Sejarah Penyerangan Jepang ke Hindia Belanda pada 1942

Ada satu pertanyaan saya waktu SD dulu: Kenapa koq belanda gampang banget dikalahkan jepang pada tahun 1942 itu ? padahal kan mereka bercokol selama ratusan tahun di belahan bumi hindia belanda.

Pertanyaan saya terjawab dalam sebuah buku tahun 60an, berikut kisahnya.

ON DECEMBER 7, 1941, came the treacherous attack of Japan on Pearl Harbor. Immediately afterwards the Netherlands government in London declared war on the Japanese Empire. In his announcement of this decision, Governor General A. W. C. Tjardavan Starkenborgh Stachower said:"People of the Netherlands East Indies: In its unexpected attack onAmerican and British territories, while diplomatic negotiations werestill in progress, the Japanese Empire has consciously adopted acourse of aggression. These attacks which have thrown the UnitedStates of America and the British Empire into active war on the sideof already fighting China, have as their object the establishment ofJapanese supremacy in the whole of east and southeast Asia.

The aggressions also menace the Netherlands East Indies in no smallmeasure. The Netherlands Government accepts the challenge and takes uparms against the Japanese Empire.

"Full mobilization of the army was ordered immediately and defenseforces were sent into the Outer Possessions to guard against attacks.The Netherlands East Indies army was estimated at a strength of about100,000-125, 000 men, including home guards and militia. The nucleus ofthe army consisted of professional soldiers, many of them Amboyneseand Menadonese. All able-bodied Netherlanders in the Netherlands EastIndies had been conscripted about a year earlier.

By a law of July 11,1941, conscription had been extended to the native part of thepopulation as well, but through lack of equipment and some hesitancyon the part of the government, only small contingents of this nativemilitia were inducted into the army towards the end of October, 1941.Good progress had been made with the mechanization of the army whilethe air force consisted of about 250-300 planes, many of them,however, almost obsolete. Much equipment that had been ordered did notarrive on time in the Indies.The greatest part of Duch naval strength, consisting of five cruisers,seven destroyers, over twenty submarines and a number of smaller craftwas concentrated in the Indies.When the war with Japan broke out, all Japanese citizens were internedimmediately. The interned group consisted of 1069 Japanese, 301Formosans and 25 suspect Europeans.The Netherlands East Indies Army planes went to the aid of the Britishin Malaya while Naval units were despatched to Singapore: on December13 naval forces sank four Japanese army transports off the coast ofThailand, while, from then on, news about the sinking of Japaneseships became almost a daily item.

The Indonesian political parties issued a statement in which theyurged the people "to render all possible assistance to the governmentin maintaining order and to keep calm."Occasional Japanese air attacks were the only enemy activity whichreached the Netherlands Indies in the first period.On January 10, 1942, the all-out war on the Indies was started whenthe Japanese launched a full-fledged attack on the Island of Tarakan,off east Borneo, and on three different parts of the Minahassa, the"northern arm" of Celebes. Dutch army and air forces put up strongresistance and damaged several Japanese naval units. The Dutch werequite aware that the odds were strongly against them, but destructionof oil installations and other equipment was carried out according toplan.Bombing attacks on several points of the Archipelago in-creased inintensity with the naval base of Ambon as one of the main targets.Parachutists succeeded in completing the conquest of the Minahassawhere infiltration had also been used with some success. Dutch andAustralian air forces gave a good account of themselves, and Japaneselosses were reported at that time to have been heavy.A great success was achieved by air attacks on January 23 on enemynaval and transport concentration in Makassar Straits, between Celebesand Borneo. Twelve direct hits were scored on eight Japanese warshipsand transports.

Next day, several transports of the same large convoywere sunk. Attacks on ship concentrations near Balikpapan in Borneowere also successful.American air and naval forces joined in the various attacks andachieved considerable results with torpedo attacks and bombings.On January 25, landings on Borneo and at Kandari, in Southern Celebes,took place.Naval and air resistance to the Japanese invasion continued to inflictserious damage but land resistance was whittled down quickly in mostcases by the superiority of the Japanese in numbers and equipment.Resistance of Netherlands East Indies troops around Balikpapancontinued for some time while the scorched earth policy was carriedout completely in most regions. Ambon also became the subject of aconcentrated attack, while fighting in Celebes continued throughoutJanuary.In the beginning of February air attacks on Java increased inintensity.

By that time Borneo was largely in Japanese hands althoughresistance in the interior continued. Naval activities around Ambonresulted in the sinking of several Japanese cruisers, as well as of adestroyer and a submarine.On February 14, heavy raids on Palembang, Sumatra, took place whichwere followed by the landing of paratroops asthe Japanese were eager to stop the demolitions of the oilfields. Theysucceeded in preventing some of the demolitions, but most of them hadbeen carried out successfully. Around the middle of February fightingaround Palembang as well as on Celebes continued.On February 19, when the Japanese had surrounded Java on all sides,the first reports came in of the arrival of detachments of British,American and Australian troops, however, only in very small numbers.The occupation of Bali caused the Japanese several naval losses.Air raids continued to be successful and the "ship a day" tradition ofthe Dutch was kept up pretty well. Official figures on the number ofJapanese ships sunk are still not available.On February 27, strong Japanese formations were reported to beapproaching Java. They were attacked repeatedly by Allied squadrons.On the 28th, the first phase in the battle of Java opened whenJapanese invasion troops established three beach heads on the northcoast.In this period the Dutch navy, with the naval forces of some of itsAllies, played an heroic role. When the news of the attack on Balicame, Admiral Karel Doorman raced his small fleet to the South Cape onBali, and, in the dark of night, they made a daring attack on theJapanese fleet, the cruiser "De Ruyter" leading, followed by the"Java" and the "Piet Hein," with Dutch and American destroyers makingup the rear. When, by firing star shells, the "De Ruyter" could seethe enemy, she was too close to train her guns properly.

But the"Java" had that chance while the "Piet Hein," coming up astern, caughtthe withering fire of the 8-inch guns.Later in the night, a similar attack was made by four Americandestroyers and the "Tromp." The Japanese took heavy punishment thatnight in Bandia Strait, but the small fleet of Admiral Doorman wasfurther depleted. He was left with the "De Ruyter," the "Java," thedamaged "Houston," the "Perth" and the "Exeter."On February 26, this fleet was looking for the enemy around MadoeraIsland. Finally at 4 o'clock, when they were racing northward, the "DeRuyter" sighted the enemy. She opened fire immediately, and in thebeginning Allied gunnery was good although the Japanese guns outrangedthem. One Japanese destroyer was hit, but the "Exeter" was put out ofaction. The destroyer "Kortenaer," trying to cover her limpingretreat, was hit by a torpedo and broke in two. A little later theBritish destroyer "Electra" fell victim to a Japanese torpedo also.However, in this stage of the encounter, three Japanese destroyerswere sunk.Admiral Doorman in an effort to break off the struggle in which he wasso hopelessly outnumbered, tried to find the convoy where he could domore damage. He failed, and later at night he came once more upon theenemy fleet. With all guns blazing, his small force, now entirelywithout destroyer protection, went into action. Then he flung hisforce sharply around, but it was too late: torpedoes caught the "Java"as well as the "De Ruyter" and both went down into the blazing sea.The Allied navy had done all it could to prevent the Japaneselandings, and nothing was left to do except the blowing up of allshore installations.The invasion of the Japanese army was resisted valiantly by theNetherlands East Indies army, reinforced with American, Australian,and British units but the battle was hopeless from the beginning anddemoralization set in at an early stage. The air force continued itsattacks as long as possible but its strength was wearing down rapidly.The Japanese fanned out from their three beachheads and succeeded inmaking pretty steady progress.On March 3, the Allied Commander, General Archibald P.

Wavell, leftJava for British India, leaving the command of the Allied forces inthe hands of the Dutch.On the same day, it was admitted that air control had passed into thehands of the enemy.From that time on, fighting spread throughout the island withouttaking on a definite front line. The situation had become hectic, andcoordination between the defenders was more or less lost.On March 6, Batavia was evacuated and the government moved to Bandoengwhere the last ditch defense was being organized.The complete control of the air made Allied troop movementspractically impossible. On March 7, the northern defenses of Bandoengwere cracked, and the situation was admittedly critical. On March 8,the official radio station at Bandoeng sent its last message: "We arenow shutting down. Goodbye until better times. Long live the Queen."Except for guerilla activity in the outlying possessions, and for someparts of New Guinea, which were not occupied by the Japanese, theentire archipelago was in the hands of the enemy.The Japanese were surprised about these things in the NetherlandsIndies: the European population had stayed behind except for a fewhigh officials whom Governor General van Starkenborgh Stachouwer hadsent away in the interests of the country; there was order in thearchipelago; the population on the whole was loyal to the Dutch.As the Japanese regarded the Westerners as the leaders of the East,they began by interning all Europeans and by removing all Dutch signs.The interned Europeans were given small rations but receivedconsiderable aid from the Indonesians and the Chinese.The Japanese started by prohibiting all political activity but onMarch 9, 1943, they founded the "Poetera," intended as theall-embracing political party. This organization lasted only one yearand was replaced by the Djawa Hoko Kai, or- ganizing the Indies as asection of Greater East Asia. The organization was on a cooperativebasis, and only those who were members received the materials neededfor their occupations. Soekarno was a leading figure in the "DjawaHoko Kai."

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