You should post these, Bas…
I posted this idea elsewhere on a forum, but maybe you can answer this here;
We know that MacArthur (kreeping along Papua and New Guinea to Philippines) wanted to return and did return to the Philippines (“colonies”) as a matter of pride, honour, etc and so-so military relevance (debatable).
My question is: WHY couldn’t the Americans despatch some US marines to make a limited beachhead invasion of East Java (Surabaya area) in early 1945 (when Japan mobility capacity on sea and on land was very restricted: little or no ships, planes and artillery.only second or third rate japanese soldiers and local militia) and the same for Malaya peninsula (british colony), and even North of Vietnam (French colony), as a 1) debt/gratitude to the little but welcome help from NEI in 1942 2) because US simply could spare them and 3) most importantly: to have a beachhead to introduce the nation’s (Dutch, English, French resp) new forces to reinstate order as soon as the war with Japan would come to an end.
Because with the dropping with the 2 Abombs there was an obvious void in Asia which sprung up the criminal rebellion of mostly communist (INDO, MALAY, VN) and jihadist (INDO) rebels that more than freedom (as a true independence movement) wanted to avenge on captive europeans in the jap camps.
And I am certain the Philippines had communists and jihadists (south on Jolo island) sentiments as well, that would have sprung up if USA had not returned to Philippines before the Abombs.
Even without the Abombs and having the protracted Japan invasion by USA in 1945-1946 still it would make no sense (from the spirit of Allied enterprise) to leave Java, Malaya and Vietnam unattended…if Philippines had been fully liberated.
BY returning to Philippines in force , the Americans showed undeniably who is in control. BY denying the Dutch (by Mountbatten!!) to return in time in Java a lot of face loss has been bestowed on the Dutch , thus giving way to all the Bersiap mayhem in Java and the VietMin mayhem in Indochina for the french situation.
And the US/Allies didn’t have to recapture a whole densely populated island or peninsula to assert the influence on the civilians on the other side of the frontline.
Simply by having a large enough foothold one could smuggle ideas, stuff, propaganda and small SOE groups to pinpoint actions behind enemy lines.
What says you ?
FDR, I have thought about this a lot. My mother is from Surabaya, and she was nearly killed by the pelopors (Indonesian revolutionaries) in October 1945. Her family certainly hoped that the Americans would come to liberate them. Here is something we might consider: When the U.S. Army fought to liberate Manila in early 1945, the Japanese often massacred Filipino civilians in the areas of the city they controlled. What would the Japanese troops on Java have done to the Dutch civilians in the camps (and the Indisch people not yet in the camps) had the Americans landed in Surabaya? There might have been many Manilas on Java. Japanese soldiers in World War II did not behave predictably or rationally according to Western standards of warfare, and killing civilians was something they did easily, for fun, or out of sheer frustration that they were losing a battle. These are my initial thoughts on the subject.
I am looking to get in contact with R. Mark Davies:
Dear Mark,
I am Sybren van Klaarbergen from the Netherlands; a keen FoW Players and anticipating the Battlefront Pacific addition.
I found your “KNIL TO&Es v1.1.ppt” of Fire and Fury on the web and must congratulate you with the wealth of detail and investigation behind that.
I wonder if you also made a version for BF Flames of war already, because otherwise I will start doing so.
Could I ask you what ground data you used (your sources)?
would you be willing to co publish / proof read my lists?
kind regards,
Sybren
Jihadists was not yet a concern to the western, infact, they were used by the west to counter Communist.
One occasion was DI/TII permesta in Indonesia, they were heavily backed up by US and its allies. or Afghans Jihadist agisnts Soviet Russia.
So stop this Muslim terrorist crap in the past, muslim only become terrorist when Bush elected, and now re implemented by Trump.
Missed this old post until gumalangi revived the thread.
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The US, like every other nation involved, ran its war to serve its interests. Check out the history of the disputes between Australia and America 1943-45 regarding America’s attempts, even before victory was assured, to control the post-war air routes to Australia. Gratitude is something politicians express for public consumption. Realpolitik is what politicians and diplomats, and military commanders, do to advance their own nation’s interests.
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The US couldn’t spare troops, nor USN and merchant marine logistical support, in early 1945 when it was still grinding its way to victory over Japan, nor later when it was planning for the massive land invasion of the main Japanese home islands,
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The US was strongly opposed to European colonialism before and during the war. Admiral King strongly expressed the view he wasn’t going to help the Limey bastards recover their colonies. Although the Philippines was a dependency of the US, it had been put on the path to independence before the war with the intention of it becoming independent around 1946. It is entirely consistent for the US to recover the Philippines to complete the Philippines path to independence while refusing to help European colonial powers recover their colonial possessions to resume colonial control.
KNIL and RNN Coastal artillery:
Can anyone help me to the painting colours of the guns and the gun turrets used bij KNIL and RNN coastal artillery, prior to the Japanese Invasion of the Netherlands Indies in 1942?