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The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (Dutch: Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger; KNIL, pronounced; Indonesian: Tentara Kerajaan Hindia Belanda) was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its colony of the Dutch East Indies, in areas that are now part of Indonesia.
The Dutch East Indies campaign of 1941–1942 was the conquest of the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) by forces of the Empire of Japan in the early days of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Allied forces attempted unsuccessfully to defend the islands. The East Indies were targeted by the Japanese for their rich oil resources which ...
The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force (Dutch: Militaire Luchtvaart van het Koninklijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger, ML-KNIL) was the air arm of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) from 1939 until 1950.
Four million people died in the Dutch East Indies as a result of famine and forced labour during the Japanese occupation, including 30,000 European civilian internee deaths. [3] In 1944–1945, Allied troops largely bypassed the Dutch East Indies and did not fight their way into the most populous parts such as Java and Sumatra. As such, most of ...
The Dutch East Indies produced most of the world's supply of quinine and pepper, over a third of its rubber, a quarter of its coconut products, and a fifth of its tea, sugar, coffee and oil. The profit from the Dutch East Indies made the Netherlands one of the world's most significant colonial powers. [29]
The Dutch military hastily scrambled its forces to provide an adequate defense. By the time of the Japanese invasion, the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army ("KNIL") numbered about 85,000 troops while the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force ("ML-KNIL") had 389 planes at its disposal. Nevertheless, despite these efforts, in the three ...
On March 7, 1942, just before the fall of Java, Lieutenant Governor General Huib van Mook and 14 officials flew to Australia to establish a Dutch East Indies government to continue the fight. Van Mook was recalled to London, but on April 8 the Netherlands Indies Commission for Australia and New Zealand (NINDICOM) was established.
The Korps Marechaussee were lightly armed, each soldier carrying a carbine version of the Dutch Mannlicher rifle and a klewang, allowing them to move quickly through the jungle. The carbine was lightweight (three and a half kilo) and compact (95 cm long), ideal for the typically small-statured indigenous soldiers.