Dutch East Indies campaign

Belligerents

ABDA Command:
Netherlands

Dutch East Indies

United Kingdom

United States

Australia

New ZealandJapanCommanders and leadersArchibald Wavell
A. T. van Starkenborgh
Hein ter Poorten
Thomas C. Hart
Conrad Helfrich
Karel Doorman †
Richard Peirse
George BrettHisaichi Terauchi
Kiyotake Kawaguchi
Ibō Takahashi
Hitoshi Imamura
Shōji Nishimura
Jisaburō Ozawa
Takeo Takagi
Nobutake KondōStrength

148,000

100,000 local forces
40,000 Dutch regulars
8,000 Anglo-American regulars

33 warships
41 submarines
234 aircraft 52 warships
18 submarines
107,800 personnel
193 tanks & tankettes
2,017 guns & mortars
5,898 motor vehicles
11,750 horses
609 aircraftCasualties and losses

2,384 killed
100,000+ captured

24 Allied ships sunk (9 American, 9 Dutch, 5 British, 1 Australian):
1 seaplane tender
2 heavy cruisers
3 light cruisers
1 coastal defense ship
15 destroyers
1 oil tanker
1 gunboat
5,000–10,000 sailors and Marines killed on the sunken ships
thousands of sailors and Marines captured 671 killedCivilian casualties:
Approximately 4 million deaths

The Dutch East Indies campaign of 1941–1942 was the conquest of the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) by forces of the Empire of Japan in the early days of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Allied forces attempted unsuccessfully to defend the islands. The East Indies were targeted by the Japanese for their rich oil resources which would become a vital asset during the war. The campaign and subsequent three-and-a-half-year Japanese occupation was also a major factor in the end of Dutch colonial rule in the region.