Indonesia: H.J. Van Mook, Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies, with Rear Admiral K. Doorman,...

On 8 December, 1941, Netherlands declared war on Japan. On the night of 10-11 January, 1942, the Japanese attacked Menado in Sulawesi. At about the same moment they attacked Tarakan, a major oil extraction centre and port in the north east of Borneo. On 27 February, the Allied fleet was defeated in the Battle of the Java Sea. The following day, Japanese troops landed on four places along the northern coast of Java almost undisturbed. On 8 March, the Allied forces in Indonesia surrendered. The colonial army was consigned to detention camps and Indonesian soldiers were released. European civilians were interned once Japanese or Indonesian replacements could be found for senior and technical positions.