KNIL (Royal Netherlands Indies Army)

World War II Other Military Units
#81

Info on Australian war crimes trials sources is here http://www.awm.gov.au/journal/j30/sissons.htm

You might get a lead to more material through this sub-section of the Australian War Memorial http://ajrp.awm.gov.au/ajrp/ajrp2.nsf/

The AWM is quite helpful with enquiries from the public. Just email them

#82

KMDjr

I forgot about this as a good starting point for research on Japanese documents. If you can’t find anything there, an email might get you referred to someone who can help. http://www.jacar.go.jp/english/

I’m inclined to think that, while a lot of documents were destroyed during and shortly after the war by both the Japanese and the Allies, as these were post war trials then something might have survived.

You might get more info from the Australian National Archives from the source of the following quote, where you’ll find a listing of some possibly relevant documents.

Between 30 November 1945 and 9 April 1951, 924 enemy nationals were tried for war crimes in 296 trials conducted by Australian military courts. The enabling legislation – the War Crimes Act 1945 – was passed by both houses of the Australian parliament on the same day (4 October 1945). Of those found guilty by these trials, 148 were sentenced to death and executed. An additional 496 were given prison sentences.

Trials were conducted in eight venues – Labuan, Wewak, Morotai, Rabaul, Darwin, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Manus Island
http://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/publications/fact-sheets/fs61.aspx#section2

#83

BTW, if you need access to documents that aren’t online and can’t get to Australia, there are research agents who can do it for you. Don’t know what their fees are like.

http://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/publications/fact-sheets/on-archives/index.aspx#section7

#84

Hi gumalangi,

I am not sure about the story, but will check into it. I will post what I find.

Cheers

-[/QUOTE]

Hi gumalangi,

Sorry for the long delay. Just received a response at the Pacific War 1941-1945 Forum
http://www.network54.com/Forum/594514/

Mr. Jan Visser, who moderates the forum, gave the following reply:

Re: Dutch Patrol Boat - Japanese landings - Celebes
March 7 2008 at 6:34 PM Jan Visser (Login Visje1981)
Moderators

http://www.network54.com/Forum/594514/message/1204911244/Re-+Dutch+Patrol+Boat+-+Japanese+landings+-+Celebes

Response to Dutch Patrol Boat - Japanese landings - Celebes

Here are some possibilities:

Motorboot S
Captured at Menado January 11, 1942. Sunk at Menado by Allied aircraft february 1945

Karimata
Captured Celebes (about January 1942). Sunk at Kwandang january 1945 by Allied aircraft.

Urania
Captured around March 25, 1942 at Posso, Celebes. Sunk by allied aircraft january 1945.

Togean
As Urania. Survived the war.

Magda
Captured. Date and place unknown.

Anna
Tugboat. Scuttled off Menado by crew January 11, 1942.

Motorboot 157
Captured Menado January 11, 1942. Sunk at Menado February, 1945 by Allied aircraft.

Jan Visser’s website:


http://www.netherlandsnavy.nl/


http://www.geocities.com/dutcheastindies/

Pacific War 1941-1945 Forum
http://www.network54.com/Forum/594514/

Hope this helps :slight_smile:

All the Best,

George

#85

Hi there George Sir,…

Much of thanks for all those troubles,. at least i can rest assured that those folklores are true, well to be honest,. it was the story from my late father, as he was assigned to be part of those hunting parties,… sometimes I thought he was glorifying his stories,… :smiley:

Again,. … Thank you Sir!

#86

Hi gumalangi,

You are very welcome my friend :slight_smile:

Looks like what your father said was true.

I have found the people at the Pacific War 1941-1945 forum to be very knowledgeable on anything related to the Dutch East Indies and WWII. I’m glad that Jan Visser was able to help.

All the Best,

George

#87

Say george,. are you the anak knil? :wink:

#88

Hi gumalangi,

Sorry for the delay…it’s been a busy last few days.

I did a google search on “anak knil” and assume that you mean the alias “anak knil” used on forums.

I think that “anak knil” is actually Stellan Bojerud from Sweden. He owns the KNIL History website. He uses that alias on his website photo albums and on his website forum. Stellan Bojerud is married to an Indonesian lady from Java whom he met in Stockholm, Sweden.

KNIL History
http://se.msnusers.com/KNIL-history/whatisthepurposewiththosepages.msnw

http://se.msnusers.com/KNIL-history/shoebox.msnw

I usually use my real name or some variation of George on forums :slight_smile:

#89

Apology sir, for wrong accusation,. :wink:

i did read a bit abut the site onwer, as it was so little information about the person, yet the informations and the pictures are plenty,. i as thinking it was you or someone related to you running the site,… as you yourself ‘anak’ KNIL yes? :slight_smile:

Great Weekend to you George!.

Cheers

#90

Well, I guess in a figurative sense, you could say I am :slight_smile:

All the Best to you my friend,

George

#91

Hi George,

Seems your expertise needed once more,.
The attached link, is this possibly another type of KNIL? as I am sure they are armed Balinese(?).

http://www.ww2incolor.com/unknown/foreign-530606.jpg

Regards,

#92

Hi gumalangi,

My guess is one of the American mandates. Possibly Philippines or Samoa? They appear to have American type insignia and are armed with Remington rolling-block breech-loading single-shot rifles.

The uniforms, weapons, and insignia do not look like anything that I’ve seen of the KNIL.

Just my humble opinion :slight_smile:

#93

That is why I am asking,… the uniform, ranks and arms seems none from KNIL. However, if you ever been to bali, Black and white patch(chess pattern type) sarong, is definetely a must for men going to war, as it is considered as sacred ‘gear’.

Cheers

#94

Hi… does anybody can give me some information about the KNIL Troops, cause my grandfather is a former KNIL, his name is PIETER ABRAHAM De Costa, Born in Indramayu west java at Oct’ 20 1927, and i want to know where my grand father being duty,
Thanks

#95

Hello Andy,

Welcome to the forum :slight_smile:

If you read through this thread, you will find a lot of useful information. I posted a number of links on page 1 of this thread related to the KNIL. My grandfather was also in the KNIL.

All the Best,

George

#96

I’m very glad to see this information about KNIL and the Dutch East Indies Campaign. Both my grandfather Han Samethini and his brother Frank served in KNIL, and were sent to the Burma Railway as POWs. Currently I am borrowing my great uncle’s unpublished World War II memoir, and I’ve also received a copy of his wife’s account of her internment at Ambawara and Banjubiru concentration camps.

One of the soldiers in the first KNIL group photo looks a bit like my grandfather, but I’ll need to compare it with contemporary civilian photos to be sure. I have a picture of my great uncle wearing his uniform on his wedding day in Bandung, Java, in June 1941.

My mother, born in Surabaya, East Java, does not remember the Japanese occupation per se. But she recalls vividly the steady droning of massed aircraft motors as she huddled with her family in an improvised bomb shelter. As best I can tell, this was the sound of B-24s of the 380th Bomb Group, which flew at least two missions against targets in Surabaya in 1944.

#97

Hi Robin,

Welcome to the forum :slight_smile:

Thanks also for sharing those stories. My mother’s family was also there during the war. She was 9 years old when the Japanese invaded. She used to tell us about how the people in the concentration camp would cheer when the allied planes flew overhead. It gave them hope.

My grandfather and two uncles in the KNIL became POWs. One uncle was sent to Burma to build the railway. The other uncle was sent to Japan on one of the “hell ships”. They both survived the war, but have since passed away. My grandfather died at the Tjimahi POW camp in west central Java in January 1945.

Here are some threads from our forum relating to the Dutch East Indies and the Camps that may be interesting to you:

Civilian POWs in Indonesia WWII
http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5265

Various Womens’ websites and stories from WWII Dutch East Indies
http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showpost.php?p=107987&postcount=2

Japanese camp commandants
http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5582

Camps in the Dutch East Indies: with maps
http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showpost.php?p=112178&postcount=2

Elizabeth van Kampen
Memories of my youth and the years of the Japanese occupation in the former Dutch East Indies during World War Two
http://www.dutch-east-indies.com/
http://www.dutch-east-indies.com/story/index.htm

KNIL (Royal Netherlands Indies Army)
http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2936

All the Best,

George

#98

Thanks for the welcome, George.

My great uncle Frank was also sent to Japan on a hell ship in August 1944, after slaving on the Burma Railway. He recorded the names of all the POW camps he was in. My grandfather was extremely reticent about his POW experience, so I’ve had to reconstruct it from evidence in his scrapbooks, in published works, Frank’s memoir, and contacts with Railway scholars and POW survivors.

I’m working on a blog/biography of my grandfather. However, it needs revision with all the new information I’ve received from Frank’s family:

http://hansamethini.blogspot.com

Question: Do you have any information on Fort Menari, which guarded one of the approaches to Surabaya harbor? Frank was a machine gunner there. He saw the ABDA fleet leaving port for the Battle of the Java Sea. His father-in-law was aboard the De Ruyter, and went down with her.

About your uncle who was sent to the Railway: did he say which camps he was in? Do I understand correctly that your mother’s family was in Surabaya during the war?

  • Robin
#99

Hi Robin,

You are most welcome :slight_smile: I must compliment you on your very interesting and professionally done blog site.

My mother’s family was living in Jogjakarta, Java when the Japanese invaded. After the war broke out, my grandfather “Otto” Frankfort was mobilized and eventually stationed in Bandung, Java, N.E.I.

My uncle that was a POW on the Burma Railway was named Jan Frankfort. After the war, while he was recovering in a hospital, he met his future wife who was a nurse there. She was from Menado, Celebes. After Indonesia gained independence, they moved to Dutch New Guinea, raised a family and in 1962 they moved to the Netherlands. He did have some post traumatic stress and would have nightmares from his ordeal in his later years. I only knew him from my short visits to Holland on vacation. I don’t know which camps he was in. My uncle passed away in the late 1980’s, but his widow is still living and currently resides in Amsterdam.

My other uncle, Jacob Frankfort, was sent to Japan on a “hell ship” but I’m not sure of the exact date. He did mention the cities where he was imprisoned, but I can’t recall which ones. My cousins would probably know. He passed away in the 1990’s in Orlando, Florida.

My grandfather, O.T. “Otto” Frankfort was an Onderluitenant in the KNIL and died 24 Jan 1945 at the Tjimahi POW camp in west central Java near Bandung. His grave is number 700. The cemetery contains 4,911 graves … they must have been dropping like flies in the last months of the war.


Sergeant O.T. “Otto” Frankfort at age 29 in Ambarawa, Java 1918. My grandfather enlisted in the KL (Koninklijk Leger or Royal Army of the Netherlands) in 1904 at age 15 and served to 1912. He re-enlisted in 1914 and in 1915 transferred to the KNIL (Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger or Royal Netherlands Indies Army) serving 1915 to 1945. The uniform is “klein blauw tenue” (very dark blue). Later, in 1921 he was promoted to Sergeant-major, and in 1933 to Onderluitenant.

Note: His father died in 1898 when my grandfather was 9 years old. He had one sister who was a year older and his widowed mother. It may have been a factor in his joining the army at age 15 in 1904. In 1907 his sister died. Several decades later his mother died in February 1940 at the onset of World War II.


Onderluitenant O.T. “Otto” Frankfort at age 48 in 1937 at a celebration of his being decorated (jubileum). This took place at the Frankfort residence by the Magazyne Van Oorlog Building in Sportplein, Jogjakarta, Java. The family of Captain Ter Stege Deikerhof lived in the house on the opposite side of the building. My grandfather had been promoted to Onderluitenant in 1933 and was still in active service in 1940 (He stayed longer in the service for the benefit of his children). Colorized by one of my younger sisters.


Onderluitenant O.T. “Otto” Frankfort from his Military Identification taken prior to World War II. My grandfather had been promoted to Onderluitenant in 1933 and was still in active service in 1940. After the war broke out, he was mobilized and eventually stationed in Bandung, Java, N.E.I.


Grandfather died at the POW camp in Tjimahi, Java, Netherlands East Indies and is buried at the Leuwigadjah military cemetery among the 4,911 graves. The Inscription GEP. OLT. INF. KNIL. = GEPENSIONEERD ONDERLUITENANT INFANTERIE KNIL

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=u09V3tkVk7I


Leuwigadjah Military Cemetery formally called Tjimahi between Bandung and Tjimahi in central Java. (Ereveld Tjimahi = Honorfield Tjimahi). From book Herdenking te Den Haag op 15 Aug 1970 EEN ERESCHULD INGELOST 25 jaar na de capitulatie van Japan: het einde van de Tweede Wereldoorlog.


WWII Dutch graves in the Far East.

I have more pics of his military records, dog tags, etc., but I am running short on time. They will have to wait until later.

A little on Ft. Merari: (two 40mm anti-aircraft guns were posted there)

KNIL Artillery in 1942
BY STELLAN BOJERUD
http://www.overvalwagen.com/KNILartillery.html

2nd AA Btn (A II Ld) at Soerabaja
Fort Menari 2-40 mm
Fort Tjowek 2-40 mm
Fort Piring 2-40 mm
Fort Moedong 2-40 mm, 2-20 mm, 2-12,7 mm MG
Batoe Porong 4-80 mm
Kampong Dawir 4-80 mm
Perak Airbase 4-105 mm, 4-40 mm
Monokrembang AFB 2-20 mm

I have seen references to Fort Ngawi and Fort Van den Bosch in East-Java near Surabaya.

It looks like you are doing some serious research on your grandfather. I wish you success on your blog/biography about him. :slight_smile:

All the Best,

George

EDITED 19 JUNE 2008 - More information and images added per above comments:


My grandfather’s dogtag - side one: N.I. / 75608 / 1888 / BLG. O / Frankfort, Oebele T. (Theunis) / Prot. Grandfather was known as “Otto” to his wife, friends and colleagues.


My grandfather’s dogtag - side two: N.I. / 75608 / 1888 / BLG. O / Frankfort, Oebele T. (Theunis) / Prot. Grandfather was known as “Otto” to his wife, friends and colleagues.

My grandfather’s partial Military Records from Netherlands Archives - Retyped for clarity:

My grandfather’s partial Military Records from Netherlands Archives - Copy of Original:

My grandfather’s Birth Certificate - Copy of Original in Dutch with added translation to English at bottom.

http://www.geocities.com/dutcheastindies/MLKNIL_uniforms.html

ALSO:

Camps in the Dutch East Indies:

Japanse burgerkampen
http://www.japanseburgerkampen.nl/index.htm

Kampen op Sumatra
http://www.japanseburgerkampen.nl/Sumatra-kampen.htm

** Kampen op Java
http://www.japanseburgerkampen.nl/Java-kampen.htm

Kampen op Borneo
http://www.japanseburgerkampen.nl/Borneo-kampen.htm

Kampen op Celebes
http://www.japanseburgerkampen.nl/Celebes-kampen.htm

Kampen in Oostelijke Archipel
http://www.japanseburgerkampen.nl/Oostelijke%20Archipel-kampen.htm

THE MAP ROOM
http://www.orbat.com/site/ww2/drleo/000_admin/006_maps.html

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES, 1935

Sumatra
http://www.orbat.com/site/ww2/drleo/016_netherlands/maps/sumarta.jpg

** Java - 1935
http://www.orbat.com/site/ww2/drleo/016_netherlands/maps/java.jpg

Borneo
http://www.orbat.com/site/ww2/drleo/016_netherlands/maps/borneo.jpg

Celebes
http://www.orbat.com/site/ww2/drleo/016_netherlands/maps/celebes.jpg

The Moluccas
http://www.orbat.com/site/ww2/drleo/016_netherlands/maps/molukken.jpg

#100

Hello,

I am the daughter of a former Dutch Indonesian POW. I have been longing to learn more of the history and to hear of others with similiar stories. My mother was very young at the time. My mother, her father, and mother all relocated to Holland. My mother joined the Air Force, married, and moved to the US. I was informed that because of her status as a POW she was granted amnesty. I have very limited information.
Thank you for the opportunity to learn from others who have memories or knowledge of this era.