Timor is a large, mountainous
island near the eastern end of the Netherlands East Indies
island arc. West Timor was under
Dutch control while East Timor
was a Portuguese colony and, theoretically, neutral territory during
the Pacific War. The Australians
and Dutch garrisoned it anyway, on 17 December 1941, with 400 troops.
The major ports were Kupang in West
Timor and Dili in East Timor.
Both Kupang and Dili were invaded on 20 February 1942. The Kupang convoy was composed of nine transports escored by a light cruiser and eight destroyers, while the Dili convoy consisted of five transports, two destroyers, two minesweepers, and a number of submarine chasers. The assault force was drawn from 228 Regiment and 1 Yokosuka Special Naval Landing Force. The latter included paratroops that were dropped behind Kupang to trap the garrison, which surrendered byy 23 February. The landings at Dili were almost unopposed.
Timor is good guerrilla
country, with a population that was friendly to the Allies, and a substantial body
of Allied troops took to the hills as guerrillas. These operated with
some effectiveness for six months, but by November 1942 the Japanese
were able to mount an effective anti-guerrilla campaign, and the Allied
troops were spirited away by American
submarines between December 1942
and February 1943.
References
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia (c) 2008 by Kent G. Budge. Index
