A large diorama at the Gold Coast War Museum in Mudgeeraba depicts one of the most famous battles fought in the Netherlands during the Second World War: the struggle for the bridge at Arnhem in September 1944. The model shows a Dutch town devastated by fighting, with the bridge, damaged Read more
The following is an English translation of the original Dutch account. The complete Dutch document is attached below. Cornelis Jan van Noordennen is listed among the passengers on the flight to Sydney, Australia, on 22 July 1950 (seat G4). He was born in Hardinxveld on 11 August 1928, the son Read more
The following is an extensive English summary of a Dutch-language account prepared by Kees van der Sluijs and Fred Stuij. The complete original Dutch story is attached below. Arie van Kekeren and his wife Maria Blokland belonged to a generation of people from Sliedrecht whose lives were closely connected with Read more
When Dick was nineteen, he was seized by the German authorities and transported to Germany. According to the account he later gave to Glenda Korporaal, he was initially taken to the Dachau concentration camp. He recalled harsh treatment during his detention, including an incident in which a guard broke his Read more
In 1950, two specially organised KLM flights brought a remarkable group of Dutch dredging workers and their families to Australia. Most of the workers had been recruited for a major dredging and harbour-construction project in Melbourne. Many came from Sliedrecht, the South Holland town internationally known as a centre of Read more
Hendrik Johan “Harry” Burgers lived a life shaped by war, displacement and migration. He served as a radio operator and air gunner during the Japanese invasion of the Netherlands East Indies, survived a forced landing at sea, shot down a Japanese fighter and received the Bronze Cross for bravery. After Read more
The history of the Burgers and Hevel families connects several important chapters in Dutch, Indonesian and Australian history: the Boven Digul political prisoners’ camp in Dutch New Guinea, No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF, the Indonesian struggle for independence and the Indonesian graves at Cowra. This article introduces a Read more
The history of No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF is usually told as one of Allied cooperation and operational success. Yet during its formation in Australia, the squadron experienced a profound internal crisis that culminated in one of the most controversial military trials involving Dutch forces in exile during Read more
Following the Japanese invasion of the Netherlands East Indies in early 1942, surviving Dutch and Indonesian air-force personnel, naval aviators, civilian aircrews and aircraft escaped to Australia. From Australian bases they reorganised, trained and returned to active service as part of the wider Allied campaign against Japan. Australia became the Read more
Sophia Kruyswijk-van Thiel was both a member of the Vrouwenkorps Koninklijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger (VK-KNIL) and one of its most important historians. Her wartime generation had been among the first Dutch women formally admitted to military service, but its contribution was largely forgotten after the dissolution of the KNIL in 1950. Read more