, Phraya Song Suradet (personal name, Thep Phantumasen), chief instructor in military affairs at the Army Academy, several of his associates at the same institution, Phraya Phahonphayuhasena (Phote Phahonyothin), usually shortened to Phahon, Deputy Inspector of Artillery, and a number of juniors from the cavalry barracks, of whom the most important was a Luang Thatsanai Niyomseuk. (Military officers holding the rank of Phraya were usually colonels; Luang equated to captain or occasionally major.)
