Lat Ya: the main battlefield of the Nine Armies' War, and the Nine Armies' War Historical Park

What happened here

December 1785 – 17 February 1786Stop 7 of 7

Prince Maha Sura Singhanat left Bangkok with 30,000 men in December 1785 and built his camps across the mouth of the valley before the Burmese came down. In January King Rama I followed with the royal army of 20,000 to help, but when the Front Palace prince reported that the Burmese were starving and close to breaking, the king went back to guard the capital.

See the whole route on the map →

Why make the stand at Lat Ya?

The military road from Three Pagodas Pass down the Khwae Noi and Khwae Yai is a narrow road through the valleys, and it opens onto the plain at Lat Ya. If the Burmese army of 89,000 had been allowed out onto the plain, the smaller Siamese army could not have held it. So the Front Palace prince chose to build his camps across the mouth of the valley, forcing the enemy to stay strung out in forested hills where no food could be found.

The only Burmese to reach Lat Ya were the vanguard, the 4th and 5th armies, about 15,000–16,000 men in all. The two sides built lines of linked stockades facing each other and raised battle towers to carry cannon for an exchange of fire. The chronicle says the Front Palace prince had three large mortars made and declared that anyone who fled from the enemy would be put in a mortar and pounded.

Guerrillas, cut supplies and a ruse

He sent 500 guerrillas to ambush the Burmese supply columns at Phu Takhrai, but the three officers in charge hung back and did not go into action, and were executed. He then put Prince Khun Nen in command of about 1,500–1,800 men to do the job instead. This force seized food, elephants and horses along the supply road until the Burmese could no longer get supplies to their vanguard. The location of Phu Takhrai is not known for certain, only that it was on the supply road between Sai Yok and Lat Ya.

Another ruse was to have soldiers slip out of camp at night and march back in as a column by day, so that the Burmese would think reinforcements were arriving every day. When the Burmese were starving and disease had broken out in their camps, he ordered an attack on every camp at once on 17 February 1786. The fighting lasted from morning until dusk, and the Burmese camps fell. The Burmese chronicle records the loss of about 6,000 men at Lat Ya.

How to get there

From Kanchanaburi town take Highway 323 towards Kaeng Sian, then turn onto Highway 3199 towards Srinagarind Dam. You pass Lat Ya subdistrict, which has the ruins of old Kanchanaburi town. Drive on to around kilometre 24, where a turning on the left leads to the park. Allow about an hour for the visit, then carry on to Erawan Falls on the same road.

The place today

The Royal Thai Army built the Nine Armies' War Historical Park in Chong Sadao subdistrict, Mueang Kanchanaburi district. It is about 700 metres off Highway 3199 (Kanchanaburi–Srinagarind Dam), turning at around kilometre 24, roughly 40 kilometres from the town. Inside are an exhibition building, a sand-table model of the terrain and the two sides' positions, and an observation tower looking over the plain and the hills around it. Travel websites say it is open daily, 9:00 am–4:00 pm, with no entrance fee; check before you go.