Category: The ABDA Command Area

MESSIMER, Dwight R. Pawns of War: The Loss of the USS Langley and the USS Pecos. 248p., illus. Annapolis: NIP, 1983. ISBN: 0870215159.

The sinking of America’s first carrier and her rescue ship in a brave dash to deliver fighters to the Allied Forces in Java.    

STILLE, Mark. Java Sea 1942: Japan’s Conquest of the Netherlands East Indies (Campaign 344). 96p., bibliog., illus., index. Oxford: Osprey, 2019. ISBN: 9781472831613.

 A strong account of the campaign.

MACE, Martin & GREHAN, John. Disaster in the Far East 1940-1942: The Defence of Malaya, Japanese Capture of Hong Kong and the Fall of Singapore.  xii, 516p., illus., index. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2015. ISBN: 1783462094.

Reprints four despatches from the London Gazette with a brief introduction, namely 38183, The Defence of Malaya; 38190, Operations in Hong Kong; 38183, the Fall of Singapore; 38216, air operations during the campaigns in Malaya and the Netherlands East Indies.

SKEELS, Fred. Java Rabble: a Story of a Ship, Slavery and Survival. viii, 151p., illus. Carlisle, W.A. : Hesperian Press, 2008. ISBN 9780859054195.

The story of the sinking of HMAS Perth and its aftermath as experienced by one of the survivors.

WOMACK, Tom. The Allied Defense of the Malay Barrier, 1941-1942. viii, 358p., bibliog., illus., index. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2016. ISBN: 9781476662930.

A good account which adopts the Dutch perspective on the build up to war and its impact on the Dutch possessions in the East Indies.

SKEELS, Fred. The Java Rabble: A Story of a Ship, Slavery and Survival. viii, 151p., illus. Perth: Hesperian, 2008. ISBN: 0859054195.

Skeels joined the navy in 1941 at the age of eighteen, and a year later was in the great battles of the Java Sea and Sunda Straits in which the Perth and its allies were sunk. Held in the Japanese death camps until the war’s end, he was shipped as a slave labourer from Java to Malaya, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and finally Japan.

WELCH, Ken. A Sailor at War 1939-1945. 174p., illus. Kindle e-book, 2014

The personal memories of Albert Edward Welch, the author’s father, who served on  Mauritius, Capetown, Widnes and Centurion mainly in the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean, as well as D-Day. A fairly bland if accurate account enlivened with a handful of personal anecdotes.

COX, Jeffrey R. Rising Sun, Falling Skies: The Disastrous Java Sea Campaign of World War II. 368p., bibliog., illus., index. Oxford: Osprey, 2014. ISBN: 1780967268.

A good modern account which looks at all the Allies, is critical of MacArthur and supportive of Doorman.

WALLER, John. Two Ships: They Stand Watch in Sunda Strait. 176p., bibliog., illus., index. Seattle: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012. ISBN: 146647985X.

The author’s father captained Perth when she and USS Houston were sunk in battle with Japanese forces. Of fairly limited value.

READY, J. Lee. The Massacre of ABDACOM: The Destruction of the United States, British, Dutch and Australian Forces by the Japanese In World War II. 436p. Seattle: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013. ISBN: 1492243787.

A substantial account of the sweeping Japanese victory which tries to name and shame those who failed on the Allied side.

The author was Senior Pilot at Tjilatjap in Java and describes the crumbling of the Dutch and British Empires as he saw it, until his evacuation to Australia.

COX, Jeffrey R. Rising Sun, Falling Skies: The Disastrous Java Sea Campaign of World War II. 368p., bibliog., illus., index. Oxford: Osprey, 2014. ISBN: 1780967268.

A good modern account which looks at all the Allies, is critical of MacArthur and supportive of Doorman.

WINSLOW, Walter G. The Ghost that Died at Sunda Strait. xx, 244p., bibliog., illus., index. Annapolis: NIP, 1984. ISBN: 0870212184.

An expansion of his earlier work, covering the sinking of Houston and Perth and the Battle of the Java Sea.

A survivor of the Houston recalls her service and particularly her part in the Battle of the Java Sea and her sinking fighting the Japanese with Perth in the Battle of Sunda Strait.

While the book is generally concerned with the loss of the Far East from the American point of view, it has useful information on the ABDA Command. The author was an officer on Houston at the time.

Another of the excellent volumes in this series, paying the usual close attention to detail. Unusual in that it emphasises the Dutch view.

Relates the story of the naval operations in and about the Java Sea from December 7, 1941, to March 1, 1942. A full and accurate account.

An account of the last action of Perth in the Sunda Strait by one of her surviving crew and of the fate of some of the survivors. Continued as Into the Smother, q.v.

The first full account of the final action of Perth and Houston in the battle of Sunda Strait and of the fate of the survivors over the next few days. US title: The Survivors

The history of the fleet from its creation in the 1850s until the Japanese swept it aside in 1942. Contains a full and well-written American view of their little-known part in the failure to stop the Japanese advance.