The units on the airfield were equipped with six heavy and two light machine guns, which they immediately turned against the Japanese troops trying to surround the airfield. The small garrison of pilots and ground crew was reinforced by members of the constabulary and the Yuwachon Thaharn (a quasi-military teenage auxiliary) who had managed to escape from the town of Prachuap Khiri Khan after the Japanese captured the telegraph office and the police station.
