A Timeline of the Dutch East Indies Campaign in World War II

The Dutch East Indies Campaign was a campaign of the Pacific War. This was a campaign around the islands of Indonesia, targeting the Allied airfields and oil supplies of the Dutch East India Company. It began in late 1941 and continued until March 1942. The Japanese held all the aces in a campaign in which they routed the Allied armies and naval presence in the region.

14 December to 27 December, 1941

The Dutch East Indies Campaign began in December when Japanese troop transport ships departed their harbors in Rangoon Bay. This convoy headed towards Borneo, one of the first targets for Japanese troop landings, and they landed on the 16th at British Borneo. Here, they captured the first oil fields at Miri and Seria. Elsewhere in Borneo, Japanese troops landed at Sarawak, and as the Allied troops retreated, they wiped out potential oil refineries. Japanese troops maintained their advance and by the 27th occupied the Tambelan Islands, which was the first Dutch territory to fall.

Jan 11 to Feb 9, 1942

Elsewhere in the Dutch East Indies, Japanese troops began to land at Celebes in January. They began to move towards the Allied airfields located there, such as Kendari, which fell later in January. By the end of the month, thousands of Japanese troops had landed on Ambon, which included a Dutch military base. With little air support, thousands of Allied troops quickly withdrew, forgetting to destroy bridges behind them, and Ambdon was secured by early February. The rest of Celebes fell on the 9th February when Japan's soldiers stormed into Makassar.

February 13

Whilst Japanese troops were defeating the Allies in Celebes, they were also advancing further in Borneo. In January, they had landed at the coastal city of Balikpapan, despite the presence of Dutch submarines and aircraft which had targeted their troop transport ships, and here they took the Allied airfield. By the 13th of February, their troops reached the capital of Borneo, Bandjarmasin, which was occupied. The Allies had lost Borneo, and now the remainder of the campaign would be around Java.

February 19 to February 20

On the 19th, Japanese troops landed at Bali, although their convoy was intercepted by Allied ships at the Badung Strait. A few cruisers and destroyers found them, but as an Allied destroyer was torpedoed out of the water, their ships began to disperse. They withdrew with all of the Japanese warships intact.

February 27 to March 1

Despite all of Japan's victories in the Dutch East Indies, to win the campaign, they had to defeat the Allied armies in Java, where a majority of their troops were located. As such, on the 25th, a Japanese invasion fleet left its port at Balikpapan for Java. The fleet had a sizeable escort of Japanese destroyers and cruisers that were equipped with Long Lance torpedoes, one of the most advanced torpedoes of any navy.

The Allies soon detected this invasion fleet, and an ABDA fleet consisting of American, British, Dutch, and Australian cruisers and destroyers was sent out to intercept it. On the 27th, the Japanese fleet was spotted around Bawean Island, and as the ABDA fleet was quickly informed, they sailed towards the IJN fleet's approximate location in the Java Sea. It was here that the Battle of the Java Sea emerged, a battle which was dominated by the Japanese. Almost all the Allied destroyers and cruisers were lost in a series of naval engagements up to the 1st March, with only a handful of U.S. destroyers making an effective retreat. The path had also been cleared for the Japanese invasion fleet to land at Java at the beginning of March.

March 5 to 8

From the 5th to the 8th March, the Japanese wiped out the last remaining Allied troops at Java. First, they reached and occupied the capital, Batavia. The last remnants of Allied troops surrendered at Bandoeng.

March 31

With the fall of Java, the campaign was effectively won. Although the Japanese finished off the campaign at Christmas Island in late March. With only a tiny garrison of Commonwealth troops stationed there, the Japanese quickly occupied Christmas Island.

Japan's victory in the Dutch East Indies Campaign provided the Japanese Empire with much more substantial oil supplies. They had also occupied numerous airfields in the Dutch East Indies, which put their planes within range of Australia. The former Dutch colonies also provided other raw materials for the Japanese Empire.