3. Anna (1939-1940)

Han Samethini Collection

It was during a gig in Surabaya, perhaps on such a starlit tropical evening as Frank described, that Han Samethini looked out onto the dance floor and glimpsed a flash of blond hair. A second, more attentive look detected a slender, graceful Eurasian girl dancing to the strains of his music. This was Anna Caroline Gunthardt. He fell in love with her, but she became the girlfriend of one of his band mates. That relationship ended unhappily and Han caught Anna on the rebound. [1]

The orphanage in Surabaya where Anna grew up (click to enlarge)

Photo taken in 1999 by Margie Samethini-Bellamy

Anna's early life is obscure. She was born in the East Java town of Lumajang on August 26, 1915. Her parents died in the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, leaving herself and three siblings to be raised in orphanages.[2] This harsh upbringing, so different from Han's youth of relative affluence and privilege, left its marks. Her green eyes never shone without a trace of sadness. Yet she shared his delight in melody and, when happy, she hummed or sang in a mellifluous soprano voice. She took ballet classes at Emma's dance school, performing well enough to be promoted to a teaching position.

Anna demonstrates the Battement Tendu Fondu Devant Cambre
Han Samethini Collection

Children's ballet performance put on by Emma's studio.

Possibly Anna was their teacher.
Han Samethini Collection

The shadows in the world lengthened during the young couple's courtship. Over the radio and in the papers came the bulletins: Hitler's speech on January 30, 1940, in the Berlin Sportpalast, declaring that Poland's destruction ended only the first phase of the conflict, and that the second might open with "a war of bombs"; the German slaughter of merchant ships in the Atlantic and the North Sea, over 1 million tons sunk by the end of March; and, on April 9, the German invasion of Denmark and Norway.

Frank Samethini saw no cause for alarm. Hadn't Germany respected Holland's neutrality in the last war? And though Japan was nearer to the Indies, she appeared none the more menacing for it. As far as he was concerned, 1940 would be a year like any other, albeit more busy than usual:

In the Dutch East Indies there is no mobilisation but the call to report for military drill comes time after time. I am hardly back in civvies before I have to put on my uniform again for duty at another depot. They say we have to be ready. For what? For the Japanese, they say. For the little fellows with spectacles, barbers, watchmakers, you know, them!

They must be joking! The Japanese of all people, they must be aware of the terrific naval power Britain packs in Singapore. It would be madness! [3]

Frank Samethini (circa 1940)

Frank Samethini Collection

Frank's outlook was particularly bright on the evening of May 9, the 18th birthday of his girlfriend, Elisabeth Boerman. The party held in her parents' home proved to be a memorable occasion. As the festivities continued well past midnight, the music and merry conversation gave way to a new sound:

Suddenly army trucks come rolling by, full of soldiers, and more come, the heavies with powerful, growling motors. Where are they going to at this time of night? Everybody gets on their feet. A glass smashes on the floor followed by a nervous, giggled apology. Her mother says it is nothing, it will bring luck. Then no more trucks come and the agitation dies. Returning to the lounge room I notice that the radio has ceased playing music. Instead I hear a single voice saying over and over again through the crackling of static, "The code word is Berlin!" [4]

In Europe the sun rose on May 10 to reveal 136 German divisions pouring into the Low Countries. Hitler's forces overwhelmed Holland in five days. Queen Wilhelmina took refuge in Britain, forming a government-in-exile and vowing to continue the fight. Apart from impounding a few German merchant vessels, the colonial government could do little to help.

The outlook in Western Europe is dark indeed, but the sun is still very much shining in the colonies, the only remaining strongholds. The tricolour proudly flying from the mast gives strength to the cry that "Holland shall rise again!" Yes, the four words grow into a dictum, an epigram stamped across postage stamps, flashed across the screen in the cinemas, engraved on buttons. In the meanwhile, the radio and tabloids warn, we must realise that the defence of our so profitable colonies rests now entirely in our own hands. Remember, they say, that we must be prepared to stand up and fight with everything we have. True, this "everything" is not much; alarmingly small indeed are our military forces. But isn't it the spirit that counts, the old Dutch fighting spirit when the call comes to go to war for Queen and Country? [5]

On June 6, Han reported once more for militia duty. Now that war with Japan had become a distinct possibility, the ground forces needed non-commissioned officers in quantity. Han was not conscripted into the regular army, but when he left on extended leave on June 30, he'd been promoted to sergeant.

Dutch morale rose that summer at the news of England's defiance to the aerial might of Germany's bomber force. "Parties for the benefit of the British war machine are the order of the day," recalled Frank. "Parties where lots of fun is to be had....The Battle of Britain, comfortably distant, is applauded and toasted upon."[6] Even in the East Indies the Spitfire, premier fighter of the Royal Air Force, became a symbol of resistance to Nazi aggression.[7] By the end of autumn it was clear that the Luftwaffe had failed to achieve air superiority over the British Isles, a necessary precondition for any German invasion. Britain stood as yet unconquered, a safe haven for the exiled Queen and her cabinet, and a base for the future liberation of Holland.

So it was with hope than Han Samethini and Anna Gunthardt wedded on Wedensday morning, December 11, 1940. They spent their honeymoon in the district of Sawiran, East Java. As they strolled through the highland coffee plantations, or picked their way among the rocks of the small stream behind their bungalow, the European war and its miseries must have seemed especially distant. One honeymoon photograph shows Han by the bungalow porch, pipe in hand, grinning from ear to ear like the happiest man alive.

The Wedding

Wedding Announcement
 Han Samethini Collection

The wedding party poses for a photo at 35 Brantasstraat
 Han Samethini Collection

The wedding party sets out for the Stadhuis (Town Hall) 
Han Samethini Collection

On the grounds of the Stadhuis 
Han Samethini Collection

Just married! Photo taken inside Town Hall following the civil ceremony.
The bridesmaid at right is Elisabeth Boerman, Frank Samethini's future wife.
Han Samethini Collection

The Bubutan Church (Boeboetankerk) in Surabaya.
The wedding service was held here, following the civil ceremony.

Photo by Nikola Drakulic
Han Samethini Collection


 The Honeymoon

Newlyweds in the garden by their bungalow in Sawiran, Java
Han Samethini Collection

The happiest man alive
Han Samethini Collection

Gathering fresh ingredients from the garden
Han Samethini Collection

Preparing a meal in the bungalow kitchen
Han Samethini Collection

Posing by a mountain stream
Han Samethini Collection

______________________

Footnotes

[1] Caught is perhaps too passive a term. Many years later, Han told his granddaughter, Mylene, that he marched into his rival's home and left with Anna in tow. This man must have been something of a rake, for Han declared in wonderment and disgust, "You would not believe the things I saw in that house!"

[2] The will stipulated that the orphans, Maggie, Godfried (called Piet), Anna, and Thomas, be kept together. Apparently none of their relatives was willing or able to take on four extra mouths to feed. The sisters grew up in the same orphanage (Protestant Meesjes Weeshuis on Boeboetan-weg in Surabaya), and it seems that Maggie died of tuberculosis at age 18. The boys were sent to a different institution. Anna lost track of her brothers during World War II. Through a member of the Gunthardt family in Holland, who telephoned me in January 2011, I have learned that Thomas died in Japanese captivity sometime between 1942 and 1945. Godfried survived the war, became an Indonesian citizen, and fathered ten children. So a flourishing branch of the Gunthardts remains on Java to this day.

Godfried Gunthardt and his family, circa early 1950s
Photo courtesy of Nancy and Thomas Gunthardt (niece and nephew of Anna Gunthardt)

[3] The Sky Looked Down, Chapter 4: The Darkening Sky[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Images of the Spitfire even graced collection boxes for a scrap aluminum drive in Tanjong Priok, Java. T.Y. Hobma-Glastra, Bandjr: Een Indische Kroniek 1935-1950 (1988 Uitgeverij Lunet, Naarden), p. 37, photo plate 58. (Click the thumbnail image below to enlarge)


GO TO NEXT CHAPTER

4. Waiting for War (January-December 1941)

Han Samethini Collection

The year 1941 began auspiciously for Han. He was a popular band leader, married to the woman he adored and pursuing the career he loved. The couple lived in the Brantasstraat house with Han's mother. This arrangement, though advantageous in some ways, must have been difficult for Anna. She was was on her mother-in-law's turf both domestically and in the dance school, dwelling in the shadow of Emma's often overbearing personality.

During this time Han assembled another jazz combo: a trio composed of himself, a string bass player, and a drummer. A local press clipping records one of their gigs, at a venue not quite as juvenile as the title suggests:

Han Samethini Collection

Performance for Children at "Culture"

Directed by Professor G. Sebok, students of the music, dance and gymnastics organization "Culture" gave a repeat performance of dances in a show aimed especially at children. Every seat in the cozy Culture hall was filled and the show was not only appreciated by the kids, but also by the adults, judging by the hearty applause following each number.

The young ladies S. van Milt and Th. Prottel performed again with great success and the small children shared in the acclaim, especially 4-year-old Antoinette Kruk, who danced a solo number. A special attraction was the "Protelli Puppet Show", directed by Miss Prottel, which entertained the audience after the dance recital and was received with enormous appreciation. This is a very unusual puppet show, with "live" heads on puppet bodies performing a simple but excellent program of songs in several languages. Afterwards the children joined in a ball organized just for them, followed by the adults making good use of their own dance floor to the music of the Samethini trio.

The Samethini Trio
(Han at the piano)
Han Samethini Collection

Anna Samethini relaxing at home in Surabaya
Han Samethini Collection

Meanwhile preparations for war accelerated. Charged with defending an archipelago spread over 735,000 square miles, the Royal Netherlands Indies Army (KNIL) could muster 85,000 regular and auxiliary troops. This was a total strength equivalent to only four U.S. Army divisions, and the KNIL's weaponry was mostly outdated. The navy and air force, despite a strong esprit de corps, were likewise deficient in material. The loss of Holland precluded any resupply or reinforcement from the mother country. In the virtual absence of a domestic armaments industry, the colonial government turned to foreign sources, purchasing light tanks from Britain and warplanes from America.

Dutch military and civil authorities exuded confidence despite these weaknesses. They had ruled over their Indonesian subjects for close to three hundred and fifty years, triumphing sooner or later over every native insurrection. The apparent security of the other Western empires - the British in India, Burma, and Malaya, the French in Indochina, and the (technically non-imperial) American position in the Philippines - seemed to establish beyond doubt that Asiatics were inferior to whites, especially in the arts of war. Modern, industrialized Japan might prove a tougher opponent, but to strike at the oil-rich Indies the Japanese would have to smash their way through an Anglo-American shield of fortresses, garrisons, and naval bases. To accomplish this, they must defeat the mighty U.S. Pacific Fleet, which would come sailing in wrath out of Pearl Harbor. Conventional wisdom dismissed any possibility of a Japanese victory.

Months go by. Months of speeches about our war effort, delivered by experts, well spoken gentlemen in dinner suits, one hand loosely tugging at the knot of their tie, emitting one gem of informative advice after another. Desk marshals, chuckling complacently, offer free detailed forecasts of what is going to happen to Japan should that country be so impertinent as to start anything. But they won't of course. The U.S.A. is seeing to that, no risk. [1]

"The U.S.A. is seeing to that, no risk."
Battleships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet

In May, Frank reported for NCO training in Bandung, West Java, the army's headquarters and chief arsenal:

May 1941 - First Battalion Infantry at Bandung, snap call-up for two months cadre training programme, consisting of hard drill, record time in stripping and assembling a machine gun, how to manipulate a bayonet that got stuck between ribs and how to salute an officer correctly. Within a month I am made corporal. [2]

Elisabeth was determined to accompany Frank on this trip. Her parents required marriage as the condition of this, to which the young couple happily agreed. They married in Bandung on June 4, the groom wearing his new corporal's uniform. The wedding was a bittersweet occasion, a purely civil ceremony arranged under hurried circumstances instead of the grand and beautiful celebration they had wished for. Of all their numerous family and friends, only Han and Anna were able to attend, serving as the legally required witnesses. [3]

Bandung, circa 1941
Photo Source: Zoo Leven Wij in Indie

Soldiers of the Royal Netherlands Indies Army (KNIL) on training maneuvers
Photo Source: ww2incolor.com

Cpl. Frank Samethini and his bride, Elisabeth Boerman.
June 4, 1941
Frank Samethini Collection

In July the Samethinis returned to Surabaya, where air raid drills had become a part of daily life. People did their best to ignore the signs of approaching calamity as they worked at their jobs, raised their children, and socialized with friends, savoring the routines of a normal world. Above all, they pursued their amusements with a defiant intensity:

Refusing to be worried by the ever worsening news, we welcome every excuse for going out to movies, parties or just some dancing. To the stirring beat of drums, percussion and bass we dance, lost to the world. Suddenly the sirens howl, waiters run to draw the curtains for another snap black-out practice in war-prepared Surabaya. Tactfully, the band leader switches to national songs and everybody is singing away about Holland's Flag, about Piet Hein who took the Spanish Silver Fleet and about the Girl By the Mill. People singing perhaps louder, smiling perhaps more than ever before....[4]

On August 29, Anna gave birth to a daughter, Margareth Jacqueline Samethini. A photo of newborn Margie taken at Darmo Hospital shows a proud Uncle Frank cradling her in his arms, doubtless looking forward to holding a daughter of his own. To celebrate, Han led his band in a live radio performance of the swing hit "Margie":

My little Margie,
I'm always thinking of you, Margie!
I'll tell the whole wide world I love you;
Don't forget your promise to me,
You know, I bought the home, the ring and everything,
So, my little Margie,
Margie, oh, you've been my inspiration,
Darling, you're the only one!
After all is said and done,
There is really only one,
Margie, Margie, it's you! [5]

Darmo Hospital, Surabaya

Birthplace of Margie Samethini

Birth Announcement
Han Samethini Collection

Frank holds his newborn niece
Han Samethini Collection

Posing with the new mother: Emma and Elisabeth at Anna's bedside

Han Samethini Collection

Home with the baby: Anna and Margie at the Brantasstraat house
Han Samethini Collection

Margie in the cradle
Han Samethini Collection

Fatherhood brought added responsibility and the need for better income that only a steady job could provide. For the sake of his family, Han set aside his musical career and obtained a clerical position at BPM, a leading Dutch petroleum company. The job demanded a relocation to Balikpapan, a major oil port and refining center on the east coast of Borneo. The Samethinis moved there in November. Their new residence was a house on stilts, practically constructed for a city prone to flash floods. In the shady space beneath it they placed rattan chairs and a table, to enjoy cool mornings and evenings outdoors.

Despite its economic and strategic importance, Balikpapan was a cultural backwater compared to cosmopolitan Surabaya. It was also something of a frontier town, the surrounding country being home to Dayak tribesmen, lethal experts with their blowguns and poisoned darts. Han later recalled that he felt a sense of adventure living in Borneo. Yet often his thoughts must have strayed back to Surabaya. In all probability he intended to return there once he'd established himself at BPM, and earned sufficient experience and seniority to be granted a transfer back home.

The house on stilts in Balikpapan, Borneo
Anna sits with 3-month-old Margie on the shaded "patio" beneath
Han Samethini Collection

Another view of the "patio" with its rattan furniture
Margie's baby stroller in the foreground Han Samethini Collection

Anna and Margie in Balikpapan
Photo taken November 17, 1941
Han Samethini Collection

Petroleum tank farm
Photo Source: Zoo Leven Wij in Indie

Balikpapan oil port by day...

...and by night
Photo Source: Zoo Leven Wij in Indie

Dayak warriors

Perhaps Han dreamed of Surabaya in the earliest hours of Monday, December 8. At 1:49 a.m., local time, the night air of Balikpapan would be filled with the buzzing and chirping of tropical insects. Across the Pacific, the time at Pearl Harbor was 7:49 a.m. on Sunday morning, December 7. Here the air reverberated with different sounds: bombs exploding on Kaneohe Naval Air Station, and a droning roar heralding the first wave of Japanese torpedo planes boring in towards Battleship Row.

__________________

Footnotes

[1] The Sky Looked Down. Chapter 4: The Darkening Sky.
[2] Ibid.

[3] Elisabeth writes that Han also was ordered to report for army training in May 1941, but his military record states he was still on extended leave at that time. Perhaps this call-up was accidentally omitted in the summary. It is equally likely that Han and Anna went to Bandung for the express purpose of being at the wedding. Given the brothers' strong mutual devotion, we may reasonably presume that Han would be there for Frank even if no other relatives could attend. The Sky Looked Down, Appendix A.

[4] The worsening news of July 1941 would have included reports of continuing German advances deep into Russia, the freezing of Japanese assets in Britain and the United States (July 25), and Japan's retaliatory freezing of U.S. assets the following day. The most ominous development was Japan's seizure of French Indochina, completed July 29. By this move the Japanese acquired forward air bases ideally situated to support attacks on Malaya and Singapore.

[5] Lyrics from the 1934 version of "Margie", by Cab Calloway.

GO TO NEXT CHAPTER

5. The Onslaught (December 1941 - March 1942)

7 December, 1941. Hundreds of Japanese airplanes attack in the early morning hours, without provocation or warning, the assembled fleet of the United States of America in Hawaii. The bulk of the naval power of a country not at war with Japan is sunk or crippled. The infamy of Pearl Harbour. The dreaded words are broadcast by radio to all of the Dutch East Indies. We are now also at war with Japan. [1]

- Frank Samethini, The Sky Looked Down


The storm had broken at last. With the news of war arrived the order for general mobilization. On December 8, 1941 Han Samethini was conscripted into the KNIL 6th Infantry Battalion in Balikpapan. This was the core unit of the town's 1,100 man garrison. BPM management hurriedly arranged evacuation of the employees' families to Java. Embracing Anna and Margie one last time before they departed, Han could only hope they would be safe at his mother's house in Surabaya. Certainly there was no better place to send them. Java was the redoubt, the home territory, to be stoutly defended even if all the other islands fell to the enemy.

From across the Far East came reports of Japanese attacks, Japanese advances, Japanese victories. Before dawn on December 8, they had bombed Singapore and landed troops in Malaya. At midday, Japanese warplanes struck the Philippines, smashing half of the American air force on the ground. Bangkok was taken on the 9th. On December 10, Japanese aircraft sank the HMS Repulse and Prince of Wales, eliminating the only Allied capital ships in the region. The invasion of Luzon commenced the same day. In both Malaya and the Philippines, Japan's tough, superbly trained armies quickly overcame forward defenses and swept south towards Singapore and Manila. Hong Kong surrendered on Christmas Day.

Japanese infantry storms ashore in the Natuna Islands, west of Borneo
Photo Source: The Dutch East Indies Campaign

The Japanese offensive in Malaya and the Dutch East Indies
(Click map to enlarge)

Map of Borneo with arrows indicating the locations of Tarakan, Samarinda, and Balikpapan
(Click map to enlarge)

Following these rapid thrusts against the British and the Americans, the Japanese launched their offensive against the Netherlands East Indies. The invasion of Borneo began on the night of December 16 with landings in British territory at Miri and Seria. Tarakan, a Dutch possession, fell on January 12 after a brief but vicious struggle, the Japanese killing most of the Dutch officers at close quarters with knives. Tarakan in hand, the Japanese commander, General Sakaguchi, prepared to move against his next objective, Balikpapan. He sent two captured Dutch officers as envoys to Lt. Colonel C. van den Hoogenband, the Balikpapan garrison commander. They delivered a written ultimatum demanding surrender. The message included a warning:

When the Balikpapan garrison destroys the natural resources and oil installations at Balikpapan and the surrounding country, all commanding officers, their Dutch soldiers and other Dutchmen related to them will be killed without exception. [2]

Undaunted, Hoogenband ordered the oil facilities to be put to the torch. Samethini took part in this operation, the resulting fires and explosions sending thick pillars of black smoke into the sky.

General Sakaguchi's ultimatum
(Click image to enlarge)

Smoke rises from burning oil facilities at Balikpapan (January 1942)Photo Source: Netherlands Institute for War Documentation

On January 22 the Balikpapan invasion force was sighted heading south through the Makassar Strait. The Dutch air force attacked the convoy continuously during daylight, but its antiquated Martin B-10 bombers inflicted little damage. In the predawn hours of the 24th the Japanese landed 5,500 soldiers in two separate groups. The bulk of Sakaguchi's 56th Regimental Group came ashore north of town. A detached battalion, the Surprise Attack Unit commanded by Major Kaneuchi, landed south of Balikpapan. Guided by Indonesian fifth columnists, the latter force proceeded to the village of Banubaru, cutting off the Dutch line of retreat. Having learned from hard experience at Tarakan, where Dutch coastal artillery had sunk two warships, the Japanese were avoiding the big guns defending Balikpapan.

In the event, the Dutch did not attempt to hold their positions. Hoogenband had received orders to withdraw inland after completing sabotage operations. He led an infantry column out of town, along the road to Banubaru. The Dutch ran into the advancing main body of Kaneuchi's Surprise Attack Unit, and the Japanese promptly gave battle. Han fought as part of a machine gun crew, feeding the ammunition belt into the weapon as the gunner mowed down the leading edge of the oncoming enemy. The KNIL troops were defeated and the Dutch force broke up. With no other alternatives but death or capture, Samethini joined a group of survivors heading north into the jungle towards their only hope of escape, the airfield at Samarinda. [3]

Offshore it had been a different story. At approximately 2000 hours (8 pm) on the 24th, American destroyers of DesDiv 59 attacked the invasion convoy, sinking four troop transports and an escort vessel. The next day two more transports were claimed, one by Dutch and American bombers, the other by a Dutch submarine. This was the largest naval action since the start of the Pacific War, but the brief Allied tactical victory could not change the outcome of events on land.

Over the next several days, Han and his companions hacked their way through a tangled wilderness teeming with malarial mosquitoes. Pursued and repeatedly attacked, they reached Samarinda and boarded a plane for Java. As the transport winged over Borneo's deep green forests and muddy brown rivers, Han might have gazed out the window and reflected on this land of opportunity that had so suddenly become a place of death and defeat. But he was not a man to dwell on regrets. Surely Anna and Margie were alive and waiting for him in Surabaya. That mattered more than anything. [4]

Back in Balikpapan, the Japanese rounded up civilians and the newly captured prisoners of war. They delayed their promised vengeance until February 20. On that day, they took their captives to the nearby sea shore:

Even eight patients from the local hospital were among the group of 78 victims marched to a beach near the old Klandasan Fortress. Two of the victims were then beheaded on the beach, the other 76 forced into the sea...all were shot one by one, their bodies left to drift with the tide. [5]

The only way out: Samarinda II airfield, Borneo
(Allied air recce photo taken in 1944)

Han arrived in Java at the end of January. Making his way to Surabaya, he searched at once for Anna and Margie. To his great worry, they were not at his mother's house and he was unable to find them. He then fell ill with malaria contracted during the forced march in Borneo. The disease evolved the dangerous complication called blackwater fever, and he was sent to a hospital. [6]

The report of Balikpapan's loss added to the litany of woes announced by the radio broadcasts on Java. Frank Samethini heard the news at Fort Menari, near Surabaya, where he'd been posted since the outbreak of the war:

Weeks pass without a shot being fired by us at the fort. But the radio tells of defeat, of bitter defeat by the ridiculed little men, the former smiling, bowing and hissing barbers, merchants of inferior goods made in Japan. There are also numerous reports of bravery from other sectors of our forces, but the closing message of the bulletin is always the same: battle lost, we retreat before the swarming ants....[7]

The day before Balikpapan's fall the Japanese overran Kendari on the island of Celebes, capturing the finest air base in the East Indies. This put Surabaya within range of enemy bombers. From Kendari, on February 3, the Japanese launched their first major air attacks on the city. Frank was on anti-aircraft observation duty that day:

I am reading a letter from Lisa while on duty in the listening post ("Darling, do you want it to be a boy or a girl?"), when suddenly a sound from a great distance enters the earphones. Growing louder and louder, it seems to come from every direction. No, wait, from high in the invisible vault above the cloud banks it comes! In a flash I recognise it with a sudden, racing heart: approaching aircraft. Can't be ours, we haven't got that many! My thumb sinks the alarm button while I reach for her letter fluttering to the floor. My field glasses show the Jap airplanes up as silver-winged, transparent dragonflies, three flights of five bombers in each squadron, moving slowly across the sky, too high for the black and white popping blossoms of our ack-ack. What little is left of our fighter planes whiningly soar upwards to meet their fate. The dragonflies move on southwards - southwards! But that is Surabaya! Fear clutches my throat. My God! Almost immediately I hear the dull boom of exploding bombs in a muffled staccato that pierces through my heart. Where, oh God, have they fallen? [8]

In Surabaya, Elisabeth was visiting a friend of her mother's. She recalls:

The sirens started with a horrible noise and we thought they were just practicing, but then the bombs started to fall and the aeroplanes were fighting in the air. We were so afraid and we all dived under the bed. After what seemed like hours, the all clear came. We were all dazed and didn't know what to think about it all. There was chaos everywhere.... [9]

A formation of Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" Japanese medium bombers.
This type flew missions against Surabaya from Kendari, Celebes.

"There was chaos everywhere...."
Japanese bombs fall on Surabaya (February 1942) 
Photo Source: The Dutch East Indies Campaign

Sydney Morning Herald (February 6, 1942)
National Library of Australia

Japan's fearsome Zero fighter planes inflicted heavy casualties on the Dutch and Allied interceptors, and the city was soon without effective air defense:

The following week a few more air raids are directed on fortifications outside Surabaya, but the scattered pillboxes and gun emplacements are perfectly camouflaged and no direct hit is suffered. The enemy aircraft, unchallenged since the last Dutch plane was downed, fly low over the dense swamp vegetation in an effort to draw fire and so pinpoint our gun positions. But the order by the fort commander is clear: repulse enemy landings on the beaches and nothing else. Do not shoot at aircraft, do not even shake a fist at them lest they spot you. Keep your head low and swear if you must, but all all events stay out of sight. What kind of war is this? [10]

By the middle of February, Singapore had surrendered, the bulk of the American army in the Philippines was bottled up on the Bataan Peninsula, and the Japanese had taken Palembang in southern Sumatra. The enemy was now on Java's doorstep. Getting 24 hours' leave, Frank entered Surabaya to find the town "swarming with British and Australian soldiers." There were also American air and artillery units on Java. These hastily collected reinforcements, belatedly shipped to the East Indies without adequate arms or supplies, were too little, too late.

On February 27, Frank looked out from Fort Menari to see a small fleet of Allied cruisers and destroyers - American, British, Dutch, and Australian - steaming through the Western Fairway:

...the binoculars pick up the sleek outlines in camouflage grey, stealing through the mist of dawn out into the open sea. Our gallant Navy sailing to their last engagement with the enemy, to bear the brunt of the great onslaught. [11]

In the Java Sea the ABDA fleet boldly attacked the more powerful Japanese warships escorting the East Java invasion force, hoping to break through and sink the troop transports. The Japanese, with their heavier guns and advanced "Long Lance" torpedoes, drove them off after inflicting severe losses. Among the vessels sunk was the Dutch flagship, the light cruiser De Ruyter. She went down with 345 of her crew, including Warrant Officer Frans Anton Boerman, Frank's father-in-law.

The invasion of Java
(Click map to enlarge)

On March 1 the Japanese landed at four points on the north coast of Java: Merak, Bantam Bay, Eretenwetan, and Kragan. The invaders encountered occasionally heavy resistance as they advanced across the island, but wherever the Allies stood, the enemy smashed them, drove them back, or simply outflanked them. The colonial government fled the capital, Batavia, for the relative safety of Bandung. On March 8 the Dutch leadership, demoralized and fearful of possible Japanese reprisals against civilians, ordered the military forces to surrender. [12]

Soldiers of the Japanese 2nd Division celebrate their landing at MerakPhoto Source: The Dutch East Indies Campaign

48th Division landing trucks at Kragan

Photo Source: The Dutch East Indies Campaign

The Japanese Army enters Surabaya

Photo Source: Netherlands Institute for War Documentation

Dutch soldiers surrender on Java

Photo Source: The Dutch East Indies Campaign

At Fort Menari, Frank Samethini and his comrades obeyed the command with heavy hearts:

In bitter silence they come, from the firing positions, from the big guns so perfectly camouflaged against air attack. They come to pile arms and ammunition in one big heap before the commander's bunker. This has been ordered by the Imperial Japanese Army, which will arrive to take over tomorrow. We all go to the canteen to drink, and drink. "Here's to victory, blast the Japs!" sounding hollow and desperate. [13]

Han heard the report of capitulation at a hospital in Malang. By this time he'd recovered sufficiently from the malaria to get back on his feet. He surrendered to the local Japanese occupation troops on March 9. In his own words, "I marched straight from the hospital to the POW camp." Reflecting on the lopsided struggle that was the NEI Campaign over 40 years later, he commented sadly, "We had rifles, some machine guns, some artillery, and a few tanks. They gave us a little bit of training. But we were not really an army. We were just a police force." [14]

After more than three centuries of proud mastery in the East Indies, the Dutch had been overthrown in just three months.

_____________________

Footnotes


[1] The Sky Looked Down, Chapter 4: The Darkening Sky.

[2] Quoted in "The Balikpapan Massacre", on the web site The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941-1942.

[3] Most of the information on events at Balikpapan is drawn drawn from "The Capture of Balikpapan", Ibid. In 1985 Samethini told me about his part in the infantry battle. He could not remember any details concerning the position of his unit, but I surmise that he was with Hoogenband's column because this was the only Dutch land force at Balikpapan that offered any organized resistance.

[4] Samethini recounted the desperate journey to Samarinda in a 1989 interview with Rosemarie Neithercutt in East London, South Africa. The resulting article, a short biographical piece, appeared in the Bee Gee Bulletin, the newsletter of the Berea Gardens retirement community: "[Han] and the others escaped through the jungle. They were under constant attack and had to cut their way through deep forests, but finally, arrived at a pre-prepared airport and were flown back to Java." The closeness of the pursuit suggests that Dayak tribesmen had joined in the hunt. Shortsightedly, the Dutch authorities had neglected to cultivate good relations with these fierce aboriginal hunters. The Japanese Army paid them to track and kill Dutch soldiers, a task the Dayaks performed with great skill and relish. (Click on the thumbnail image to read the article)

[5] George Duncan's Massacres and Atrocities of World War II.

[6] From a communique dated February 1, 1942 ( SD 5145), sent by ABDACOM Batavia to Army HQ Melbourne: "All Dutch aircraft removed from Samarinda but believe aerodrome not yet demolished." Time of receipt 1300 hours. Samethini's group might have reached the airfield as late as the morning of February 1, catching one of the last planes out (This and other ABDACOM communiques can be viewed at the Dutch National Archives web site Afscheid van Indie: Digitale documenten over de jaren 1940-1950). The absence of Anna and Margie is a mystery. After evacuation from Balikpapan they'd returned to Emma's house in Surabaya. Possibly they were caught away from home by a sudden Japanese air raid, and forced to take shelter in another part of the city. Unable to return to Brantasstraat until the all-clear was sounded, they might have missed meeting Han by hours, perhaps minutes.

[7] The Sky Looked Down, Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

[9] The Sky Looked Down, Appendix A: Lisa's Story.

[10] The Sky Looked Down, Chapter 4: The Darkening Sky.

[11] Ibid.

[12] To get some idea of the unpreparedness of the Dutch on Java, see: Interview with Felix Bakker, Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941-1942. Bakker fought the Japanese in East Java as a soldier in the Marine Battalion.[13] The Sky Looked Down, Chapter 4: The Darkening Sky.

[14] Recalled from a conversation with Han Samethini, May 1985. Bakker mentions the retreat of Dutch units from Surabaya to Malang on March 7. This is probably how Samethini arrived there. Like Bakker, he recalled some vague talk of guerilla warfare among his comrades, but said that nothing ever came of it.GO TO NEXT CHAPTER