Battle of Balikpapan (1942)
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| Battle of Balikpapan | |||||||
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| Part of World War II, Pacific War | |||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||
 Netherlands United States |
 Empire of Japan |
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| Commanders | |||||||
| Lieutenant Colonel C. van den Hoogenband (ground forces) Rear Admiral William A. Glassford (US Navy) Commander Paul H. Talbot(US Navy) |
Major General Shizuo Sakaguchi Rear Admiral Shoji Nishimura |
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| Strength | |||||||
| 1,100 infantry 4 destroyers |
5,500 infantry 1,100 naval infantry 15 destroyers |
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| Casualties | |||||||
| Most POWs were executed after surrendering | Japan: ? | ||||||
| Pacific campaigns 1941-42 |
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| Pearl Harbor – Thailand – Malaya – Wake – Hong Kong – Philippines – Dutch East Indies – New Guinea – Singapore – Australia – Indian Ocean – Doolittle Raid – Solomons – Coral Sea – Midway |
| Netherlands East Indies campaign 1941-42 |
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| Borneo 1941-42 – Manado – Tarakan 1942 – Balikpapan 1942 – Ambon – Makassar Strait – Palembang – Badung Strait – Timor – Java Sea – Sunda Strait – Java |
This article concerns the naval and land battles of Balikpapan in 1942. For information on the 1945 landings by Australian forces in the same area, see Battle of Balikpapan (1945).
The Battle of Balikpapan took place on 23 January-24, 1942, off the major oil producing town and port of Balikpapan, on Borneo, in the Netherlands East Indies. After capturing oilfield at Tarakan in Battle of Tarakan (1942), the Japanese force under the command of Major General Shizuo Sakaguchi from Sakaguchi Detachment moved forward to Balikpapan with hope that the oilfields had not been destroyed.
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[edit] Defences in Balikpapan area
The Dutch army in Balikpapan nummbered approximately 1,100 troops, under the command of KNIL Lieutenant Colonel C. van den Hoogenband. The city itself was protected with coast, anti-aircraft and field batteries. The entrance of harbor was protected by a minefield laid by a minelayer ship Soemenep (Lt. T. Jellema).
On January 18, the Dutch commander instructed to destroy the oilfields in Balikpapan and started to evacuate staffs to Samarinda. However the destruction was not severe, the only serious damage was to tanks, pipes and special quays in the harbor area.
Since January 22, the Japanese fleet was sighted moving southern and the 24th formations of Dutch bombers attacked the convoy. Despite of bombing, on January 24, around 20:00 the Japanese unit had successfully landed on approximately three miles southeast of Balikpapan airfield. The assault unit landed without meeting enemy resistance and, by dawn, had occupied the airfield. The southward advance moved slowly as the bridges had been destroyed and the unit did not reach the northern outskirts of Balikpapan City until the night of the January 25. The Dutch garrison troops had been withdrawn to the interior of Borneo mainland and the Japanese entered the city without a fight.
After Balikpapan was occupied, a new infantry detachment led by Lt. Col. Kume was ordered to protect the oilfields. The main troops and fleet led by Sakaguchi moved southward to invade Banjarmasin in south Kalimantan, which is rich of oil, rubber, timber and coal. Banjarmasin would be built as a base to further invade Java.
Balikpapan remained under Japanese control until July 1945 when the Japanese unit was defeated by Australian troops in the Battle of Balikpapan (1945).
[edit] Dutch air and sea counter-attack
In the afternoon of 23rd, 9 Dutch Martin Model 166 (B-10) bombers attacked the Japanese convoy. The transport ship Tatsugami Maru was damaged and Nana Maru sank. Near Balikpapan, the Dutch submarine K-XVIII under Lt. Cdr. van Well Groneveld, attacked and sank the another transport Tsuruga Maru and reportedly damaged the patrol boat P-37 by midnight.
[edit] Attack from US Navy
While the Japanese invasion force was landing at Balikpapan, in the darkness of night on January 24 around 02:45, the Allied (ABDACOM) the 59th US Navy Destroyer Division under Rear Admiral William A. Glassford and Commander Paul H. Talbot attacked the Japanese navy escort led by Rear Admiral Shoji Nishimura for about 4 hours. The US Destroyer Division comprised of USS Paul Jones, USS Parrott, USS Pope and USS John D. Ford and attacked mainly the 12 transport ships, which were sitting ducks ashore. At least 3 transport ships (Kuretake Maru, Sumanoura Maru, Tatsukami Maru) and a patrol boat (P-37) were sunk from the torpedo attacks.
This action was the first involvement of US Navy in south east Asia since Battle of Manila Bay (1898). However most of torpedoes launched by the Allied destroyer missed the targest or did not explode. Because the landing had taken place around 21:30, the raid was rather late to stop the capture of Balikpapan.
[edit] Capture of Banjarmasin
The attack on Banjarmasin were done by concentrating on land force under Colonel Kyohei Yamamoto with sea force support under Captain Yoshibumi Okamoto from 146th infantry regiment. The land force started to move on January 30, 1942 while the sea force had sailed on January 27. Although the land force had to cross the dense jungle and faced tropical heat and rain, they quickly occupied small towns of Moera Oeja, Bongkang, Tandjoeng, Amoentai, Barabai, Kandangan and Rantau. The sea force moved only at night and launched surprise attack at Kotabaru in Laut island. After occupying Martapura airfield, on February 10, 1942, Banjarmasin was captured without fighting. The Dutch unit under command of Lieutenant Colonel H. T. Halkema had retreated to defend Kotawaringin airfield in central Kalimantan.
[edit] References
[edit] Books
- Costello, John (2002), "The Pacific War", Perennial - HarperCollins, ISBN 0-688-01620-0
[edit] Web
- L., Klemen, 1999-2000, The Netherlands East Indies 1941-42, "The capture of Balikpapan, January 1942" (http://www.geocities.com/dutcheastindies/balikpapan.html, the Geocities link can only be added by an established user)
- L., Klemen, 1999-2000, The Netherlands East Indies 1941-42, "The capture of Bandjermasin" (http://www.geocities.com/dutcheastindies/bandjermasin.html, the Geocities link can only be added by an established user)
- O'Hara, Vincent P. ,"Battle of Balikpapan January 24, 1942"
- Visser, Jan; Worth, Richard, Order of Battle - Battle of Balikpapan 1942
