Amateur movies made by Mr. Arie Berger. Source Netherlands Ministry of Defence Movie #3 – 1943 Beeldbank – Department of Defence – Netherlands Movie #4 1943 -1944 Beeldbank – Department of Defence – Netherlands Movie #5 1945 -1946 Beeldbank – Department of Defence – Netherlands See also: The Dutch at Read more…
After the successful trans-Pacific flight of the Southern Cross in 1928, Kingsford Smith and his team continued to break new ground in aviation. In 1930, Kingsford Smith and his crew, which included co-pilot Evert van Dijk, completed the first non-stop flight between Australia and England in a Fokker F.VIIb/3m aircraft Read more…
On 19 November 1941, HMAS Sydney, an Australian light cruiser, was engaged in a naval battle with the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran off the coast of Western Australia. During the battle, both ships were sunk, with the loss of all 645 crew members on board the Sydney and 81 crew Read more…
The United States 7th Fleet is responsible for operations in the Western Pacific Ocean. It was formed on March 15, 1943, in Brisbane, Australia, during World War II. The fleet was initially commanded by Vice Admiral Arthur S. Carpender, and it consisted of the cruisers USS Minneapolis and USS New Read more…
De Koninklijke Pakketvaart-Maatschappij (KPM – Royal Packet Navigation Company – was established in 1888 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The company was created by merging several smaller Dutch shipping companies that were operating in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). KPM’s main purpose was to provide a regular shipping service between Read more…
Batchelor Airport is a former Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base located in Batchelor, Northern Territory, Australia. The base was established in 1942 during World War II and was used primarily as a bomber base for the RAAF’s No. 1 Operational Training Unit. During the war, Batchelor Airport was also Read more…
Dutch message re Pearl Harbour attack was ignored. Identifying Japan as a potential aggressor, in the thirties the Dutch tried to strengthen their intelligence capability. In 1932 the Royal Netherlands Navy set up a radio intercept unit to monitor the activities of the Japanese Navy. Several weeks prior to the Read more…
Prelude Following hastily established diplomatic relationships in January 1942, the Australian Labor Government offered the Dutch, after the fall of NEI, shear unlimited support in relation to facilities and training, while at the same time providing them with a remarkable high level of independence for their operations in Australia. What Read more…
Apart from policies regarding the direction of a post-war NEI there was tension between the Dutch-government-in-exile and the NEI government-in-exile, in relation to the decision-making process. Soon after the liberation of the southern Netherlands, on 14 September 1944, the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina decreed from London the official formation of a Read more…
