Japan in the Dutch East Indies

The Dutch East Indies campaign of 1941–1942 was the conquest of the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) by forces from the Empire of Japan in the early days of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Forces from the Allies attempted unsuccessfully to defend the islands. Indonesia was targeted by the Japanese for its rich oil resources, which would become a vital asset during the war. The campaign and subsequent three and a half years of Japanese occupation were also major factors in the end of Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia.

Japanese soldiers in a captured oil field in the Dutch East

Indies (1942)

The Dutch-Indian army destroys naval installations in Surabaya, before the Japanese landed