Episode 20: the Sledgehammer and the Egg

As we already discussed, the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies, in modern day Indonesia, was crucial to their pacific strategy. This would allow them to consolidate their southern front, provide them a massive wealth of natural resources, and create a jumping off point to a potential invasion of Australia. Even before the fall of singapore the Japanese had begun their efforts to begin securing the indonesian archipelago. Landings had already taken place in both Borneo and Sumatra but the real crux of the island chain was Java.