If you are interested to find out more about the Dutch East Indies in World War II, then please check the following list of books. Some of these books are out of print and can only be found through a "book finder" or special dealers who specialize in that type of book. Many of these books have also been published in England, Australia or the Netherlands and you may find it difficult to obtain them. However, I very much advise you to check your local library before going searching for your 'wanted' books via various internet bookstores or special "book finders". You never know. Maybe the book you are looking for is already on a shelf of your town's library.


Air
• "Chasing After Danger: An RAF airman's account of the battles for Singapore and the Dutch East Indies 1941-1942" by Terence O'Brien

• "In the Hands of Fate. US Patrol Wing 10" by Dwight Messimer

• "Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War" by Rene J. Francillon

• "Darwin 1942 : Australia's Darkest Hour" by Timothy Hall

• "Australia's Pearl Harbor. Air attack on Darwin, February 1942" by Douglas Lockwood

• "Japanese Naval Aces and Fighter Units in World War II" by Ikuhiko Hata and Yasuho Izawa

Sea
The Operations of the Navy in the Dutch East Indies and the Bay of Bengal (War History) by Willem Remmelink (Editor, Translator), 2018
Between 1966 and 1980, the War History Office of the National Defense College of Japan (now the Center for Military History of the National Institute for Defense Studies) published the 102-volume Senshi Sosho (War History Series). These volumes give a detailed account of the operations of the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during the Second World War. The present volume, The Operations of the Navy in the Dutch East Indies and the Bay of Bengal, volume 26 of the series, describes the Japanese Navy’s role in the campaign to gain control over the Indonesian archipelago—at that time the largest transoceanic landing operation in the military history of the world. It includes, among others, the first complete Japanese analysis of the Battle of the Java Sea, a much-debated battle that ended disastrously for the Allies and opened the way to Java for the Japanese.

• "The Battle of the Java Sea" by F.C. Van Oosten

• "Battle of the Java Sea" by David Thomas

• "A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy (1941-1945)" by Paul S. Dull

• "Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945" by H. Jentschura, D. Jung, & P. Mickel

• "Submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1904-1945" by D. Carpenter and N. Polmar

• Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War by E. Lacroix and L. Wells III.

• "World War II at Sea" by Colin McIntyre

• Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)

• "I-Boat Captain" by Zenji Orita

• "Old friend, new enemies. The Royal Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy. Strategic Illusions 1936-41" by Arthur J. Marder

• "The Imperial Japanese Navy" by A. Watts and B. Gordon

• "Warships of World War II" by H. Lenton & J. Colledge

• "Another Six Hundred. The Asiatic Fleet destroyers" by J. Daniel Mullin

• "Mr. Michel's War. From Manila to Mukden: An American navy officer's war with the Japanese, 1941-1945" by John J.A. Michel

• "Silent Victory" by Clay Blair, Jr.

• "Where Away. The Odyssey of the USS Marblehead" by George Sessions Perry

• "The Bells of Sunda" by David Burchell

• "HMS Electra. An account of a British destroyer which was eventually sunk in the Battle of the Java Sea" by T.J. Cain and A. V. Sellwood

• Chronology of the War at Sea 1939-1945: The Naval History of World War Two by J. Rohwer and G. Hummelchen.

• "Pigboat 39 - An American sub goes to war. The story of US submarine S-39 on her patrols in Dutch East Indies" by Bobette Gugliotta

• "Royal Netherlands Navy" by H. T. Lenton

• "Fight it out. The Captain of HMS Exeter tells this story" by Captain Oliver L. Gordon

• "Ship of Courage: The Epic Story of HMAS Perth and Her Crew" by Brenda Whiting

• "Operation Pacific. A detailed account of the Royal Navy's contribution to the war in the Pacific" by Edwyn Gray

• "Japanese Destroyer Captain" by Captain Tameichi Hara

• "Schepen van de Koninklijke Marine in W.O. II. Technical data and brief history of the ships of the Royal Dutch Navy during World War II" by Chris Mark

• "H.M.A.S. Perth: Story of the 6 inch cruiser 1936-1942" by Alan Payne

• "USS Houston: The Last Flagship of the Asiatic Fleet" by Heber A. Holbrook

• "The Last Battle Station: The Story of the USS Houston" by Duane P. Schultz

• "The Ghost That Died at Sunda Strait" by Walter G. Winslow

• "The Fleet the Gods Forgot: The U.S. Asiatic Fleet in World War II" by Walter G. Winslow

• "The Japanese Submarine Force and World War II" by Carl Boyd and Akihiko Yoshida

• "Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia" by M.J. Whitley

• "The lonely ships: The life and death of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet" by Edwin P. Hoyt

• "The Japanese Merchant Marine in World War II" by Mark Parillo

• "Destroyers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia" by M. J. Whitley

• "Battle Surface! - Japan's Submarine War Against Australia 1942-44" by David Jenkins

• "U-Boat Far From Home. The Epic Voyage of U-862 to Australia and New Zealand, in 1945" by David Stevens

• "The World's Merchant Fleets, 1939: The Particulars and Wartime Fates of 6,000 Ships" by Roger W. Jordan

• "The Rising Sun in the Pacific, 1931 - April 1942 (History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume 3)" by Samuel Eliot Morison

• "Pawns of War: The Loss of the USS Langley and the USS Pecos" by Dwight Messimer

Land
• "Bloody Shambles, Vol. 1: The Drift to War to the fall of Singapore
   Bloody Shambles, Vol. 2: From the Defence of Sumatra to the fall of Burma" by C. Shores and Y. Izawa

• "The First South Pacific Campaign. Fundamental strategies of both the Allies and the Japanese from January 1942 -June 1942" by John.B. Lundstrom

• "Independent Company. The 2/2 and 2/4 Australian independent companies in Portuguese Timor 1941-1943" by Bernard Callinan

• "Battle for Palembang. The story of Allied troops who defended Palembang in those crucial days" by Terence Kelly

• "The Final Campaigns - Australians at War 1939-1945, Volume VII" by Gavin Long

• "The New Guinea Offensives - Australia in the War of 1939-1945, Series 1 Volume VI" by David Dexter

• "Australian official histories (AU) series I- Army- The Japanese Thrust-Vol. IV. This book describes the operations of the Australian Army in the early months of the war against Japan. The fall of Singapore, and the end in Java" by Lionel Wigmore

• "Ambon Island of Mist: 2/21st Battalion AIF (Gull Force) Prisoners of War 1941-45" by Courtney T. Harrison

• "Fall of General Gordon Bennett. General Gordon Bennett was Australian commanding officer in Malaya, from where he managed to escape to Sumatra, and from there to Australia" by A.B. Lodge

• "Ring of Fire: Australian Guerrilla Operations Against the Japanese in the Second World War" by D.C. Horton

• "Never Unprepared - A History of the 26th Australian Infantry Battalion, (includes Merauke & Torres Strait 1942 through 1944" by A.N. Turrell

• "Singapore: The Pregnable Fortress, study in deception, discord and desertion" by Peter Elphick

• "The Eavesdroppers, best kept secrets of World War II" by Jack Bleakley

• "The battles that shaped Australia" edited by Dr.D.Horner; some contributors – Chris Coulthard-Clark, David Day, Gavin Long, Gregory Pemberton, Sado Seno and Denis Warner

• "The Pacific War: 1941-1945" by John Costello

• "Empires in the Balance: Japanese and Allied Pacific Strategies to April 1942" by H.P. Willmott

• "Barrier and the Javelin: Japanese and Allied Strategies, February to June 1942" by H.P. Willmott

• "Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941" by David C. Evans and Mark R. Peattie

• "Timor 1942: Australian Commandos at War with the Japanese" by Cristopher C.H. Wray

• "We were the first: The unit history of No.1 Independent Company" by Alexander "Sandy" McNab

• "The Life of Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak" by Spenser St. John

• "Rising Sun Over Borneo: The Japanese Occupation of Sarawak, 1941-1945" by Ooi Keat Gin

• "Armour of the Pacific War" by Steven Zaloga

• "Nederlands-Indië 1942: Illusion and disillusion " by Petra Groen and Elly Touwen-Bouwsma

• "The History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in World War II. The War against Japan." by Grace Person Hayes

• "Far Eastern File. The intelligence war in the Far East 1930-1945" by Peter Elphick

• "Dutch Administration in the Netherlands Indies" by W. Preger

• "The Ragged, Rugged Warriors The Heroic Story of the Early Air War Against Japan in the Far East and Pacific: The Air War against the Japanese from 1937 in China to the Battle of Midway" by Martin Caidin-Covers

• "The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, Volumes I and II" by John Toland

• "The Allied Japanese Conspiracy" by James MacKay

• "Torres Strait Force, 1942 to 1945: The defence of Cape York-Torres Strait and Merauke in Dutch New Guinea" by R.A. Ball

• "The Fourth Ally - The Dutch Forces in Australia in World War II" by Doug Hirst

• "Australia's Forgotten Army Volume 2 Defending the Northern Gateways Northern Territory & Torres Strait - 1938 to 1945" by G. McKenzie-Smith

• "The Second World War: A Complete History" by Martin Gilbert

• "War Against Japan Volume I: The Loss Of Singapore" by Major-General S. Woodburn Kirby

• "War Against Japan Volume II: India's Most Dangerous Hour" by Major-General S. Woodburn Kirby

Dutch
• "Zij vochten op de zeven zeeën" by K.W.L. Bezemer

• "De Koninlijke Marine in de Tweede Wereldoorlog, Volume II" by Ph. M. Bosscher

• "Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog" (various parts) by L. de Jong

• "De Nederlandse koopvaardijvloot in de Tweede Wereldoorlog" by L.L. von Münching

• "Onze vliegers in Indië" by C.C. Küpfer

• "De geschiedenis van de militaire luchtvaart van het KNIL 1942 - 1945" by O.G. Ward

• "Het vergeten squadron- (18 Squadron NEI RAAF in Australia)" by Rene Wittert

• "De Luchstrijd rond Borneo. Detailed account about the battle in the air with the Japanese around Borneo of the Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force (ML-KNIL)" by P.C. Boer

• "Opdracht Sumatra: het Korps Insulinde 1942-1946" by J.Th.A. de Man

• "Adriaan Kannegieter ging naar de marine en werkte als Japans Krijgsgevangene aan de Burma-spoorlijn" by Adriaan Kannegieter

• "Vaarwel tot betere tijden" by J.C. Bijkerk and A.C. van den Hout

• "Helden, hazen en honden: Zuid-borneo 1942" Heroes, dogs and rabbits: South borneo 1942 by C. van Heekeren

• "Borneo-doden. Namen van omgekomenen in Nederlands-Indisch Borneo, 1941-1945" by Dr. E. Braches

• "De Militaire Luchtvaart van het Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger in oorlog (8 december 1941-10 maart 1942)" by J.W.T. Bosch

• "Het Vliegerkruis: Voor initiatief, moed en volharding" by H.G. Meijer and R. Vis

• "Nederlandse vuurwapens - KNIL en Militaire Luchtvaart 1897-1942" by G. de Vries & B.J. Martens

• "Nederlandse Pantser Voertuigen" by C.M. Schulten & J. Theil

• "K.N.I.L. Cavalerie 1816-1950" by C.A. Heshusius

• "Het Koninklijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger 1830-1950" by C.A. Heshusius and H.L. Zwitzer

• "Het KNIL van tempo doeloe" by C.A. Heshusius

• "Tanda Mata K.N.I.L." by P. van Meel

• "Geillustreerde Atlas van de Japanse Kampen in Nederlands-Indië 1942 - 1945" by J. van Dulm, W.J. Krijgsveld, H.J. Legemaate, H.A.M. Liesker, G. Weijers, E. Brache  (only in Dutch)
This book was published in November 2000 by Asia Maior in Purmerend, Holland. It is an atlas-sized book with 224 pages and describes each and every camp, both POW and civilian, in the whole of the Dutch East Indies 1942-1945, in detail with topographic maps, photographs, descriptions of Japanese commanders, Allied commanders, how many prisoners arrived, when they arrived or when they left, type of work, deaths and much more. Heartily recommended!

• "Bushido Een Doktersverhaal Over De Krijgsgevangenkampen in Siam" by J.M. Cannoo

• "Vleugels van de vloot: De geschiedenis van de Marine - Luchtvaardienstt" by L. Honselaar

• "Als krijgsgevangene naar de Molukken en Flores: Relaas van een Japans transport van Nederlandse en Engelse militairen, 1943-1945" by J.H.W. Veenstra

• "Wij vochten in het bos. De guerillastrijd op Nieuw-Guinea tijdens de tweede wereldoorlog" by Mauretz Ch. Kokkelink

• "Hr.Ms. K XVII en Hr.Ms. O 16. De ondergang van twee Nederlandse onderzeeboten in de Zuid-Chinese Zee (1941) " by Dr. P.C. van Royen and others (The loss of two Dutch submarines in the South China Sea.)

Japanese
• "Java Koryaku Sen to Guadalcanal Gyokusai Sen" by Takeharu Kimura and Seizo Niwano

• "Rakkasan taicho Horiuchi Kaigun Taisa no shogai" by Mitsuharu Uehara

• "NF-bunko of Kojin-sha" by Shinsaku Yamakawa See Pecos

• "The Japanese Navy and the Pacific War (2 Vols)" by Kudo Michihiro  (in Japanese)

Biography, POWs, Internees, Massacres, Survivors & Brutality
• "The Defining Years of the Dutch East Indies, 1942-1949: Survivors' Accounts of Japanese Invasion and Enslavement of Europeans and the Revolution that Created Free Indonesia" by Jan A. Krancher

• "The Cresent and the Rising Sun, Indonesian Islam under the Japanese Occupation 1942 - 1945" by Harry J. Benda

• "The Story of Dr. Wassell" by James Hilton

• "Wind Tracks on the Waters" by Harold J. Hill

• "Weary: The life of Sir Edward Dunlop. The surgeon who became a legend in POW camps on Java" by Sue Ebury

• "East Indies episode. The story of the staff in the East Indies Oil Areas of the Royal Dutch-Shell Group during 1941-1942" by J. Fabricius

• "Proud Echo. The story of those who survived the sinking of the Australian cruiser Perth, which sank off Java during March 1942" by Ronald Mckie

• "The Japanese Experience in Indonesia, selected memories of 1942 - 1945" by Anthony Reid

• "Foo - A Japanese American prisoner of the Rising Sun." A Gunner of 131st Field Artillary Texan National Guard - 'The Lost Battalion' recalls the defence of Java in 1942 and life under the Japanese by Frank 'Foo' Fujita

• "As Luck Would Have It. The Reminiscences Of An Australian Soldier" by John A. Collins

• "Doomed Battalion. The story of Australian soldiers on Timor Island" by Peter Henning

• "Fading Victory. The Diary of Admiral Matome Ugaki 1941-1945" translated by Masataka Chihaya

• "Barbed Wire and Bamboo: Australian POWs in Europe, North Africa, Singapore, Thailand and Japan." by Hugh V. Clarke and Colin Burges

• "Prisoners of war: Australians under Nippon" by Hank Nelson

• "Attention Fool! USS Houston Survivor" by William Weissinger

• "The longest retreat. The story of a British officer of the 3rd Ghurka Rifles, who served in Burma, Honk Kong, Java, Malaya, Eritrea and Egypt" by T. Carew

• "Blind to misfortune. The story of a POW, who lost both eyes and both hands during imprisonment on Java Island" by B. Griffiths

• "Sandakan - The last march. The story of Australian and British POWs held in Java and British North Borneo" by Don Wall

• "A doctor's war. The autobiography of an RAF doctor, captured in Java and eyewitnessed the tragedy in Nagasaki" by A. MacCarthy

• "Out of the smoke. The story of those who survived the sinking of the Australian cruiser HMAS Perth, off Java during" by Ray Parkin

• "No surrender. The story of W.E. Johns, DSM Chief Ordnance Officer and how he survived after the sinking of HMS Exeter in the Java Sea in March 1942" by W.E. Johns & R.A. Kelly

• "The Sparrows. An account of a member of the 79th LAA Battery RA sent to Java to protect the airfields" by Tony Paley

• "Gull Force, survival and leadership in captivity 1941-1945" by Joan Beaumont

• "Prisoner Of War: History of the "Lost Battalion" by Clyde Fillmore

• "Escape to captivity. A British soldier's story of escape from Singapore in 1941 only to be recaptured in Sumatra and become a POW of the Japanese" by P. Hartley

• "Different kind of victory: A Biography of Admiral Thomas C. Hart" by James Leutze

• "Their Last Tenko. An autobiographical account of 242nd RAF Squadron posted to Java and captured by the Japanese. The survivors were incarcerated in brutal conditions on the Island of Haruku and forced to work on airfield construction" by James Home

• "No Time for Fear: Voices of American Military Nurses in World War II" by Diane Burke Fessler

• "Spice Island Slaves. The story of British POWs on Haruku Islands" by Leslie J. Audus

• "Prisoners of the Japanese: POWs of World War II in the Pacific" by Gavan Daws

• "A Thousand Cups of Rice: Surviving the Death Railway" by Kyle Thompson

• "British Sumatra Battalion" by A.A. Apthorp

• "Through a harsh dawn. Author was as a young boy interned by the Japanese in Sumatra" by Hendrik L. Leffelaar

• "The Lost Battalion" by Hollis G. Allen

• "Captives: Australian Army Nurses in Japanese Prison Camps" by Catherine Kenny

• "Australians executed by the enemy, 1939-1945: Special file" by James McClelland

• "Phoenix: Mountbatten: The Official Biography" by Philip Ziegler & William Collins

• "The Will to Survive, a private's view as a prisoner of war, Malaya" by Douglas McLaggan

• "At the Front Line: Experiences of Australian Soldiers in World War II" by Mark Johnston

• "Trapped on Timor: A story of one of the largest and most unusual escapes from Japanese occupied territory by RAAF personnel during the early stages of World War II" by Colin Humphris

• "Last Man Out: Surviving the Burma-Thailand Death Railway (includes Netherlands East Indies)" by H. Robert Charles

• "War, Nationalism and Peasants: Java Under the Japanese Occupation, 1942-1945" by Shigeru Saito

• "Return from River Kwai. The story of the survivors of the Thai/Burma Railroad who were sunk on the way to Japan by American submarines" by Clay and Joan Blair

• "Shobun " A Forgotten War Crime in the Pacific by Michael J. Goodwin

• "The Railroad to Nagasaki. The story of E Battery 131st F.A. from Java to the shipyards and coal mines of Japan" by Thomas B. Woody

• "Shokan: Hirohito's Samurai - Leaders of the Japanese Armed Forces, 1926-1945" by Richard Fuller

• "The Sumatra Railroad: Final Destination Pakan Baroe, 1943-1945" by Henk Hovinga

• "Six bells off Java" by William H. McDougall, Jr.

• "A Dutch Spy in China" by Colonel Henri J.D. de Fremery; edited by prof. Brill and prof. Teitler

• "So long, Singapore: About the last ship to evacuate service personnel from Tjilatjap - 2nd March 1942 - the RAF Auxiliary Boat, the Tung Song" by Hugh Campbell and Ron Lovell

• "Prisoner Doctor: An Account of the Experiences of a Royal Air Force Medical Officer During the Japanese Occupation of Indonesia, 1942-45: A diary of an RAF Medical Officer POW in Java and Haruku Islands" by Richard Philps

• "The Emperors Guest: RAF airman's account of life as a POW in Java and Haruku Islands" by Don Peacock

• "My Life With the Samurai:: A POW account of Java and Haruku Islands by the son of a planter in Malaya who joined the RAF. Contains list of all POWs building airstrip at Semarang - late 1942/early 1943" by Anthony Cowling

• "The Knights of Bushido: A History of Japanese War Crimes During World War II", including details of DEI POW camps by Lord Russel of Liverpool

• "The Rising Sun in the Spice Islands : A History of Ambon during the Japanese Occupation" by Richard Chauvel

• "Hidden Horrors: Japanese War Crimes In World War II" by Yuki Tanaka

• "Under the Rising Sun: War, Captivity and Survival 1941-1945" by Edward W. Weiss

  Special Dutch East Indies 1941-1942 Bibliography prepared by Jacques Jost