Battle of Tarakan (1942)

Battle of Tarakan
Part of World War II
Tarakan island
Date January 11–12, 1942 Location Tarakan Island, northeastern Borneo island Result Decisive Japanese Victory
Belligerents
Empire of Japan	Netherlands
Commanders and leaders
Shizuo Sakaguchi Kyohei Yamamoto (Right Wing Unit)	Simon de Waal
Strength
Over 6,600	Over 1,300
Casualties and losses
255 killed	Nearly all killed in battle or executed after surrendering

The Battle of Tarakan took place on January 11–12, 1942. Even though Tarakan was only a small marshy island at northeastern Borneo in the Netherlands East Indies, but the 700 oil wells, oil refinery and airfield on it, was one of the main objectives for the Empire of Japan in the Pacific War. It is interesting that one day earlier, Japan just declared war on the Kingdom of the Netherlands on January 10, 1942; although the combat had taken place in the surrounding area about one month and Queen Wilhelmina from the Kingdom of Netherlands had declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941.

The Japanese landing

On January 10, 1942 a Dutch Dornier Do 24K flying boat spotted a coming Japanese invasion fleet and knowing the chance to win was small, the Dutch Commander ordered the destruction of all oil fields on the island.

The Japanese forces of the Right Wing Unit from the Sakaguchi Detachment landed on the east coast of Tarakan at midnight on January 11, 1942, followed by the 2nd Kure Special Naval Landing Force. After mounting a brief, but fierce resistance, the Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger (Royal Netherlands East Indies Army, or KNIL) garrison was outnumbered and surrendered in the morning of January 12. All prisoners of war were executed by the Japanese in retaliation for the destruction of the oil installations; an action that was repeated later in Balikpapan.

During the night of January 11, before Japan completed the blockade of Tarakan, the Dutch submarine K-X, the patrol boat P-1 and the civilian motor launch Aida slipped away. The Dutch minelayer Prins van Oranje tried to escape as well but was sunk by the Japanese destroyer Yamakaze (Lt. Cdr Shuichi Hamanaka) and the patrol boat P-38.

Tarakan remained under Japanese occupation until May 1945 when it was liberated by Australian troops in the 1945 Battle of Tarakan.

Order of battle

Ground forces

Japanese Units

Sakaguchi Detachment

• HQ 56th Regimental Group
• Tankette Company
  • 146th Infantry Regiment (+)
    • I Battalion, 56th Field Artillery Regiment
    • 1 Company, 56th Engineer Regiment
    • 2 Company, 56th Transport Regiment
• Infantry elements, 2nd Kure Special Naval Landing Force
• 2nd Oilfield Construction Unit
• 5th Airfield Construction Unit

Dutch Units

Tarakan Garrison

• Tarakan Garrison Battalion (7th KNIL Infantry Battalion)
  • Machinegun company
  • Motorised detachment with 7 armoured cars
• 3 Coastal Artillery Regiment(?)
  • Two mobile coastal artillery batteries (total of 3 × 75 mm guns and 2 × 70 mm guns)
  • Five fixed coastal artillery batteries (total of 2 × 120 mm guns, 10 × 75 mm guns and 3 × 37 mm guns)
  • Two AA batteries (total of 4 × 40 mm guns and 4 × 20 mm guns)
  • Four AA machine gun platoons (each with 3 × 12.7 mm HMG)
• Two engineer platoons
• Mobile Auxiliary First Aid Platoon

References

Books

• Womack, Tom (2006), "The Dutch Naval Air Force Against Japan – The Defense of the Netherlands East Indies, 1941–1942", McFarland & Company, Inc., ISBN 0-7864-2365-X

Web

• L, Klemen (1999-2000). "Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941-1942". http://www.dutcheastindies.webs.com/index.html. 
• Morison, Eliot Samuel (2001), "The Rising Sun in the Pacific 1931 – April 1942", University of Illinois Press, Urbana.
• Niehorster, Dr. Leo, World War II Armed Forces Orders of Battle and Organizations
• The Kingdom of The Netherlands declares war with Japan