Battle of Tarakan (1942)

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The Battle of Tarakan took place in January 1942 and was the first stage in the Empire of Japan's conquest of the Netherlands East Indies.

Japanese forces landed on the east coast of Tarakan at midnight on 11 January 1942. After mounting a brief, but fierce resistance, the Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger (Royal Netherlands East Indies Army, or KNIL) garrison surrendered on the morning of January 12. All prisoners of war were executed by the Japanese in retaliation for the destruction of the oil installations; a feat that was repeated later in Balikpapan.

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

Battle of Tarakan

Part of World War II

Date	11 January 1942
Location	Tarakan Island, Netherlands East Indies
Result	Decisive Japanese Victory

Combatants

Empire of Japan

Kingdom of the Netherlands

Commanders

Major General Shizuo Sakaguchi

Lieutenant Colonel S. de Waal

Strength

Over 6,600

Over 1,300

Casualties

255 killed

All killed in battle or executed after surrendering

1 Order of battle
- 1.1 Ground forces
  - 1.1.1 Japanese Units
  - 1.1.2 Dutch Units
2 References

[edit] Order of battle

[edit] Ground forces

[edit] 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

[edit] Dutch Units

Tarakan Local Command

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