Battle of Tarakan (1942)

Battle of Tarakan
Part of World War II, Pacific War, Dutch East Indies campaign
Date 11–12 January 1942 Location Tarakan Island, Dutch East Indies Result Japanese victory
Belligerents
Netherlands	Japan
Commanders and leaders
Simon de Waal  Anthonie van Versendaal †	Shizuo Sakaguchi Shoji Nishimura
Strength
1,365[1]	6,600
Casualties and losses
300 killed 40 wounded 871 captured (of which 215 executed) 1 minelayer sunk	255 killed 38 wounded 2 minesweepers sunk

The Battle of Tarakan took place on 11–12 January 1942, a day after the Empire of Japan declared war on the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Although Tarakan was only a small marshy island off northeastern Borneo (now divided between Indonesia's Kalimantan and Malaysia's East Malaysia) in the Netherlands East Indies (today's Indonesia), its 700 oil wells, refineries, and airfield made it a crucial objective for Japan in the Pacific War.^[2]