20 Feb 1942

Dutch East Indies
  • At 0130 hours, a fresh ABDA force consisted of a Dutch cruiser and four US destroyers attempted to intercept a Japanese transport fleet in the Badung Strait in the Dutch East Indies for the second time. Dutch cruiser Tromp (10 killed) and American destroyer Stewart were damaged on the Allied side, while Japanese destroyers Asashio (4 killed) and Oshio (7 killed) also suffered damage. At 0220 hours, Japanese destroyers Arashio and Michishio joined in the action; Michishio became the target of all four American destroyers, suffering several hits and 13 killed, but was able to be towed away from battle. Elsewhere, at dawn, Japanese troops landed at Dili, Portuguese Timor and Koepang, Dutch Timor. Portuguese defenders at Dili was overrun and Portugal accepted the Japanese occupation for the duration of the war; Australian defenders at Koepang resisted, however. At 1045 hours, 323 Japanese paratroops were delivered to Koepang airfield, but most of them did not land in the drop zone, and 245 of them were killed by the Australians. ww2dbase [Dutch East Indies Campaign, Java | Michishio | Arashio | Oshio | Stewart | Timor | CPC]



Please consider supporting us on Patreon. Even $1 per month will go a long way! Thank you.

Please help us spread the word:

 Reddit
 Bluesky
 Mastodon

Stay updated with WW2DB:

 RSS Feeds

Search WW2DB
News

Random Photograph

Martin Niemöller (center) with fellow religious leaders M. N. W. Smitvoors and P. Kaetske meeting at the Grote Kert in Haarlem, The Netherlands, 27 May 1952

Current Site Statistics

Famous WW2 Quote
"All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us... they can't get away this time."

Lt. Gen. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, at Guadalcanal


Support Us

Please consider supporting us on Patreon. Even $1 a month will go a long way. Thank you!

Or, please support us by purchasing some WW2DB merchandise at TeeSpring, Thank you!