What happened to the Dutch Antilles during WW2? Cause you may think these
islands were far away from Nazi aggression but you would be wrong. Cause the Nazis did
carry out an attack on both Aruba and Curaçao. This here is a story of the Dutch Antilles during
WW2, as I'm here in front of a WW2 monument in Willemstand, Curaçao, keep watching!
The history of the Netherlands Antilles (or the Dutch West Indies) and the Netherlands goes back
more than 400 years. During the time of the voyages of discovery, the Spanish arrived on
the islands. They enslaved the inhabitants. In 1634, the islands were conquered by the
Dutch West India Company (WIC), which was an association of Dutch traders. They transported
African slaves to the islands. Slavery was eventually abolished by the Dutch in 1863.
The islands of the Antilles consisted of the islands of Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire
(near Venezuela and the mainland of South America) and the islands of St.Maarten,
Saba and St.Eustatius near U.S. Puerto Rico. In 1940, Curaçao had 67,000 inhabitants,
Aruba 31,000 and Bonaire 6,000, and the others about 4,000 in total.
The Netherlands was attacked on May 10th 1940 and from that moment the Dutch colonies
overseas (Dutch Antilles, Suriname as well as Dutch East Indies) were on their own. Seven
German ships that were in the port here were seized by the Dutch, although the German crew
did try to set fire on these ships. Also immediately in Suriname as well as in the
Dutch Antilles German inhabitants were arrested, regardless of the fact that they were Nazi
supporters or not. Already on May 10th they were apprehended and this also included German Jews
that had fled Germany regardless of their sympathies they were arrested. In the Antilles they
were transferred to Bonaire. On Aruba and Curaçao there was much more economic activity, hence Bonaire was chosen.
First, the internees on Bonaire were housed in three school buildings:
one for women and children, one for German sailors and one for the other men. After
only a few days the sailors revolted and not long afterwards they were transferred
to British Jamaica. The camp on Bonaire was completed in July 1940. It could house more
than two hundred internees. It was a relatively small camp with modest security. The women and
children were housed in small houses, the men in a large shed. Just as in Suriname,
security was significantly strengthened after an escape attempt in September 1941.
From that moment on, large spotlights were focused on the camp day and night.
During the Second World War, a total of 461 people were transported to Bonaire and imprisoned.
On May 11, 1940, 180 French soldiers arrived in Aruba and two days later some 800 British
soldiers arrived in Curaçao. They came to protect the refineries in particular. These
were considered crucial for processing oil from nearby Venezuela into gasoline for the Allies.
After the Netherlands surrendered to Germany, officially on May 15, 1940 the local governors
gained more power because the Dutch government had evacuated to London and payed less attention
to the overseas territories. In July 1940, the French soldiers in Aruba were replaced by British,
as France had surrendered. Along the coast of Curaçao guns were placed to protect the coast
and especially the harbor and also two Dutch and three Norwegian ships were armed for escorting the
oil tankers. Initially the Germans did not want to attack the islands so as not to provoke the
Americans (who were not officially involved in the war until December 1941). Meanwhile, oil refining
capacity in the Antilles was greatly expanded. At one point in mid-1941, 80% of all Allied
gasoline was coming from the Antilles. In early 1942, some 6 American planes started flying to
and from the Antilles. Americans were stationed on Aruba and the runway of Dakota airport was
extended. Large camouflaged parking lots for the American planes were built around the airport. The
area was cordoned off with barbed wire and guarded by American troops. Curaçao's Hato airport was
also modernized considerably. Thus, during World War II, Hato became one of the most important and
busiest airports in the Caribbean. The runway at Bonaire's small airport was also extended.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in December 1941 Americans became
officially involved in the war. Soon the Japanese advanced into Asia and
the attack on the Dutch East Indies began. In early February 1942, Americans replaced the
British military in the Antilles: with 1,400 US soldier on Curaçao and 1,100 on Aruba.
The Germans were now also at war with America, and just four days after the Americans arrived,
the Germans launched "Operation Paukenschlag" with German submarine attacks. These attacks came
as a complete surprise to the Americans on their East Coast between Florida and New York. But the
Caribbean was also part of the operation. On the night of February 15-16, 1942, the first German
torpedo was fired in the war in the Western Hemisphere. A tanker was torpedoed off Aruba
by the German U-156, but it did not sink, though four other tankers sank that night. Off Curaçao
south of Willemstad's Anna Bay, a tanker was torpedoed at 04:00 a.m. on that same day. The ship
broke in half. In the first weeks of the German operation with submarines, a total of no less
than 21 Allied ships were sunk. Some more intense German submarine attacks followed in late 1942.
In the Antilles, the CAFAC was established in 1942: the American command "Commander All Forces
Aruba (and) Curaçao." This worked in conjunction with the local troops and militia. On Aruba,
the militia were stationed at Savaneta near the local American camp. The militia was mainly
involved in artillery and coastal defense. Blackouts were introduced and ships started sailing in
convoy with some placed anti-aircraft guns on them. American aircraft were also stationed for
reconnaissance and against submarine attacks. In general, the Americans did not have a high
opinion of the local troops; they also looked down on the various "races" (so to say) in the
local Dutch militia. The U.S. Army still had strictly separate ethnicities and ranks. The
American presence did stimulate the local economy immensely, although of course it still sometimes
caused problems for the local inhabitants. Of course the Germans had no planes at their disposal
in the Caribbean region so a pure air defense was actually not necessary. In October 1942, Prince
Bernhard (the husband of princes Juliana) visited Curaçao. I wanted to mention George Maduro, a man
of Jewish descent that was born on Curaçao, fought as an officer at the Battle of Ypenburg during the
German invasion of the Netherlands, joined the resistance during the German occupation and would
eventually die in Dachau concentration camp. The miniature city of Madurodam is named after him.
I also wanted to mention Segundo Jorge Adelberto (Boy) Ecury who came from Bonaire, but went to
school in the Netherlands. He witnessed the German bombing of Rotterdam in May 1940 and later joined
the resistance. He bombarded German trucks with homemade incendiary bombs. He sabotaged railway
lines and offered help to people in hiding and Allied pilots. At one point Boy had to go into
hiding himself. The Germans hunted the resistance fanatically and Boy stood out too much with his
dark skin color. In November 1944 he was arrested in Rotterdam. Shortly after, at the age of 22,
he was executed on the Waalsdorpervlakte were many Dutch resistance members were killed.
The islands of Sint Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius felt little of the war,
but did experience scarcity. This was a result of the termination of the ship connection with
Curaçao in 1942 because of possible submarine actions. Construction of an airfield on St.
Maarten became urgent and was completed in 1943. During that year the Germans were forced more
on the defensive and the submarine war played out mainly in the North Atlantic on the routes
from America to Britain. By September 1943 local submarine attacks in the West were virtually over.
In fact, the German threat was there for about a year and a half. That did not mean that the
American force was dwindling, and in particular in Suriname, which was much larger than the Antilles,
some 2,000 US soldiers remained stationed. In February and March 1944 Crown Princess Juliana
again visited Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire and St. Maarten. She inaugurated the constructed airfield
on St. Maarten. Furthermore, the island was visited regularly by practicing American planes.
Early 1944 when the war already took a very different turn and Germany was on the losing side,
the number of military personnel was limited to about 500 men in March 1945. But the threat
was not gone, until 1944 some ships were still torpedoed off the coast of Aruba,
among others. Germany capitulated in May 1945 but Japan remained at war.
The effort was not only local. Many Antilleans and Surinamese enlisted during the war for
service aboard ships and merchant marine as gunners. Hundreds lost their lives during the
war's convoy attacks and at least 49 ships were lost. Some even went to the East and Australia
and fought against Japan in Indonesia. In August 1945 World War II was over as Japan surrendered.
I talked about Suriname specifically in another video. If you haven't seen my video
on Suriname during WW2 yet, click here! Thanks for watching and I see you later.