Captain Max Horstink had an exceptionally varied wartime career. Trained as an infantry officer, pilot and observer, he served with the KNIL Topographical Service, fought alongside Australian commandos during the Timor guerrilla campaign, completed 34 operational missions with No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF and subsequently worked with NEFIS and the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration.
After Japan’s surrender, he helped establish an organisation responsible for locating and assisting former prisoners of war and civilian internees. He was killed in West Java in October 1945 while travelling from Batavia to Bandung.
Early life and military training
Max Horstink was born at Kendangan in south-eastern Borneo on 22 July 1914. His parents were Theo Horstink and Louise Horstink-Tichelaar. His father was an officer in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army—KNIL—and a prominent topographer who later lectured in Bandung.
After completing secondary school, Max attended the Royal Military Academy at Breda in the Netherlands and graduated as an army officer. He married Greet in the Netherlands and returned with her to the Netherlands East Indies in 1936.
Horstink subsequently entered flying training at Andir airfield near Bandung. In July 1938 he received his military pilot qualification, followed several months later by qualification as an observer.
His flying qualifications were withdrawn in 1939, apparently following a family decision that military aviation was too dangerous after the death of his sister Maud from malaria. Horstink transferred to the KNIL Topographical Service, where his military training and knowledge of geography would later prove valuable.
Deployment to Timor
Following the outbreak of the Pacific War, Horstink was mobilised with the VIII Infantry Battalion at Malang on 9 December 1941. A week later, he was assigned to the Allied expeditionary force sent to Timor.
Dutch and Australian forces occupied positions in both Dutch and Portuguese Timor because the island formed a strategically important link between the Netherlands East Indies and northern Australia.
Horstink was assigned to the 3rd Company and transported to Dili in Portuguese Timor. He commanded a detachment comprising infantry from the VIII Battalion and two mortar sections from the XIII Battalion. His men were accommodated in the Portuguese School and helped protect nearby food and ammunition stores.
The Japanese invasion
Japanese forces landed near Dili during the night of 19–20 February 1942. Horstink was ordered to position his mortars near the cathedral, but broken communications and uncertainty about the position of friendly troops made it impossible to open fire without risking Allied casualties.
As Japanese forces moved to occupy Dili and cut the road towards Dutch Timor, the surviving Dutch and Australian troops withdrew into the mountains.
The withdrawal was exhausting and disorganised. Weapons and equipment had to be abandoned, and scattered groups of soldiers attempted to rejoin Allied positions. Horstink gathered separated KNIL personnel around him and helped lead them across the difficult mountainous terrain.
Guerrilla warfare on Timor
For almost a year, Horstink participated in the Allied guerrilla campaign on Timor. He conducted patrols, gathered intelligence, guarded routes through the mountains and fought Japanese troops and their local auxiliaries.
During the major Japanese offensive in August 1942, Horstink rallied exhausted KNIL troops and led them towards fighting around Lolotoi. Sergeant Paul de Vrijer later remembered him as a courageous officer whose leadership encouraged the men to continue despite their exhaustion.
As the Japanese advance fragmented the remaining Dutch units, Horstink assembled scattered personnel and worked closely with Australian commandos. By September 1942, he was helping Lieutenant Gerry McKenzie reorganise Dutch and Australian troops around Ainaro.
Australian officers held Horstink in high regard. His name appears repeatedly in the operational messages of the 2/4th Independent Company during the final months of 1942.
Among the last troops evacuated
The evacuation of the main Sparrow Force contingent in December 1942 did not end Horstink’s service on Timor.
Horstink and fifteen KNIL volunteers remained with the Australian 2/4th Independent Company as part of the reduced Lancer Force. His group comprised six sergeants, two corporals and seven privates.
On 19 December, Horstink requested additional ammunition, a radio, torches and other supplies so that his men and Timorese auxiliaries could continue operating. The requested supplies could not be delivered as increasing Japanese pressure made the Allied position untenable.
Horstink and his remaining men were evacuated aboard the Australian destroyer HMAS Arunta on 10 January 1943. They were among the last organised Dutch troops withdrawn from the Timor guerrilla campaign.
No. 18 Squadron
After recuperating and completing further training, Horstink joined No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF at McDonald Airfield in the Northern Territory.
The squadron urgently needed trained observers and navigators. Horstink and fellow Timor veteran C.L. Begeman completed a navigation refresher course before beginning operational duties.
Horstink served aboard B-25 Mitchell bombers as a navigator, observer and bombardier rather than as a pilot.
Return to Timor by air
Horstink flew his first operational mission with No. 18 Squadron on 6 April 1943. Lieutenant Gus Winckel piloted B-25 Mitchell N5-130, with Horstink serving as navigator.
The mission involved reconnaissance over Timor—the island across which Horstink had so recently fought and marched. The aircraft approached at low altitude and descended almost to sea level while searching surrounding waters for Japanese shipping.
After crossing Timor at treetop height, including valleys through which Horstink had travelled during the guerrilla campaign, the aircraft returned to McDonald without locating a target.
Numerous operational missions followed. Horstink ultimately completed 34 missions with No. 18 Squadron before his operational tour ended in September 1943.
No. 119 Squadron and NEFIS
Horstink was transferred administratively to the proposed No. 119 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron on 19 September 1943. The new B-25 unit did not become operational because sufficient RAAF ground and maintenance personnel could not be provided.
He subsequently requested a transfer to the Netherlands Forces Intelligence Service—NEFIS—in Melbourne. His infantry, aviation, geographical and guerrilla-warfare experience made him well suited to intelligence and special-operations work.
Horstink remained with NEFIS until June 1944.
Netherlands Indies Civil Administration
On 1 June 1944, Horstink was made available to the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration—NICA. NICA detachments accompanied Allied forces into recaptured areas and began restoring civil administration and providing assistance to local communities.
By then promoted to captain, Horstink was appointed acting Commanding Officer NICA—CONICA—of Detachment IIc, which was intended for Sansapor in Netherlands New Guinea. He also commanded the detachment’s infantry element responsible for protecting the NICA camp.
During this period, he encountered the survivors of the long-running Dutch guerrilla campaign led by Sergeant Mauritz Christiaan Kokkelink in Netherlands New Guinea.
Operation Platypus VIII
In 1945 Horstink participated in Operation Platypus VIII in Borneo. This formed part of a series of Allied Services Reconnaissance Department operations intended to gather information about Japanese strength and develop resistance behind enemy lines.
The assignment drew upon almost every aspect of Horstink’s experience: guerrilla warfare, topography, intelligence gathering, aviation, cooperation with local communities and operating in isolated territory.
Horstink prepared a report on the mission, including observations about the attitudes of the local population towards the Japanese occupation and the expected return of Dutch administration.
The operation ended following Japan’s surrender in August 1945.
Assisting former prisoners and internees
After the surrender, Horstink was placed in charge of Leger Organisatie Centrum II—Army Organisation Centre II—in Bandung. Lieutenant Fred Pelder, another No. 18 Squadron veteran, served as his deputy.
These centres worked alongside the Recovery of Allied Prisoners of War and Internees organisation—RAPWI. Their responsibilities included:
- locating former prisoners of war and civilian internees;
- providing medical assistance, clothing and supplies;
- transporting survivors;
- registering returning military personnel; and
- reorganising former prisoners into military units where appropriate.
Horstink reached Bandung with other officers from Balikpapan on 17 September 1945. The security situation was rapidly deteriorating following the Indonesian declaration of independence. Allied forces had not yet occupied many inland areas, while Japanese troops remained responsible for maintaining order until Allied units arrived.
The fatal journey to Bandung
Around 15 October 1945, Horstink joined a group of military officers, officials and civilians travelling from Batavia to Bandung. Seats on an aircraft were reportedly available for Horstink and Lieutenant Leen Blanson Henkemans, but they instead travelled by road with the larger group.
The party consisted of ten men travelling in a truck and a Chevrolet passenger car. Its members included military aviation personnel, a doctor, a police inspector, NEFIS and NICA officers, a RAPWI officer, a driver and a mechanic.
Near the Puncak Pass, the vehicles passed through two lightly constructed barricades. Further along the road, near Pacet, a stronger roadblock forced the group to stop. They surrendered after apparently concluding that their opponents were too numerous to resist and that they would be held for a possible prisoner exchange.
They were taken towards Tjiandjoer—now Cianjur. None survived.
The surviving records disagree about precisely when, where and under what circumstances the prisoners were killed. Accounts include revolutionary violence, attempted escape and robbery. Because there were no survivors, the complete circumstances may never be known. All ten men were killed between 15 and 19 October 1945.
Recovery and burial
British Indian troops occupied Tjiandjoer in December 1945 and subsequently discovered what had happened to the missing party. The men’s remains were recovered and identified.
Max Horstink and several of his companions, including Captain Louis Rapmund, were buried with military honours at Pandu War Cemetery in Bandung on 19 June 1948.
A versatile and courageous officer
Max Horstink’s wartime service extended across infantry, aviation, intelligence, special operations and civil administration.
He fought alongside Australian commandos on Timor, flew B-25 missions with a joint Dutch–Australian squadron, worked with NEFIS in Melbourne, accompanied the Allied return to Netherlands New Guinea and participated in a clandestine reconnaissance operation in Borneo.
His record also demonstrates how personnel moved between Dutch and Allied organisations according to operational need. Horstink’s service connected the KNIL, No. 18 Squadron, NEFIS, NICA, the Allied Services Reconnaissance Department and RAPWI.
Detailed Dutch biography
The following detailed Dutch-language biography was prepared from Max Horstink’s military service record, wartime diaries, operational reports, archival material and family information. It includes photographs and provides a fuller account of his service on Timor, with No. 18 Squadron, NEFIS, NICA and Operation Platypus VIII. Horstink remained on Timor after the main Allied evacuation in December 1942 and was evacuated with the remaining forces on 10 January 1943.
Related DACC articles
- No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF during World War II
- The Battle of Timor, 1942–1943
- Sparrow Force—Allied guerrilla force in Timor
- No. 119 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF
- Dutch, Australian and Indonesian agents: the NEI Section of Australia’s secret war
- DACC Air Force Research Portal
Sources and further reading
National Archives of the Netherlands, Max Horstink’s Operation Platypus VIII report.
Bas Kreuger, Max Horstink—Verzet Timor 1942
Jack M. Ford, Allies in a Bind: Australia and the Netherlands East Indies in the Second World War
P.C. Boer, No. 18 Squadron NEI 1942–43
No. 18 Squadron Operational Diary, 1943
Max Horstink military service record, Netherlands Institute of Military History
Australian War Memorial, 2/2 and 2/4 Independent Company records
