A hissing sound - it must be the sounds of spurting blood, spurting
from the arteries: the body falls forward. It is amazing - he has
killed him with one stroke...
The
execution of unknown Allied Air Force
Officer
Tjiater, Java
Island, March 6th 1942
Pieter Benjamin de Lizer was a soldier in the 5th KNIL
Battalion. When the Japanese invaded Java on March 1st 1942, the
5th Battalion was transported to the Bandung area, in an effort to
try to stop the Japanese advance.
De Lizer: " We arrived at Tjiater after hours of marching on
March 5th. We were supposed to stop the Japanese advance here, but
there was no real defensive line. No bunkers nor strongholds, just
some small foxholes. The next morning I was ordered to get some
food and coffee for my comrades. Suddenly the Japs started shooting
at us. I saw the first casualties. I ran to my foxhole and prepared
myself for combat. I had about 100 rounds for my rifle and a
handgrenade. We started shooting at the direction where the enemy
fire came from. In the beginning we were brave enough to jell
"Tojo, klojo!" (Tojo, asshole) but that stopped when Japanese
aircraft began strafing our position. More dead and wounded
comrades. After a few hours I saw the Japanese infantry heading
directly towards our position. I managed to hit a couple of them
and when they were near enough I threw my grenade. There were
simply too many of them and they overwhelmed our position. Fierce
man-to-man fighting was going on. When we saw one of our men, after
he surrendered, being beaten by the Japs the fighting became even
more brutal. But the end was near and at a certain moment, one of
the Nips jumped right on top of me and knocked me out with his
rifle. ".
Our hands were tied with our own leather belts. 72 of us were
taken prisoner; the rest was dead or managed to escape. The Japs
stole our watches and rings and those who protested were beaten. We
were given a cigarette as some sort of compensation. Than the Japs
took us about 500 meters up the hill. We were ordered to take off
our puttees and with these they tied us up three-by-three. I was
tied up with Koll and Frederiks. We wondered what was going to
happen with us but when the Japs positioned two machineguns in
front of us, it all became clear. Some of us started praying,
others just jelled. Strangely enough, I was completely calm; no
fear at all. It was just like someone was protecting me. When the
machineguns started firing, I fell to the ground with Koll and
Frederiks landing on top of me. I could feel that I was hit but
still alive. When the shooting stopped I could hear the Japanese
searching for survivors. When they found one, they killed him with
their bajonets. The footsteps were now very close but they must
have thought that I was dead. Only after a few hours, when I was
completely sure that they had gone, I stood up. Frederiks was dead
but Koll was also still alive. He managed to free himself with his
teeth and than freed me. I was hit four times; two bullets hit my
leg, one my shoulder and one got stuck in my lung. When we looked
around us we were shocked by the terrible sight; these bloody human
remains once were our comrades. We couldn't stand it much longer
and fled
Pieter Benjamin de Lizer managed to avoid the Japanese for days,
until he finally reached Bandung on March 12th 1942. 72 POW's were
excecuted at Tjiater of whom only three survived. The main cause
for this massacre could be the fierce resistance offered by the 5th
Battalion, which delayed the Japanese advance for several hours.
All victims were buried at Bandung cemetery.
· Tragedy at
Maos, Java Island, the night of March 6-7 1942
Following the heavy bombing of shipping at Tjiltjap there was
now little hope of getting away by sea, so a considerable body
mostly of unarmed RAF and RAAF men (about 2.500), who had amassed
at Poerwerkerta, about 30 miles inland from the port, were now to
be moved westwards by rail. Their destination was Tasikmalaja
airfield, 50 miles south-east of Bandoeng.
By the evening of 6th two trains had arrived at Poerwerkerta,
each made up of a few carriages and a number of freight vans, the
first of which were carrying a load of high octane fuel and
aircraft spares. This train, under the command of Wing Commander
Ramsay Rae and packed with airmen, departed at about 19:00, heading
south to the junction with the main east-west line at Maos, a short
distance from the Serajoe river. The second train, with Wing
Commander N. Cave in charge, followed about two hours later but
soon caught up with the heavily laden, slow moving first train. At
least 600 airmen were packed on the two trains. At 22:15 p.m. when
seven miles north of the junction, near the trackside kampong at
Sampang, the first train was ambushed by advanced units of the 56th
Infantry Regiment, part of the Japanese force that had landed at
Kragan and had infiltrated the area. Attacking with mortars,
machine guns and hand grenades, they blew several of the metal
freight vans off the track, in one of which two airmen were killed
while a number of others were wounded. S.H. Adcock, formerly of 152
MU, recalled: " We had been travelling for quite a while and
started to cross an embankment - the doors of the wagons were open
to give some fresh air - then we ran into an ambush. A shell burst
in the freight van in front of ours, causing many casualties, and
the young airman talking to me in the doorway fell dead at my feet,
shot between the eyes. The driver and fireman jumped from the
engine and let the train go. The rear wagons were full of oil (sic)
and were blazing furiously. In one of the leading wagons was an
airman who, prior to the war, was a fireman on the LMS railway, and
when he saw the engine crew dive over the side, climbed along the
trunks to the engine and kept it going until it ran out of steam,
as it had been damaged ".
Meanwhile the second train, forced to stop by the wrecked vans,
also came under attack. The engine was hit, and there were further
casualties amongst the airmen in the crowded carriages and wagons.
Fl./Off. J. Fletcher-Cook was ordered to proceed towards Maos in an
endeavour to acquire a rail car in which the wounded could be
conveyed. One party of 74 under Flt./Lt. G. Carr, including a dozen
wounded, set off towards Sampang but ran into a Japanese patrol
just after midnight and were forced to surrender; five of the
wounded died. The Japanese did not press home their attack and
withdrew into the surrounding jungle indicating, perhaps, that only
a small force was involved. Groups of survivors made their way
southwards along the tracks towards Maos and after a march of two
to three miles arrived at a deserted trackside farmhouse, where the
men were assembled and were informed that not far away was a river
that had to be crossed. Seven of the more seriously wounded were
taken into some huts at the side of the track, were it was intended
they should remain, with two medical orderlies, until help arrived.
The five-span steel railway bridge which crossed the Serajoe river
at Kesogihan had a walkway to one side. The Dutch colonial troops,
whose duty it was to defend the bridge, had placed demolition
charges and had orders to blow the bridge at midnight, which was by
now rapidly approaching. Adcock continued: " When I and my
close friends reached the second span from the far end of the
bridge, the bridge blew-up, the centre spans going down into the
river causing a large number of casualties ".
The tragic sequel was that the wounded airmen, lying in the huts
on the other side, could not be evacuated in time. Corporal Bob
"Butch" Finning of 84th RAF Squadron was one of the wounded: "
There was a lot of blood around and fellows were moaning and
some were in a very bad way and dying. We lay there for quite a
time, then, as it began to get dark, I heard screams and yells from
the shed next door. The Nips burst into our shed and began to
bayonet the men on the floor. I knew it was curtains for me. I
wriggled close to the poor bastard nearest me and lay on my side to
take the thrusts on my arse and thighs. The screams from our blokes
were terrible, but the Japs were as bad every time they lunged with
their rifles. When they reached me I pretended I'd snuffed it!
".
Finning was bayoneted several times but miraculously sustained
no fatal injuries; he continued: " The light was fading inside
the godown, thank Christ, and I managed to pull myself among a pile
of corpses. I could still hear other Japs next door, so lay on my
wounded side so they could have a go at the other. Three or four of
them came in and began to thrust at the people on the floor. I took
another few jabs. I thought my time was up ". By the time the
Japanese patrol departed, Finning had suffered 14 wounds but
somehow was still alive. When he thought it was safe, he dragged
himself to a window and managed to tumble out and staggered off
into the bush. He passed out and when he regained consciousness it
was light. Although in great pain from his many wounds and numerous
insect bites, he was able to force himself further away from the
scene of carnage, until he came to a river. This he managed to
swim, although by now very weak from loss of blood, and lay
exhausted on the bank; suddenly he became aware of half a dozen
natives watching him. They dragged him to their kampong: " They
jabbered around me, then decided to finish off what the Nips had
started. They tied me up like a trussed chicken and put a rope
round my neck to hang me. By that time I didn't care. They slung
the end of the rope over the fork in a tree and hoisted me off the
ground; I kept falling back down because I was heavy and they
hadn't quite got the technique of doing the job. This time I was
quite convinced I'd had my chips. They got me off the ground for
about the forth time, my tongue was out and I was turning black and
everything was spinning. Then I heard a car engine and they dropped
me again. There was a loud yell and I heard them scatter and I
vaguely made out a strange-looking bloke waving a bloody great
sword around him and I made up my mind that I was going to be
beheaded instead of hung ".
This Japanese officer was however his saviour. He had already
picked up two other wounded airmen and now he cut Finning lose and
put him in the car. All three were driven to a local POW camp full
of Dutch prisoners. Finning eventually recovered. There was only
one other survivor of this massacre, another RAF corporal, who had
managed to escape unobserved from the hut before the killing
reached him.
· Kalidjati
Airfield, Java Island, March 1942
Large number of British RAF ground personnel was slaughtered at
the Kalidjati Airfield. British forces at Kalidjati used a hospital
at Soebang run by P & T. Landen Plantations and manned by Dutch
and British civilian staff. When Soebang was occupied the staff and
patients were put to death, in some cases, days later. Australian
war crime teams were responsible for investigating the events at
Kalidjati after the war. They amassed a file but had little success
in collecting direct evidence linking crimes to individuals
concerned. This file was later passed onto the Dutch and no further
action was taken. No any further details available.
· Samarinda,
Borneo Island, March 1942
On March 9th, 1942, near Samarinda (exact place is unknown) the
commander of the secret airfield Samarinda II learned of the
capitulation of the KNIL Army, and decided to surrender his
detachment to the Japanese. For that purpose, he abandoned the
airfield and took his men to Samarinda, but about 15 soldiers
refused and went upstream the Mahakam River. The Japanese soon
discovered them and 13 of them were immediately shot, but 2 Dutch
soldiers managed to stay with the natives until April 1943, when
they were betrayed and handed over to the Japanese. They
survived.
· Longiram,
Borneo Island, 1942
The government representative of Longiram followed a sideriver
of the Mahakam with several KNIL soldiers. He was forced in mid
1942 to seek refuge with the Dajak natives. These surrendered them
to the Japanese. All were executed (exact place is unknown).
· Long Nawang,
Borneo Island, August 1942
In August 1942 the Japanese soldiers executed a large number of
refugees in this Kampong, including all crew-members from a Glenn
Martin bomber and three crew-members from Dornier X-34. In early
1942 was a Dutch bomber Glenn Martin shot down by Japanese Zeros
near Miri, British North Borneo. The plane commander,
Luitenant-Vlieger-Waarnemer Groeneveld (Lieutenant) was able to
find the rest of his crew after they bailed out of the plane. They
were now in the neighbourhood of Miri (British-Borneo) and decided
to try to avoid the Japanese, who had just landed there. Together
with a number of British civilians they reached Long Nawang on
February 3rd. At about the same date Luitenant-ter-Zee 3e klasse A.
Baarschers from the Dornier flying-boat X-34, together with two of
his crewmembers, reached Long Nawang. The X-34 had made an
emergency landing on December 16th, while it was heading for the
Japanese invasion fleet near Miri. In the next months Long Nawang
became some sort of "safe-haven" for all sorts of refugees,
military and civilian, trying to escape the Japanese invaders. On
February 17 or 18 landed the Japanese troops at Boelongan. Several
KNIL soldiers died, but others managed to reach the outpost Long
Nawang after a journey of weeks. They found American and British
refugees there, and with the soldiers, there were probably about 90
white people and about 35 natives. In April 1942 the Japanese
heared from native Dajaks that there still where KNIL soldiers at
Long Berang and Long Nawang. The Japanese commander demanded their
capitulation. The refugees at Long Berang did so, and they
surrendered to the Japanese at Malinau at the end of April, but the
ones at Long Nawang stayed there. On August 20th, 1942, was Long
Nawang taken by surprise by a Japanese company. On August 27th of
that month almost all white military refugees and one Ambonese
soldier were executed, and one month later also all women and
children. Among executed POWs were also:
- Luitenant-vlieger-waarnemer Groeneveld (pilot)
- Brigadier-leerling-monteur Haacke (gunner)
- Sergeant-bommenrichter Gobus (bombardier)
- Brigadier-luchtvaart-telegrafist Prinssen
(wireless-operator)
- Luitenant ter Zee 3e klasse A. Baarschers.
· Koetaradja,
Sumatra Island, March 1942
In early March 1942 occured in Koetaradja a massacre of European
inhabitants by natives from Atjeh province. About 20 KNIL and
former KNIL soldiers were murdered, along with a number of
Europeans. The natives entered Koetaradja on March 12, the date
when the Japanese forces landed on the western part of the island.
They started looting and destroying ("rampok" in Indonesian). Other
KNIL forces had by that time already left the city. Other Europeans
survived because suddenly the leader of the Atjeh rebellion, Nja
Arif - "Teukoe", appeared and with the help of the Japanese,
managed to prevent further atrocities.
· Koetaradja II,
Sumatra Island, March 1942
When the KNIL military detachment left Koetaradja on March 12,
there were still some Ambonese and Menadonese KNIL soldiers present
in the town. They were mainly cooks, hospital units, some patients
and the guards of the station (probably a train station).
Altogether they numbered about 50 men. They were waiting at the
station for a train, when they were surrounded by Atjeh natives who
forced them to give up their weapons. The Japanese arrested them
and locked them up in the prison. Other soldiers also joined them,
among them was some hospital personnel and a KNIL Lieutenant from
Sabang. The prisoners, about 60 of them, were given nothing to eat
or drink, and all were interrogated seperately. The former KNIL
soldiers were released, but the others (56 men) were the victim of
the Japanese revenge, which originated in the fact that the
airfield of Koetaradja had been damaged before KNIL troops left the
city. The men (8 Europeans and 48 Ambonese and Menadonese) were
shackled on March 15 and loaded onto a Chinese fishing vessel. They
were shot at sea and their bodies thrown in the water.
· Middle Sumatra
Island, March 1942
KNIL Lieutenant Van Zanten assembled a group near Takingeun. He
had with him a European Sergeant and about 70 native soldiers. In
late 1942, the Japanese got wind of the group. They arrested and
mistreated 14 ex-KNIL soldiers while they were working in late
November on a teafield, and the Japanese tried to capture Van
Zanten's camp two days later. His group became smaller. In February
1943, the only European Sergeant with two native MP's were capured,
and on March 10, almost a year after he started his journey, Van
Zanten himself was captured with five native MP's. They walked into
an ambush by native policemen. They were mistreated by the Japanese
soldiers. Van Zanten was offered that in order to spare his life,
he had to infiltrate the internment camp for POW's in Medan. He
refused to do that, and was subsequently sentenced to death by a
Japanese court-martial in Fort De Kock. He was executed on October
25, 1943. His Sergeant had been killed some two months earlier.
· Pematang
Siantar, Sumatra Island, 1942
Not far from the town of Pematang Siantar (where five women were
raped) a group of about 25 Stadswacht soldiers (city guardsmen)
were shot by the Japanese, probably because several bridges had
been destroyed in the vicinity. Two KNIL officers who were also
arrested lost their heads.
· Toba Lake,
Sumatra Island, March 1942
On March 14, 1942, not far from the Toba Lake, 25 KNIL soldiers
(a MG platoon and members of the Stadswacht and Landwacht) were
executed by the Japanese soldiers.
· Bireuen,
Sumatra Island, March 1942
On March 24, 1942, 27 native KNIL soldiers were allowed by Major
Palmer van den Broek, after his capitulation, to disperse and seek
refuge. In Bireuen, they were captured by natives who turned them
over to a Japanese officer, who whipped all prisoners in the face
with a belt. He released five. The other 22 prisoners were told to
be shot because a bridge enroute to Takingeun had been destroyed.
They were brought to the bridge, where four of them managed to
escape by jumping in the water. The other 18 prisoners were
shot.
· Simaloer
Island, Sumatra Island, 1942
On the island of Simaloer, off the coast of Sumatra, an unknown
number of British and Dutch prisoners were executed and the same
happened not far from Sibolga with two Dutchmen and six British
prisoners. Their bodies were later found on the island Nias off the
Sumatra coast.
· The freighter
"Langkoeas" massacre, west of Bawean Island,
1942
The freighter Langkoeas (7395 gross weight), a former
German merchant ship "Stassfurt", captured in May 1940,
had departed Soerabaja on January 1 for the Middle East, when in
the evening of January 2nd, a torpedo struck the ship in the
engineroom, immediately killing the 12 on watch. The crew (24
Dutch, 55 Chinese, 12 Java-natives) immediately began abandoning
ship, as the Langkoeas started to founder. Some whaleboats
had made it safely to sea, but the 4th Engineer J. De Mul (one of
the survivors) saw with horror how suddenly the motor boat under
Captain J. Kreumer was machine-gunned by an approaching ship. The
motor boat was already towing one of the non-engined boats, and De
Mul watched as one sailor after the other perished by machine-gun
fire. Then the ship started to fire on the boat with De Mul, one of
the men near him was hit in the chest and died. De Mul immediately
jumped overboard, and grabbed the depthrudder of the submarine (the
ship was a submarine as it turned out), after which he was grabbed
by Japanese sailors and brought on deck. There, he saw a Chinese
and a Javanese standing near the conning tower. He was brought to
the captain, which interrogated him, but De Mul told him nothing of
value. Then the captain said something like "you go home" and he
was thrown overboard, followed by the Javanese and Chinese. The
Langkoeas had sunk, and the three survivors tried to stay
together. However, the sea was rough, and De Mul lost sight of the
other two after a few hours. In the evening, he had the luck to
find a heavily damaged raft, which he clinged to. He managed to
climb onto it after catching his breath. Later, he saw the
unconscious Chinese drifting by and managed to bring him aboard. An
hour later, he also found the Javanese. The men spent some four or
five days under the intense sun, without drinkingwater and food.
Finally, the raft washed ashore on Bawean, an island in the Java
Sea. There, they were found by a fisherman. They were later picked
up by a Dutch flying boat Catalina and brought to Soerabaja, where
they told their story. A crew of 88 men had perished, and post war
analysis showed the Japanese submarine I-58 under the
command of Commander Kitamura.
· The tanker
"Augustina" massacre, Western Java Sea, 1942
The tanker Augustina (3110 tons) of the Nederlandsch
Indische Tankstoomboot Mij. left Batavia (Tandjong Priok) on
February 27, trying to break out through Sunda Strait enroute to
Australia. The ship was under command of Captain A.J. Moerman, who
had received orders to scuttle the ship when it was in danger of
being captured. In the afternoon of March 1, the tanker was forced
to stop after a Japanese destroyer fired a few rounds, after which
the captain immediately ordered to prepare for scuttling. The
seavalves were opened and large amounts of water began to enter the
engine room and tanks. The crew then abandoned ship and went into
the 2 lifeboats, which were then ordered to come alongside the
destroyer. The captain and first engineer were ordered aboard and
before they were questioned, they were sprayed with a
desinfectionvapor! They returned soon afer, telling the others they
were to be brought back to the tanker to prevent its loss. The
whaleboats were taken under tow by the destroyer. The captain and
first engineer soon returned from the stricken tanker, but they had
been unable to close all the vents. The destroyer then signalled
the lifeboats could row away, but soon after, fire was opened on
them by a machine-gun and tommyguns. The boat with the captain and
first engineer was driven back to the destroyer, where a Japanese
sailor jumped aboard and started killing its passengers. Many of
the crew had jumped over-board, and one of them, the 3rd Engineer
L. Meyer dove under and swam away. When he returned to the surface,
he was immediately fired upon. Meyer later saw the destroyer sail
away, but no whaleboats or other survivors. As the tanker was still
afloat, he decided to returned to the ship and find some clothes
(he was completely naked). He found an undamged boat and entered
it, drifting away from the tanker. Then, in the night of March 3
and 4, he was picked up by another destroyer. He told the captain
that he had remained aboard after the tanker was abandoned, and
that he had been ill in bed. He heard water pooring in, and then
also abandoned ship. His story was believed, and he was brought to
Makassar on March 7, where he remained until October 15. He was
then brought to Japan, to POW Camp Fukuoka No. 2. He was liberated
on September 12, 1945, and he could prepare a statement about the
loss of Augustina some three weeks later, in Manila,
Philippines. A crew of 9 officers and 30 Chinese had been killed in
this disaster, but two other Chinese apparently made it to shore.
The name of the destroyer is unknown, and the same goes for the
captain's name.
Note
Please take notice that his overview is probably by far not
complete. This is about all what could we find at this moment about
the massacres in the Dutch East Indies 1941-1942. Please let me
know by e-mail if you know for any
massacres, which happened during this campaign and are not named on
this list.
