Dutch East Indies

[John_Ford]

Was it worth the investment by the Allied US, British and Australian forces to reinforce the Dutch Colonies?    The Natural resources not withstanding,   Dutch Military Forces commited to the Islands were barely enough for Policing duties without significent investment by the Dutch Government.   After the Fall of the Dutch Republic,  The Dutch Government in Exile attempted to make up for the lack of investment in the East Indies but the majority of purchased equipment from the US failed to arrive in time before the Japanese Invasion.   The lack of qualified Dutch and  indigenous personnel to man and maintain the existing equipment did not help either.   Thoughts? 

[Markus Becker]

It's news to me that the KNIL and navy had problems maintaining the equipment they had. 

They seem to have had the same problems everyone else in the region had. The forces stationed there were colonial garrisons to keep the locals under control, not for fighting a major war because there wasn't a credible conventional threat. Japan was an economic dwarf and they were having to keep at least one eye on the Soviet Union. 

That changed with the Fall of France and the invasion of the USSR. If anything the Dutch reacted faster to the new reality than the other powers. 

[Sardaukar]

And after Battle of Java Sea it was hopeless.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Java_Sea

But it was almost disaster for Japanese invasion transports and only high speed of IJN cruisers saved them.

If Doorman squadron had caught the transports, they'd have been toast and sunk. One stupid way of IJN conducting "distant support" that they also did in Midway with their heavy units. Almost turned to "no support". 

[lucklucky]

Yeah, IJN had a tendency to complicate.

[Argus]

From a period perspective, I don't there was much choice on any level. 

No one knew how far the Japanese could or would push, only that, they'd have to stop somewhere at sometime; and they had already come a bloody long way. So the this island could be the one, else, not contesting this island made the next island less likely to be the turning point. With hindsight we can suggest that the troops sunk into the NEI, Rabaul and Timor would have been more useful on the Owen Stanleys, Milne Bay and perhaps even Guadalcanal, but at the time...  

[futon]

The decisions and actions made to improve defenses are generally caused by other events. Related to the Pacific War, steps to improve defenses at various places like Wake Island, the Philippines, or setting up in areas in rear islands like Fiji were linked to what was going on diplomatically. A hypothetical to expedidate those actions would impact the course of history on the diplomat level. Likewise, if detaching the timing of the launch of the Japanese offensive from the diplomatic timeline, hypothetically if it was somehow prepared and launched in August instead of December, Japanese odds are hypothetically better. 

Edited April 24 by futon

[Markus Becker]

Speaking of diplomacy,

imposing much thougher and then crippling sanctions on Japan at a time when the Far East with all its valuable resources was very lightly defended, was an incredibly poor political decision. If they had played for time and gotten even half a year, their odds would have been far better.

[futon]

So then by riding back on the diplomat, the reason for the lightly defended areas was due to the naval treaties. While Japan had to accept US 5/ GB 5/ Jpn 3 ratio and the end of the anglo-Japanese alliance, one concession that they did get to serve as making up to it was that the US and British possessions in the western Pacific (minus Singapore as was already built up) were not allowed to be built up. Of course by 1940, they started building up on some of the islands. On the Philippines, not sure exactly, but if too early and thus out of a context of a menacing Japan, it would rub too strongly on Philippines promise of independence. The lead up to sanctions on Japan was coupled with growing financial and material to a CKS Nationalists on the verge of defeat in 1940. Toggling or adjusting points in the hypothetical mucks around with so many aspects. I'm not convinced the the US had to save a CKS's Nationalists Chinese that got embrouled into total war with Japan via the Xi'an incident. The Wang Regime was also representative for the Chinese. And despite the allies total victory in WW2, CKS still lost in mainland China. 

[Markus Becker]

The WNT banned the construction of new fortifications like fixed shore batteries a'la Fort Drum. Construction of general infrastructure(airports, ports) was permitted, as was the deployment of ground troops and air units. Plus the WNT was history before Japan moved into Northern Indochina, when the though sanctions began. 

[lucklucky]

British Naval Intelligence Division

1920

https://archive.org/details/cu31924062748995

1944 Vol I and Vol II

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.70084

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.70085