One of the many “wars after the war” following VJ Day saw the curious fight between British colonial units (mostly of the 5th Indian and 23rd Indian Divisions, along with the 36th and 49th Indian Brigadea) against Indonesian freedom fighters and Japanese hold outs in the Dutch East Indies in late 1945/early 1946 before the Dutch could arrive in numbers from Europe and America and take over the fight for their arguably already lost colony.
In early December 1945, while the British declared victory over various republican militias in the Indonesian city of Surabaya (Soerabaja), which they had been fighting since late October, armed anti-colonial resistance remained vibrant across the rest of the island of Java and began to spread elsewhere in the 17,000-island archipelago—a fire of the kind that could never be extinguished.
Operation Ponce, which began in mid-December, saw 161 Indian Brigade (of the 5th ID) move out into the countryside, kicking off almost another full year of fighting for the deployed Commonwealth forces, albeit on a smaller scale.
The combat saw lots of interesting scenes in which local Indonesian insurgents (and Japanese fellow travelers) used a mixture of former pre-1942 Dutch/British, 1945 inherited Japanese, and locally made hardware against British/Indian and Dutch forces outfitted with freshly supplied late-war U.S. equipment.
Bren gunners of the 3/9th Jats, British Indian Army, cover the advance of their regiment against Indonesian nationalists in Surabaya (Soerabaja), December 1945. The Jats had already fought the Axis across North Africa, Ethiopia, Burma, and Malaya before they arrived in Java. Photo by Burt Hardy, No. 9 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit, IWM (SE 5661)
Private Edermaniger mans his Bren Gun at an outpost in the 5th Indian Division’s lines at Surabaya (Soerabaja), December 1945. Desmond Davis, Photographer, No. 9 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit, IWM (SE 7146)
Indian infantry advancing with British Stuart light tanks on the railway marshalling yards at Surabaya (Soerabaja) during fighting with Indonesian nationalists, December 1945. Photo by Burt Hardy, No. 9 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit, IWM (SE 5665)
A British-operated Sherman tank involved in street fighting against Indonesian nationalists in Surabaya (Soerabaja), December 1945. Desmond Davis, Photographer, No. 9 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit, IWM (SE 5975)
Flt Lt Threlfall, RAF, disarms four armed Indonesians captured at Bekassi, 24 November 1945. The guns appear to be pre-1940 Dutch Mannlichers, and the age of the locals would seem to make them part of the PRI, the Indonesian youth movement.
A British soldier holding a Japanese rifle and a Molotov cocktail, typical weapons used by Indonesian nationalists in the fighting in Surabaya (Soerabaja), December 1945. Photo by Burt Hardy, No. 9 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit, IWM (SE 5667)
A man of the 1st Battalion, The West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own) examines a Japanese artillery piece that was used by Indonesian nationalists during the fighting in Surabaya (Soerabaja) until destroyed by British forces, December 1945. The battalion was in India at the outbreak of WWII and saw hard jungle fighting in Burma from 1942 to 1944 before returning to India and deploying from there to Java. Photo by Duncan McTavish, No. 9 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit, IWM (SE 5735)
A soldier of an Indian armored regiment examines a formerly British, formerly Japanese Marmon-Herrington CTLS light tank used by Indonesian nationalists and recaptured by British forces during the fighting in Surabaya (Soerabaja), December 1945. The “PBM” is likely for the People’s Militia (Barisan Rakyat) group. Photo by Duncan McTavish, No. 9 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit, IWM (SE 5742)
A Thunderbolt Mk II (P-47D-25/-30-RE/30/-40-RA) of No. 81 Squadron, RAF, is being prepared for action against Indonesian nationalists at Kemajoran airfield, Batavia, in readiness for operations against Indonesian nationalists at Surabaya (Soerabaja) in Java. The unit, which had been No. 123 (East India) Squadron RAF until 10 June 1945 when it was rebadged, shifted from Chittagong to the Dutch East Indies in November along with No. 60 Squadron (also a Thunderbolt Mk II outfit) and remained there until June 1946, flying tactical reconnaissance duties and covering Allied road convoys, while attacking nationalist held airfields and ammunition dumps. (Photo by SGT Woollacott IWM CF 842)
“An Indian soldier guards a former Japanese army light tank used by Indonesian nationalists until knocked out by British forces during the fighting in Surabaya (Soerabaja).” An Indian soldier guards a Universal (Bren) Carrier, which was converted into an ad hoc tank by the Japanese, perhaps by use with the SNLF, as witnessed by the anchor, then taken over by Indonesian nationalists after the surrender, in Surabaya, 27 November 1945. Desmond Davis, Photographer, No. 9 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit, IWM SE 5866
A South African-made Marmon-Herrington Mark III armored car, formerly of the British Army, captured in Singapore/Malaysia in 1941/42, moved to Java by the Japanese after that, then captured circa-September 1945 from Imperial Japanese Army stocks by PRI, the Indonesian Youth Movement, seen wrecked in Surabaya (Soerabaja), December 1945. Note the pro-Democracy signs, written in English to appeal to the occupying British/Indian troops. Photo by Burt Hardy, No. 9 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit, IWM SE 5632
12 December 1945. A Soldier of the 5th Indian Division examines a 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun, likely a former Dutch, captured in 1942, knocked out by a British tank during fighting with Indonesian nationalists outside the town of Surabaya (Soerabaja). This gun was just one of many weapons handed over to the Indonesians rather than the British following the Japanese surrender. IWM (SE 6183)
The Dutch KNIL colonial army in the East Indies had fielded 40mm Bofors luchtdoelgeschut AAA guns, such as this one seen at Tjimahi, West Java, in 1939. When the islands fell to the Japanese, apparently, some survived long enough to be turned over to the Indonesians in 1945. NIMH 2155_022706
Mechanics of 3219 Servicing Commando, Royal Air Force (RAF), check the engines of a Japanese Kawanishi H6K Mavis flying boat at Sourabaya (Soerabaja), Java, in preparation for an air test flight. Of interest are the markings added by Indonesian nationalists and the fact that an additional band of blue has been added to the fuselage marking by the Dutch. IWM (CF 1074)
Corporal Ralph Hayden and Leading Aircraftman Harry Pearce of No. 80 Squadron (RAF) photographed amongst parts of Japanese aircraft, now bearing ersatz Indonesian markings, found when Royal Air Force personnel reached the airfield and seaplane base at Sourabaya (Soerabaja), Java. No. 80 Squadron, formed in the Great War, flew Tempest Mk Vs in the Far East and today is a F-35 training squadron at Eglin. IWM (CF 1078)
A list of over 200 Japanese aircraft acquired by the Indonesians, mid-1946:
The Brits even handed out some of the captured Japanese small arms to local “friendlies,” which probably just put them back into circulation.
The Indonesian chief of police in the town of Grissee, 15 miles from Surabaya (Soerabaja), receives 18 rifles and 200 rounds of ammunition to assist with keeping law and order in the area. The guns had been confiscated a few weeks earlier when British and Indian troops made a sweep through the town. However, as the chief of police assisted the British forces in locating and destroying Japanese ammunition dumps, the guns were handed back. Three days after this photograph was taken, Indonesian nationalists reoccupied Grissee and probably took control of the weapons. Desmond Davis, Photographer, No. 9 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit, IWM (SE 6536)
The British military only fully withdrew from the Dutch East Indies in November 1946, at which point the Dutch forces in the region had swelled to 115,000 under arms (70,000 Dutch Army/Air Force rushed from Europe, 40,000 colonial KNIL troops, and 5,000 American-trained Dutch Marines), not counting sailors afloat.
“See the world. Get it done in the Indies. Serve!” Dutch recruiting poster, circa 1945-1949,
The odd collection of harvested weapons would endure until the Dutch quit the islands in 1949.
As a supreme example of this flotsam of war, check out this 1946 image from Java showing captured weapons bagged by Dutch Marines in the countryside.
NIMH 2174-1377
The above include British-made Vickers M27 machine guns (with ribbed cooling jackets), Dutch Mannlicher M95 rifles, ex-Japanese Swiss-made MP28 submachine guns, Dutch-issued Danish-made Madsen light machine guns (with curved magazines), Colt-Browning and Maxim machine guns (smooth cooling jackets), various landmines, ammunition belts, and helmets. The helmets include Japanese, Dutch M34s, and the local Dutch East Indies-made version of the M16 German Stahlhelm manufactured by N.V. Machinefabriek Braat in Soerabaia, which were issued to the colony’s Stadswacht (Urban Home Guards), firefighters, and Luchtbeschermingsdienst (LBD=Air Raid Protection Service).
Captured Indonesian rebels, with the first two wearing a pre-1942 Staadwacht Stalhelm and an M23 helmet, seen in the middle of the group
February 1947, a Dutch Stuart tank passes a wrecked Japanese Type 89 I-Go in Indonesia
Indonesian troops drilling with captured Japanese Arisaka Type 99 rifles during 1949,
Between 1945 and 1949, the Dutch alone suffered 6,177 losses, including 3,281 in combat.
The British suffered over 600 dead (most of them Indian) for a colony that was not even theirs.
Meanwhile, Japanese losses– for a country that had already surrendered– are believed to be over 700, with some estimates being twice that high.
Indonesian soldiers march through an empty street, 12 November 1949, mostly equipped with salvaged Japanese rifles and equipment, as well as at least one Australian Owen submachine gun, source unknown. Dutch Nationaal Archief Bestanddeelnummer: 888
The number of Indonesians who perished during the period is all over the place, with some quoting as high as 300,000 when civilian deaths by famine and disease are taken into account.
It was truly one of the most senseless of Cold War conflicts.
