Showing posts with label Indonesia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indonesia. Show all posts

Sunday, January 28, 2024

Monday, January 28, 1974. End of the Siege of Suez.

The Israeli siege of the Egyptian city of Suez ended at noon.  The IDF withdrew and the 20,000 encircled Egyptians were able to withdraw across the Suez Canal.

Suez.

Both Time and Newsweek's covers dealt with the Nixon tape. U.S. News & World Report's cover was on inflation.  

Sports Illustrated had a cheesecake photo, although it hadn't crossed over into pornography on the cover yet, for its swimsuit issue. Ann Simonton was the cover model, who was actually relatively covered.

Indonesian President Suharto took control of the country's internal security agency.

Bolivia was declared to be in a state of siege following a peasant uprising at Cochambamba.


Mohammed Ali and Joe Frazier fought for a second time in a non-title fight.  Ali won.

George Foreman was the heavyweight champion at the time.

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

March 29, 1942. The Hukbalahap Rebellion begins.

On this day in 1942 the Hukbalahap Rebellion, a Communist peasant rebellion, commenced in the Philippines.  The Huks, as they were called, conducted a guerilla war against the Japanese which lasted through the war and turned into a rebellion against the Philippine government which lasted until 1954.

The movement was supported by the US during the war, and opposed by it after the war.

It was interestingly put down after the war not only by military means, but by political reforms that co-opted the most pressing grievances of the Huks, leaving them essentially without a political base.

Stafford Cripps.

Stafford Cripps met with Mahatma Gandhi and presented British plans for a semi-independent India after World War Two.

Cripps was a left wing lawyer and a member of the Labour Party.  He'd been ambassador to the Soviet Union before it was attacked, during which time Cripps had warned Stalin that a German attack was inevitable.  Churchill had appointed him to the position due to Cripp's Marxist sympathies.  He became a member of the war cabinet during the war and his mission to India presented a plan of his own devising which met with support from nobody on either side of the issue.  After the war he was a figure in the Labour government and was one of those who approved of the sending of jet engines to the Soviet Union, something Stalin had dismissed as impossible due to being "foolish", which resulted in the design going into the early Mig 15s.

The Japanese won at Toungoo.

In a bizarre event, German internees managed to convince their native Indonesian guards to rise up in a rebellion against the Dutch on the island of Nias, and declared it to be an independent state.  This followed Japanese landings on other Indonesian islands. The Japanese would land on Nias in April and they removed all of the Europeans, save for a physician, from the island.

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Sunday, March 1, 1942. Disastrous Day for the Navy, Elanor Roosevelt in Cheyenne.

Elanor Roosevelt in the Panama Canal Zone during World War Two.

As we can see from our companion blog, Today In Wyoming's History, for this day March 1: 1942:
1942 Elanor Roosevelt visited Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Not a large event, in the overall context of things, but something memorable locally.

She was a political force in her own right, something that was well appreciated during her own time. Arguably politically to the left of her husband, the era guaranteed that her role would be largely behind the scenes, but it was as out in the open as the times would allow and then some.  Given her husband's role and his limited mobility, she took on roles that were really unique for a First Lady up until then, and frankly up until the present time.

In big, and disastrous, events:
Today in World War II History—March 1, 1942: In the Battle of Sunda Strait off Java, Japanese ships sink heavy cruiser USS Houston, light cruiser HMAS Perth, and Dutch destroyer Evertsen.
The Japanese also sank the HMS Exeter, the HMS Encounter and the USS Pope.  It was not a good day, although US ships sank five Japanese transports.

The USS Pecos was sunk by a Japanese dive bomber and the USS Edsall was sunk by surface fore from Japanese battleships.

The Navy, as her blog relates, had the first victory against a U-boat, that scored by a Hudson flying off of Newfoundland.

Saturday, February 19, 2022

Thursday, February 19, 1942. Commencement of Japanese Internment.

Today is remembered as a black mark on American history, and is now officially commemorated as the Japanese Internment Day of Remembrance.  It was the day in which President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, resulting in internment.

Today In Wyoming's History: February 191942 Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, authorizing the removal of any or all people from military areas "as deemed necessary or desirable."  This would lead to internment camps, including Heart Mountain near Cody.

 Map showing interment camps and other aspects of the exclusion of ethnic Japanese from the Pacific Coast during World War Two.

The text of the order read:

Executive Order No. 9066

The President

Executive Order

Authorizing the Secretary of War to Prescribe Military Areas

Whereas the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities as defined in Section 4, Act of April 20, 1918, 40 Stat. 533, as amended by the Act of November 30, 1940, 54 Stat. 1220, and the Act of August 21, 1941, 55 Stat. 655 (U.S.C., Title 50, Sec. 104);

Now, therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War, and the Military Commanders whom he may from time to time designate, whenever he or any designated Commander deems such action necessary or desirable, to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War or the appropriate Military Commander may impose in his discretion. The Secretary of War is hereby authorized to provide for residents of any such area who are excluded therefrom, such transportation, food, shelter, and other accommodations as may be necessary, in the judgment of the Secretary of War or the said Military Commander, and until other arrangements are made, to accomplish the purpose of this order. The designation of military areas in any region or locality shall supersede designations of prohibited and restricted areas by the Attorney General under the Proclamations of December 7 and 8, 1941, and shall supersede the responsibility and authority of the Attorney General under the said Proclamations in respect of such prohibited and restricted areas.

I hereby further authorize and direct the Secretary of War and the said Military Commanders to take such other steps as he or the appropriate Military Commander may deem advisable to enforce compliance with the restrictions applicable to each Military area here in above authorized to be designated, including the use of Federal troops and other Federal Agencies, with authority to accept assistance of state and local agencies.

I hereby further authorize and direct all Executive Departments, independent establishments and other Federal Agencies, to assist the Secretary of War or the said Military Commanders in carrying out this Executive Order, including the furnishing of medical aid, hospitalization, food, clothing, transportation, use of land, shelter, and other supplies, equipment, utilities, facilities, and services.

This order shall not be construed as modifying or limiting in any way the authority heretofore granted under Executive Order No. 8972, dated December 12, 1941, nor shall it be construed as limiting or modifying the duty and responsibility of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with respect to the investigation of alleged acts of sabotage or the duty and responsibility of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice under the Proclamations of December 7 and 8, 1941, prescribing regulations for the conduct and control of alien enemies, except as such duty and responsibility is superseded by the designation of military areas hereunder.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

The White House,

February 19, 1942.

While the choice of Heart Mountain in Park County was not one that Wyoming asked for, the event would prove to be a bit of a black mark on Wyoming's history as well.  Governor Lester Hunt, who did not come into office until 1943, would be vociferous in his statements regarding the internees and the legislature would take at least one act in regard to them, that being voting to deny them the right to vote in the state's elections.

On the same day, Darwin, Australia was bombed by the Japanese, inflicting heavy losses on facilities at the town. Twelve ships were sunk in the harbor, making the raid somewhat comparable to Pearl Harbor.


Like the attack at Pearl Harbor, the raid came in two stages and was a surprise attack, albeit on a nation already at war.  The Japanese aircraft were air and land based.  More bombs were used in the attack than had been used in the Pearl Harbor raid.  Australian defenses were relatively light and incapable of dealing with the attack. The resulting chaos resulted in a breakdown of civil authority, with looting taking place even by Australian troops in the town.  Many people would leave the city never to return, or only to return many years later.

The raid was the largest to occur against mainland Australia during the war and was an unqualified success.  The goal was to remove Darwin as a base for the Australians to counteract Japanese forces in Indonesia.

The Vichy government commenced a lengthy trial in Riom with the aims of showing that the preceding Third Republic had been responsible for France's defeat at the hand of the Germans in 1940.

In Winnipeg, Manitoba, the city staged If Day, a simulated German invasion.  The event was a huge success which boosted local bonds sales, which was the goal, enormously.

Wednesday, February 16, 2022

Monday, February 16, 1942. The Bangka Massacre and the Japanese New Order of Coexistence and Co-prosperity on Ethical Principles.

Nurses of the 2/13th.

Japanese soldiers murdered 22 Australian nurses and 60 Australian and British men on Bangka Island in Indonesia.  Most of the nurses in their captivity on the island, including the murdered ones, were raped.

The nurses were part of the 2/13th Australian General Hospital who had ended up on the island when a ship carrying them, and civilian men, women and children was sunk by Japanese aircraft.   They surrendered to the Japanese, who held the island.  One nurse and two men survived the massacre, but one of the men died soon thereafter.  They all later surrendered due to the impossibility of surviving on the island.

As with some other atrocities committed by the Japanese against the Australians, the Australian government worked to suppress some of the grimmer information following the war.  That the nurses were raped was not revealed until 2019.  Japanese authorities on the island following the war claimed to have no knowledge of the killings.  Japanese atrocities of this type were common.

On the same day, Hideke Tojo appeared in front of the Japanese Diet and proclaimed that the war aim a "new order of coexistence and co-prosperity on ethical principles in Greater East Asia."

Thursday, July 29, 2021

Teusday July 29, 1941. The Dutch Oil Embargo

On this day, the Dutch Government In Exile joined the United States and the United Kingdom and froze Japanese assets.

The impact of this on Japan was real, but not as great as sometimes suggested, nor was the "pressure" put on the Dutch as great as suggested.  The Netherlands were already at war with Germany and already an Allied power which was fully invested in a German defeat.  Aligning with the UK and the US was a foregone conclusion.

Japan actually had received 80% of it oil from the United States prior to the US embargo.  While the early focus of Japanese efforts would in fact be the Dutch East Indies, due to its oil supplies, that goal was to obtain a replacement source for oil, not to restore an existing primary source.  Of course, the Dutch embargo meant that Japan could not simply switch to the Dutch East Indies as a source.

Having said that, the Japanese were having success with occupied administrations, which was evidenced by their entering into a mutual defense treaty with Japan for the defense of Indochina, which was a practical matter already occupied by Japan.

It should be noted that this entire story has become somewhat distorted in recent years, with it commonly being claimed the embargoes "forced" Japan into war.  This isn't really directly correct, although it may be if given only a very short term analysis. 

The cause of the embargoes was Japan's intervention in Indochina.  US reaction to that, followed by the UK's and the Netherlands, was due to those nations being left with no other action at that time.  The US had already exhausted its diplomatic efforts in regard to Japan in protest of its actions in China.

The Japanese war in China itself was the reason for Japanese intervention in Indochina.  The Japanese may have been confused at the time of their intervention on what the US reaction would be, as early US signals concerning that were muddled, but the US had to react or had to acquiesce to the action. Acquiescence would have also acquiesced, effectively, to the French Indochinese colony passing to Japan and to the Japanese aggression in China.

On the Japanese in China, the US had consistently opposed that imperial effort.  It was really that action that led to the US countering of Japan economically.

Dutch cartoon from 1916 depicting Indonesia as its crown jewel.

It's sometimes been noted that Japan was simply acting like any other colonial power, but frankly this wasn't really true.  By the 1920s, when Japan really started becoming active in China, the colonial era was passing and China was a neighbor.  Without meaning to defend colonialism in any fashion, the era of colonizing immediate neighbors was long over and what little excuse remained for it was always focused on underdeveloped, if a person cares to look at it that way, regions of the globe.  In truth, the condition of the average Chinese citizen wasn't hugely different from the average Japanese citizen, and Japanese aggression was based to a very large degree on a combination of greed and racism.

By 1941 Japan had placed itself in a hopeless spiral towards war.  It couldn't leave Indochina and save face, and the US, which did not have a real colonial history, could not allow the aggression in Asia to go unnoticed.

The Dutch decision isn't without its long term ironies.  The Dutch were in fact cruel administrators in Indonesia and came to be hated.  They moreover fostered the development of a Chinese administrative class that came to the islands as immigrants and whom were favored by the Dutch over the native Indonesians.  Their record was so bad that the British did not allow the Dutch to return to power in Indonesia, and actually turned the post-war government over to politicians who had been Japanese collaborators. So somewhat ironically the ultimate Dutch invasion of Indonesia might be the one location where its propaganda for expansion accidentally came true.  More ironic yet, Indonesian oil never did become a significant oil replacement source for Japan, given the difficulties of actually importing it in wartime conditions.

Saturday, April 11, 2020

And now, Mt. Krakatoa is erupting. . .

or actually Anak Krakatau, which means, in the Indonesian language, the child of Krakatoa.  That latter volcano, of course, blew itself off the face of the earth in 1883, destroying half of the island that it had formed, and leaving a subsea caldera. That in turn depressed the temperature of the planet by .72F, darkened the skies and caused a year of spectacular sunsets and sunrises.  It also resulted in the direct deaths 36,417 people.

Ash plume from Anak Krakatau in 2010.

Anak Krakatau came up out of its caldera in 1927 in the the destructive process of rebuilding the island, making the distinction between Anak Krakatau and Krakatoa merely one of human perception.  The volcano's 2018 eruption produced a deadly tsunami that killed over 400 people.  No deaths have been reported this year, but the ash has ascended to 50,000 feet.