After the formal surrenders of Japanese forces in Tokyo Bay and Singapore for two examples, Lombok an island in the Dutch East Indies (DEI), marked in red below and now part of Indonesia, surrendered to the Australian Army and Navy. To date I cannot identify any online confirmation of this action. From: Lombok - Wikipedia The adjacent island to the west is Bali, where the Japanese surrendered on the 3rd March 1946 is subject of this thread: 'Top Secret' till 1996: March 1946 Japanese surrender on Bali There was a formal Japanese surrender on Bali on the 7th March 1946, to a small British detachment, led by Peter Kemp. See: Major Peter Kemp, SOE: The man just liked fighting — a true war lover Mountbatten had not planned to have responsibility for the DEI, till a political decision in August 1945. Until then the USA was the designated allied power. Kemp in his book refers to: I have been unable to locate any corroboration for the Australian action. They did have responsibility for the NEI to the east of Lombok and had landed in Borneo before VJ-Day. From: Military history of Australia during World War II - Wikipedia The official RAN history has no mention of Lombok, in the three closing chapters. See: Chapter 28 – Surrender – and Aftermath . This week I found a newspaper article in Australia on 16/10/1945 states: From: Japanese at Lombok - HAVE NOT YET HEARD OP SURRENDER - Kalgoorlie Miner (WA : 1895 - 1954) - 16 Oct 1945 A RN veteran, aboard one of the ships involved, remarked that: From: BBC - WW2 People's War - British Naval Top Secret Operation - Dutch Landings and Re-occupation of Bali and Lombok - Chapter 2 There is an odd, silent Indonesian film clip (7 mins), without attribution, entitled 'The British Army Occupy Lombok Island in Indonesia, 1947'. It appears to be taken by the British, minus any commentary and none of the ships or troops can be identified. I suspect this footage is of Dutch troops, with berets and bush hats, so I expect they are mainly from the DEI who had been POWs, and using British vessels as a White Ensign appears. It is obviously not in 1947. Unarmed Japanese soldiers appear to be assisting the offloading. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA62wfWRp5k Anyone aboard who knows more?
I have found two archive files that seem to skirt the issue but which may provide some useful clues. [Armistices and Surrenders - Allied and Japanese:] Surrender of Japanese, and Japanese controlled Armed Forces, in Borneo and the Netherland East Indies East and exclusive Lombok, to the Commander-in-Chief, Australian Military Forces - Sept 1945 can be downloaded from Nationaal Archief. Dutch reoccupation of Bali and Lombok Islands : appreciation by GS01 5 Indian Division | The National Archives which can also be downloaded from Nationaal Archief.
An update, after Post 1:A RN veteran, aboard one of the ships involved, remarked that: From: BBC - WW2 People's War - British Naval Top Secret Operation - Dutch Landings and Re-occupation of Bali and Lombok - Chapter 2 With my emphasis, contrary information: From: Phlitt | Operations & Codenames of WWII
The ship at 1.08 appears to be one of the Merchant LSI(L) s that took part in the Normandy landings. After D-Day several were transferred to the Navy and given the names of racehorses. At least one went East, though I am not sure if ship was transferred to the Australians.
The chapter on post-Japanese surrender by the Australian Army, in a book, akin to an official history - the title and author which cannot be identified - has been read. It has nothing about action taken on Lombok. See: https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/awm-media/collection/RCDIG1070303/document/5519597.PDF
TijgerB in Post 21 of the Bali thread has a Dutch copy of the British planning document for Lombok, which Richelieu referred to here in Post 2. Reading it once more, now my focus is on Lombok, pg.7 states: Link: View file | Nationaal Archief There are two hits on the phrase 'Australian surveillance party' in Australian records online. Their role being to inspect Japanese adherence to the general surrender terms, internees collected, disarmament inspected and war crimes investigations. Two parties had thirty personnel, some visits lasted a day and it appears most traveled on RAN warships. The linked document does not mention Lombok: https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/awm-media/collection/RCDIG1020053/document/4310654.PDF
The ship could be HMS Sainfoin (ex Empire Crossbow) , which, according to a photo of her on Ship's Nostalgia was involved in the transport of Australian troopps in the Dutch East Indies
It is from the Official History David: Chapter 23 – After the Cease Fire and confirms that Limbok was not intended to be an Australian responsibility (p.553), pretty much matching NAA's catalogue. It also mentions the 'surveillance parties' (p.572) briefly.
Roy, There is a book Sainfoin’s War By W.J. Mitchell and Colin Buckenham, broken into twenty-four chapters and yes, one has passages on the Bali landing: Link: ray self
I overlooked till a few months ago that Kemp after Bali went onto the nearby island of Lombok, another part of the Dutch East Indies occupied the Japanese after the Dutch were defeated in early 1942. Chapter X1, pgs. 133-140 refers to his time on Lombok. Of note he wrote: His small party seventeen in number landed on 19/3/1946, at the principal port, Ampenan. Dutch troops made a beach landing on 27/3/1946 at Lembar and found the local population welcomed them enthusiastically. Kemp returned to Bali, for a week’s leave, on 3/4/1946; most of the party left for Surabaja (now Jakarta).
Thanks to an Australian historian, who I made contact with in 2002, the local Lombok Heritage Society on Facebook has an entry on this episode. This is a translation: Link (not in English, but Indonesian): https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1598554533916820&set=pb.100066670060031.-2207520000 The dates cited do accord with my research. NICA is the post-war abbreviation for the Dutch Indies civil adminstration. I have asked about adding a link to here on the Lombok Heritage Society's Facebook item.
This doesn’t help find out “when” and “who” they surrendered to, but found newspaper articles in 1946 that say the Japanese still control Lombok and other areas in 1946???
Ooops, sorry I see this link already given above in previous post British Naval Top Secret Operation - Dutch Landings and Re-occupation of Bali and Lombok - Chapter 2 by gmractiondesk BBC - WW2 People's War - British Naval Top Secret Operation - Dutch Landings and Re-occupation of Bali and Lombok - Chapter 2
Temujin, Given the chaotic situation that prevailed in the Dutch East Indies when Japan surrendered, with the British having been given responsibility, it was a slow process to confirm the situation on the two islands, then bring along British / Indian troops to take the Japanese surrender and then leave quickly - by handing over to the Dutch. The Japanese refused to surrender to the Dutch. After what happened on the main islands, the British did not want to have another military campaign. I still find it curious an Australian party lands on Lombok only, in November 1945 conducts a survey, largely disarms the Japanese and then leaves them in situ for the British to tidy up in March 1946. I have not delved deeply into the Australian record, that aside there had been Australians landed on Lombok during the war - who had gone missing. Thanks for the newspaper cuttings.
