I Will Run Wild by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

Author:Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781472841322
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

CHAPTER TWELVE

INDIES FINALE

The Japanese South Seas offensive hit so fast it left the Allies reeling. Japanese forces invaded the Malay Peninsula on the war’s first day. Eight days later, on December 16, they struck northern Borneo, which outflanked the Americans on Luzon and set the stage for further advances. Four days later, on December 20, an invasion fleet landed troops at the port of Davao on the south coast of Mindanao, the major island at the southern end of the Philippine archipelago. On Christmas Day, Jolo Island, between Mindanao and Borneo, was occupied. Possession of these southern bases allowed movement of air units from the north to support further advances against the Indies.

Celebes was next, with Japanese forces landing on the northeast corner of the island on January 11. By January 24 they were able to land at Makassar, completing their conquest of the island and giving them control of the vital Makassar Straits. Native troops that had defended a bridge into the city and surrendered were forced to remove their puttees. Japanese soldiers then used the puttees to tie the surrendered troops together in groups of three and four; they were then thrown from the bridge to drown. The event was one of many Japanese atrocities committed during the South Seas campaign that would lead to the Pacific War becoming a fight with no quarter asked or given by either side.

With the conquest of Malaya well in hand and the American forces on Luzon retreating to the Bataan Peninsula, the Japanese were able to turn toward the Netherlands East Indies earlier than originally planned. The battle for the Indies began when the Japanese 35th Infantry Brigade, led by Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi, landed at Miri, Sarawak, in British Borneo on December 16, 1941. Seizing the oilfields of Borneo was the primary Japanese goal of the South Seas campaign. The four northern territories – Sarawak, Brunei, the island of Labuan, and British North Borneo – were administered by Britain, while the remainder of the island was part of the Netherlands East Indies. The 2nd Battalion of the 15th Punjab Regiment, stationed in Kuching, was the only Allied infantry unit on the island. The Allied forces in both parts of Borneo were no match for the invaders. Governor Charles Robert Smith surrendered British North Borneo the morning of January 19, 1942.

In mid-January, the three sentai of the JAAF 5th Air Corps left Malaya and returned to Thailand to reinforce the Burma campaign, while the 3rd Air Corps turned its attention to the Netherlands East Indies. With the capture of Tarakan and Manado, the last week of January 1942 saw the Japanese forces ready to strike hard. Rather than wait for the fall of Singapore, the Japanese took aim at Sumatra.

Sumatra itself was little developed, being still covered in a thick triple-canopy rainforest. At Palembang, the Sumatran capital, there were two airfields that had been surveyed in mid-December and found acceptable for use by bombers. “P1” was a civilian airfield with a concrete runway, but no way to disperse aircraft on the field.

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