BRITISH MILITARY INTELLIGENCE IN JAVA AND SUMATRA, 1945–46

Abstract

In the period immediately after World War II, British-Indian forces occupied the Netherlands East Indies – modern Indonesia. The occupation bridged the gap between the surrender of Japan and the brief resumption of Dutch colonial rule which preceded Indonesian independence. Though intended as a humanitarian intervention, the occupation soon assumed the character of a guerrilla conflict. Indonesian nationalists perceived the occupation force as paving the way for a return of their colonial masters and made strenuous efforts at resistance. This article deals with a single theme of the occupation: intelligence. It charts the inadequate state of intelligence prior to the deployment of the occupation force in the East Indies and the moderate degree of improvement thereafter, setting this in the context of continuing anxieties, resulting in large part from the British colonial experience.