29/09/2026
KNIL soldiers, armed with a short-barreled Light Machine Gun train in the Javanese jungle, Java, Netherlands East Indies (Now Indonesia) 1941.
In 1940, the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army numbered approximately 40,000 men. The KNIL was mainly a police army that had to keep the local population in check with carbines and klewang. The reorganization to a real army to fight foreign powers was still far from complete in 1941. The officers were almost all European
More than 70 percent of the army's enlisted men were indigenous and it was not clear whether they would defend the colony against Japan. 32,000 conscripts with Dutch nationality were added together with a number of volunteers, which expanded the KNIL. However, the East Indies hardly had an arms industry, and importing goods from Europe was virtually impossible.
The Dutch government in London declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941. Japan initially responded by stating that it was not at war with the Netherlands. Then, from December 10, 1941, the Netherlands began torpedoing Japanese merchant ships. When that continued, Japan responded with an ultimatum of December 28, 1941. It is said that Japan had already decided to invade the Dutch East Indies before the war. This is incorrect, as Japan has been trying for a long time through negotiations to get more oil delivered. It was only after its failure and continuing acts of war by the Netherlands that it sought a way to obtain it. The Dutch East Indies was the fourth largest exporter of oil (after the United States, Iran and Romania).
To coordinate the fight against the Japanese, the British, Dutch, American and Australian governments combined the naval and army forces present in the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command ( ). Although the troops worked together, they each had their own ideas about how the war should be conducted. The English mainly wanted to protect the territory of Singapore and the eastern entrances to the Indian Ocean (the road to Ceylon and British India).
The Americans and Australians did not want to advance into southwest Asia, as this would cost too many troops and would not be available for a counter-attack.
The Netherlands saw Java and ("the second homeland, where people had lived and traded for three centuries") as the most important points to defend.
But not even the strength of the combined forces could stop or even delay the Japanese advance. This was partly due to the much larger Japanese force.
On March 1, 1942, the Japanese attack on Java began, and on March 5, 1942, Japanese troops entered Batavia victoriously.
The next day they succeeded in forcing a breakthrough at Bandoeng. Finally, on March 8, they occupied . After this, Java was in Japanese hands. General Hein ter Poorten accepted the Japanese demands for surrender. On March 9, he signed the capitulation of the KNIL in near Bandoeng.
Colourised PIECE of JAKE
Source: NIMH
From the series: 'Those that didn't make it into WO2inKleur part II)
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