| Japanese troops landed on Bangka Island, east of Sumatra, and entered Pangkal Pinang. The Netherlands East Indies forces in the Java region surrendered on March 9, and over 90,000 soldiers became prisoners of war. An advance force of 2 companies of the Imperial Japanese Army 229th Infantry Regiment, 38th Infantry Division, under the command of Colonel Ryōzaburō Tanaka (May 1, 1895 – August 8, 1970) landed on Bangka. They landed at Muntok, a tin smelting town on the west coast of Bangka, and 1 company seized the airfield. The other marched to Pangkal Pinang, the capital on the east coast. Another 5 companies landed in Sumatra. The Japanese arrested 200 male residents and imprisoned them in the city jail from April 9, 1942, until May 30, 1944, when they were moved to a camp at Muntok. They also arrested 4 women on April 9 who were held in a house in town and moved to Muntok with the men. 40 of the 50 or so Allied commercial and military vessels that fled Singapore ran into the Imperial Japanese Navy’s escorts accompanying the transports carrying the main body of the 38th Infantry Division’s Sumatra invasion force. The Allied ships were all sunk. Thousands of people were killed, and their bodies washed up on Bangka Island. The Japanese and Chinese bandits killed survivors. Women were raped and then killed. 22 Australian Army nurses were raped and machine-gunned after their transport, the steamship Viner Brooke, was sunk while fleeing Singapore. Another 60 Australian and British soldiers and Dutch crewmembers were killed. Muntok had a 1,000 shipwrecked men, women, and children housed in the jail and movie theatre from February 15, 1942, to March 2, 1942, when they were moved to Sumatra. Only South Australian nurse Sister Lieutenant Vivian Bullwinkel (December 18, 1915 – July 3, 2000), American Eric Germann (October 7, 1913 – November 9, 2000), and Royal Navy Stoker Ernest Lloyd (November 15, 1916 – March 1991) survived the war. Private Cecil G. Kinsley (April 4, 1909 – March 24, 1942) initially survived the massacre with Bullwinkel; she bandaged their wounds, and they staggered into Muntok; they kept their wounds and the story of the massacre a secret from their Japanese captors, who would’ve killed them if they found out they were survivors. Bullwinkel positioned a water canteen over her hip wound to hide it. Kinsley died a few weeks later of his wounds. Bangka Island was occupied throughout the war. Indonesia declared independence in August 1945, and the Netherlands attempted to reassert colonial control in 1946, sparking the Indonesian National Revolution, which lasted until 1949. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1530.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.72 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 4752 x 3068 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | Imperial Japanese Army |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | February 15, 1942 |
| Location | |
| City | Pangkal Pinang |
| State or Province | Bangka Island |
| Country | Netherlands East Indies |
| Archive | |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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