The First Battle of Balikpapan took place on 23–25 January 1942, off the major oil-producing town and port of Balikpapan, on Borneo, in the Netherlands East Indies. After capturing mostly-destroyed oilfields at Tarakan, Japanese forces sent an ultimatum to the Dutch that they would be executed if they destroyed the oilfields there, to no avail.
After destroying the oilfields, Dutch forces retreated inland, taking up positions in and around Samarinda II Airfield, while the Japanese landed and seized the also-destroyed refineries. Shortly thereafter, an American naval task force ambushed the invasion convoy and sank multiple transport ships, but they ultimately failed to stop Japan from swiftly occupying Balikpapan.
Background
Before the war, Balikpapan was a crucial center for Dutch economic enterprises in Borneo. Within the city were two crude oil processing plants, a paraffin and lube oil plant, a cracking plant, a sulfuric acid plant and a precious petroleum refining plant, a tin and drum factory and several workshops. Most importantly, Balikpapan had an oil refinery with a complex of petroleum tanks that could hold eight times as much those at Tarakan, employing up to 7,000 native workers and 100 European employers, who produced up to one millions tons of oil annually before the war.
As the Dutch contemplated the possibility of a Japanese military aggression, they began to bolster defenses to protect the facilities. In 1924, a detachment of six infantry brigades was stationed to defend the oilfields of Balikpapan, as well as those of Semboja and Sanga Sanga (supported by three additional brigades from Samarinda).
Just as the detachment at Tarakan, troops from Java would reinforce the Balikpapan detachment if a threatening situation occurred. In 1933, a battalion staff and two companies were sent to strengthen Balikpapan's defenses, as tensions in the Pacific were rising at the time. After four months, the reinforcement returned to Java. Afterwards, the detachment at Balikpapan was reduced to a single infantry battalion.
In Japan's plan to conquer the Dutch East Indies, Balikpapan held both strategic and tactical significance as a target. Strategically, its oil refinery was vital for Japan's own petroleum production; by occupying it, Japan could have direct access to the large oilfields in Borneo's interior. Tactically, the city also possessed both a harbor and an airfield (Manggar) that would be critical for Japan's occupation of southern Borneo and the capture of Java itself.
Order of battle
United States
59th Destroyer Division (Commander: Paul H. Talbot):
- USS John D. Ford
- USS Parrott
- USS Paul Jones
- USS Pope
Dutch plans
The Dutch garrison in Balikpapan was ordered to defend the city, particularly its oil refineries, against a coup de main and to engage in a delaying action to provide time to destroy the facilities. Once it seemed clear that the city was about to fall into enemy hands, the troops would have to wage a guerilla war in the hinterlands. For the facility destruction, the Dutch demolition detachment allotted three hours and eight hours for Balikpapan and Sambodja, respectively. However, a demolition exercise showed that it would take much more time if the destruction was to be carried out according to plan.
For the defensive preparations, van den Hoogenband established a defensive position at Klandasan to block the road from Manggar Airfield to the city. A second defensive line surrounded the radio station (Radio position), with a third line (Rapak position) constructed to cover the retreat into the hinterlands for the guerrilla campaign.
To prevent enemy landings, Dutch Navy (Koninklijke Marine) minelayers Gouden Leeuw, Eland Dubois and Soemenep laid out a barrier of 290 mines around the approaches to Balikpapan Bay between September 1939 and December 1941.
Finally, to prepare for the guerrilla campaign, van den Hoogenband set up evacuation camps that could accommodate about 3,000 people around 6 to 9 km from Balikpapan. Shortly after the fall of Tarakan, he evacuated Balikpapan civilians to these camps. In addition, food depots were also constructed on the river banks every 10 km from the city and near the oil pumping stations in Wain River and Mentawir to sustain the troops during the guerrilla campaign.
Japanese plans
As the capture of Tarakan went faster than their predicted timetable, the Sakaguchi Detachment and Western Attack Unit moved up their date to occupy Balikpapan. Their orders were:
- The enemy will be contacted and destroyed while every possible effort will be exerted to prevent destruction of the oil refinery installations. The airfield, after its capture, will be used for the invasion of Java. The assault unit will cooperate in the maintenance of the airfield.
- The main force immediately upon landing in the vicinity of the airfield will capture it. Simultaneously, a part of the group will secretly go up the river below the port and make a surprise attack at the enemy's rear in order to break the organized resistance of the enemy garrison. As far as possible, they will prevent the destruction of the oil refinery installations.
- After the capture of the Balikpapan, the Sanga Sanga Oilfield region will be mopped up and secured.
- Preparations will be made to make Balikpapan the center of military administration in South Borneo.
Despite being already ahead of schedule, the debarkation and construction activity to ensure the readiness of Tarakan airfield made little progress. Delaying the airfield's capacity to be used a staging ground for the attack on Balikpapan, Nishimura and Sakaguchi eventually postponed the landing in Balikpapan from 21 January to 24 January. Still, as the postponement did not provide enough time to ready the Tarakan airfield for transport planes, the plan to attack Balikpapan using paratroopers were scrapped.
Concerned that the Dutch defenders intended to destroy the oilfields in Balikpapan, the Japanese planned to release several Dutch POWs with a warning that swift reprisal would fall on defenders and civilians alike should they destroy the refineries.
Battle
Ultimatum and demolition (16-20 January)
To carry the aforementioned ultimatum to the defenders, Sakaguchi tasked Capt. Gerard Reinderhoff, former chief of staff to the Tarakan garrison commander, Lt.-Col. Simon de Waal and Capt. Anton Colijn, manager of the BPM oil company on Tarakan, KNIL reservist and son to the former Dutch prime minister Hendrikus Colijn. On the morning of 16 January, they steamed to Balikpapan aboard the captured BPM motor schooner Parsifal with an Indonesian captain and three Japanese interpreters (other sources say two Japanese naval lieutenants and two sailors; others mentioned three Japanese interpreters and two Indonesian police officers).
Two Dornier Do 24 seaplanes of MLD's GVT.4 Squadron sighted Parsifal, flying a Japanese flag on 19 January. Differing sources indicate that Colijn and Reinderhoff either overpowered or deceived their captors — some accounts claim the Japanese were drunk — and managed to lock them inside a cabin. Colijn then immediately tore down the Japanese ensign, while Reinderhoff waved a Dutch flag. As the seas were too rough for a landing, the Dorniers flew off and returned the next day. The Dorniers returned and landed the following morning, picked up Colijn and Reinderhoff and flew them to Balikpapan, where they delivered the ultimatum directly to van den Hoogenband.
van den Hoogenband wasted no time and immediately gave the order for the demolition team to began destroying all the wells, refineries and port facilities in Balikpapan. The destruction had actually already begun ahead of schedule on 18 January. In the Louise oilfields located north of Balikpapan, Dutch demolition teams dismantled the well tubing, cut off to a depth of 15 meters, which were then dropped down the holes together with pump plungers and accessory rods. To complete the work, materials such as bolts, nuts, and heavy drilling bits was thrown after them. Finally, a tin containing four pieces of TNT was thrown in to destroy the casing strings. Within a few days "all motors, pumps, dynamos and turbines were blown up."
At Balikpapan proper, stills and steam boilers were first wrecked, which took about a day and a half; about thirty hours of “heavy stoking” were required to collapse the shells of the stills, after which the teams destroyed the boilers for five to eight hours. The destruction of the installations then continued throughout the region and at the port itself. First, the teams set fire to the wharves by encircling the channels with burning oil from ignited gasoline drums. They then blew up the factories; the paraffin-wax factory, the packed lubricating-oil drum store, the saltwater pumping station were all dynamited. A newly constructed tin plant in the Pandansari factory was also burned down. The destruction efforts ended with the obliteration of laboratories, tank farms, and the power station, with chains of explosions shattering windows throughout the town. By nightfall on 20 January, the blaze from the destructions could be seen over 100 km away.
Evacuation (20-23 January)
From mid-January 1942, BPM personnel and civilians still left behind began to be airlifted out of Balikpapan. After the fall of Tarakan, three Lockheed Lodestars from the ML-KNIL and a DC-2 from the KNILM were stationed at Surabaya to carry out resupply and evacuation flights. Hundreds of evacuees were flown to Surabaya from Manggar Airfield, as well as Oelin Airfield near Banjarmasin. From January 20, however, evacuations from the city were only possible by flying boats. To avoid reprisals, BPM and KNIL engineers who carried out the demolition, as well as Colijn and Reinderhoff, were also evacuated. On the night of 20 January, the two officers, along with 25 other evacuees left for Java. At the same time, BPM sent out a Grumman Goose to evacuate their company officials and employees, the last one done on 23 January.
On that night, MLD also began their evacuation runs, starting with the two Dorniers of GVT.4 Squadron that made back and forth trips between Balikpapan and Surabaya. They evacuated the city port's naval commander and his personnel, as well as demolition teams who had destroyed the Samboja drilling site. On the next run on 22 January, two additional Dorniers joined the convoy, but only two made the landing on Wain River and evacuated 58 BPM members of the demolition team and the remaining MLD ground personnel. Despite the bad weather and fuel concerns, the planes managed to land in Surabaya. Of the two other Dorniers, one had to return because of the bad weather, while the other one crashed and exploded while trying to land on Sungai Wain, killing four of the five flight crew. Throughout the evacuation, blazing fires from the town helped to guide the planes in, as they were visible a full hour's flight time away.
The rest of the demolition team, 87 Europeans and 10 Indonesians from BPM and other companies, aided by 140 Indonesian porters, marched to Banjarmasin. When Japanese troops cut off the route, the porters ran off and the team decided to split into smaller groups that would try to reach Samarinda II at their own pace. The largest of the groups eventually reached the airfield at the end of February and were evacuated to Java and another group reached the airfield on 8 March, when the Netherlands capitulated. From the rest of the small groups, several reached Banjarmasin using perahus (boat), two groups reached Java after capitulation and one reached Lombok. Yet there were also those who were captured and killed by Japanese troops. In all, out of the 87 Europeans, 41 survived.
Fleet interception (21-23 January)
At 17:00 on the 21 January, the Japanese invasion fleet of one light cruiser, ten destroyers, four minesweepers, three submarine chasers, three patrol boats and sixteen transport ships left Tarakan for Balikpapan. A MLD Dornier spotted the fleet that same day, but heavy clouds with strong winds and prolonged rain prevented the plane from shadowing the fleet. On the next day, U.S. Navy submarines S-40, Pickerel, Porpoise, Saury, Spearfish and Sturgeon were ordered to intercept the fleet. Later, they were joined by Dutch submarines K-XIV and K-XVIII. Sturgeon fired several torpedoes on the convoy and reported sinking three ships. However, postwar records failed to confirm any damages to the convoy.