Are there any good books in English on the fighting in the Dutch East Indies in 1942? I have read John Toland's excellent book "But Not in Shame" but seek more detailed information on the land fighting by the Dutch and their allies.
National University of Singapore Bookwise, unless you read Dutch the above is your best bet. However there is a comprehensive website here: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941-1942 The website has a large bibliography section but as expected most of the titles dealing with the subject you're interested in are in Dutch. Cheers Mark
I would higly recommend contacting this member as he knows a thing or two about the subject.http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/members/warlord.html
Fictionalized account but nonetheless interesting is the third segment in 'The Seed and the Sower' by Laurens Van Der Post. He writes about his experiences in Java before, during and after the Japanese occupation in 'The Night of The New Moon' and ' The Admiral's Baby' and they are interesting books.
today in the newspapers some photograph turned up about the execution of civilians by Dutch soldiers!made by a soldier, the photoalbum was found in a dumpster, this is however period 1947 Een rijtje lijken, tussen de andere kiekjes - Nieuws - VK
Forgot to mention this book as well. An excellent study which touches on aspects of the ground war too. The Dutch Naval Air Force Against Japan: The Defense of the Netherlands East Indies, 1941-1942: Amazon.ca: Tom Womack: Books
The official histories have some stuff in English. These would be: Lionel Wigmore, The Japanese Thrust (Australian) Woodburn-Kirby, The War Against Japan, I, II (British) Roskill, The War at Sea (British) The US Navy and air force histories are by Morison and Craven and Cate, respectively, and they have some information. The US Army green books Defense of the Philippines and Victory in Papua might have a little too. There's a very good two-volume work on the early air war against the Japs called Bloody Shambles. I can't recall the authors, but they do give some coverage to the Dutch. Martin Caidin's old The Ragged Rugged Warriors has a chapter on the air war in the NEI. I can also recommend this site, which has a forum that covers many aspects of the KNIL and the Dutch war in the East. welcome to overvalwagen.com
Sorry to chip in this late, but have been for a while on a trip down African Bush Wars, on my way to the Yom Kippur brawl However, me mates took care of everything, I can see Now, even though you specifically mentioned "land fighting", I can highly recommend two jobs regarding the NEI: "The Battle of Palembang", by Terence Kelly, and the Combat Narrative of the Java Sea Campaign, by the Publication Branch of the ONI; here's a link to access the latter, readily available at Patrick Clancey's pride, Hyperwar: USN Combat Narrative: The Java Sea Campaign
There's a very good two-volume work on the early air war against the Japs called Bloody Shambles. I can't recall the authors, but they do give some coverage to the Dutch. That would be aviation historians par excellence Christopher Shores and Brian Cull working with Japanese author Yasuho Izawa Amazon.com: Bloody Shambles, Vol. 1: The Drift to War to the fall of Singapore (9780948817502): Christopher Shores, Brian Cull, Yasuho Izawa: Books Amazon.com: Bloody Shambles, Vol. 2: From the Defence of Sumatra to the fall of Burma (9780948817670): Christopher Shores, Brian Cull, Yasuho Izawa: Books Brian Cull also did his own works: Amazon.com: Hurricanes Over Singapore: RAF, RNZAF and NEI Fighters in Action Against the Japanese Over the Island and the Netherlands East Indies, 1942 (9781904010807): Brian Cull, Paul Sortehaug: Books Amazon.com: Buffaloes Over Singapore: RAF, RAAF, RNZAF and Dutch Brewster Fighters in Action Over Malaya and the East Indies 1941-1942 (9781904010326): Brian Cull: Books Two other histories of the Battle of the Java Sea are: Amazon.com: The Battle of the Java Sea (Sea battles in close-up #15) (9780870219115): F. C. van Oosten: Books Part of the old Sea Battles series Ian Allan did and David Thomas' old study Amazon.com: Battle of the Java Sea (9780233960722): David A. Thomas: Books There are a number of books on the individual ships involved including a recent study of HMAS Perth: Cruiser: The Life And Loss Of Hmas Perth And Her Crew by Mike Carlton - Books - Random House Books Australia Finally on a bit of a tangent this book: http://www.amazon.com/Operation-PLUM-Bombardment-Williams-Ford-University/dp/1603440194/ref=la_B001JPC33C_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341943170&sr=1-1 touches on the battle for the NEI as some of the 27th BG ended up there.
Thanks all for these tips. I will keep a weather eye open for those titles (hopefully a bit cheaper than the ones on Amazon). The website that started me on this path was : Military History Online As I read it, it occurred to me that the naval actions had come up in several books I had read, I knew next to nothing about the land battles. I had seen a photo somewhere of Japanese paratroopers landing somewhere but that was about it. Cheers
Please contact me on Patwalker37srpen@aol.com for details I can give you on a recently published book which contains details of the land fighting by British units in Sumatra and Java prior to capture. `6th Heavy Anti Aircraft Regt.RA ` There is only a mention about Dutch forces since it is about a British HAA Regiment. I have tried to send you further details via a personal email. Patrick Walker
Got the e-mail, thanks. It looks good. Could be a Christmas present for myself. I've been saving to go to Antietam, Md for the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War battle there next week so book purchases will have to wait awhile. I have been finding more and more online about the fight and like the book says, it looks like the fighting was a bloody shambles. It makes you want to hit something the way everything went wrong. So many bad decisions and so much bad luck. It was such a shame so many gallant men fought so hard for so little return, everywhere in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong it was the same story. I can't stop reading about it even though it depresses the hell out of me sometimes. I was reading on a website about the battle for Palembang and airfields P1 and P2 (which mentioned the 6th HAA). That kind of thing would frustrate me to no end. Those men (and women) have my deepest respect for continuing to operate under those conditions so far from home.
Mate, these two jobs, even though focused mainly on the ordeal of the survivors of the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery Regiment (Texas National Guard), after their capture when the NEI surrendered, do have some coverage of their actions as members of Blackforce during the defense of Java. Amazon.com: Lost Battalion: Railway of Death (9780743493277): Kyle Thompson: Books Hell under the Rising Sun: Texan POWs and the Building of the Burma-Thailand Death Railway (Williams-Ford Texas A&M University Military History Series): Kelly E. Crager: 9781585446353: Amazon.com: Books
I have come across this website with another URL http://oocities.org/dutcheastindies. (This is a mirror version of a website originally on geocities.com, now no longer in existence but available on archive.org)) It appears to have another section "What's New" which I cannot see on the website with the link originally given (My browser does not show it, perhaps other browsers may) http://www.oocities.org/dutcheastindies/news.html . (These were additions made in 2001/2002) Cheers Maureen