Overvalwagens!
Gun trucks in Surinam and on Java
K.N.I.L. (that was not only supposed to defend the East Indies, but also Surinam in South
America) intensively used light trucks, fitted with heavy AA machine guns to protect its troops,
columns, airbases, etcetera against enemy planes. Truck brands used were Ford, Ford/
Marmon-Herrington, Chevrolet and Opel. The latter two brands were imported in the Dutch East
Indies through the General Motors assembly plant at Tandjong Priok, the port of the capital
Batavia, now Jakarta. Most types were commercially available, some were purpose-built types.
In 1939 Surinam Governor Kielstra complained to
the Dutch government that he had no money and
means to defend the colony in the case of war,
after which he received NLG 100.000 for which he
bought six of these vehicles in 1940 among other
things (JJ Nortier in Stabelan Magazine). According
to Bart Vanderveen (picture), this was a 1/2 ton
Ford 19c truck, modified by Marmon-Herrington as
a Machine gun truck (but still 4x2). The truck was
also fitted with stabilizing jacks.
The vehicle was nothing more that a chassis/cowl Ford commercial vehicle.
Simple wooden benches were fitted for the 3 men crew. A Colt-Browning
.50 water-cooled heavy anti-aircraft machine gun was placed on a high
mount. The gunner hung himself in leather straps to move freely with the
gun (Picture from the Beeldbank/National Archives). For a colour picture of
this truck and more information on Marmon-Herrington trucks see Hanno
Spoelstra's Marmon-Herrington site.
A little later during the war Ford GTB's entered service with
the Dutch forces in Surinam, but we do not know at which
stage. On the picture, a tank unit (with Marmon-Herrington
gun tanks) prepares to move out the main barracks in the
capital Paramaribo. A platoon of 5 Ford GTB's (one with
winch, four with water-cooled .50) is ready to roll. There is
little information, but presumably these vehicles received the
guns of the by then obsolete Ford trucks (picture:
Beeldbank/National Archives).
April 2005 picture of the month is a Ford guntruck
shot in Suriname during WW2. The truck appears
to be a Marmon-Herrington 4x4 conversion, fitted
with a watercooled Colt-Browning anti-aircraft
machinegun. It looks like a local job, with
improvised troop seats.K.N.I.L. used similarly
converted trucks on Java as well.
See also the guntrucks chapter on this site. Picture
courtesy Hans Heesakkers.
Back to Java, where K.N.I.L. had some experience with machine gun trucks of their own make.
In the late nineteen thirties the four Infantry regiments on Java (1, 2, 4, 6) all received a
motorised Afdeling Pantser- en Luchtafweer (APLA), or Anti-tank and Anti-aircraft Company.
This regimental unit was equipped with 6 Boehler 4,7cm AT guns (with Vickers tractors) and 9
light trucks with water cooled .50 Colt-Browning heavy AA machine guns, fitted on an ex-naval
mount. By January 1942 there was a total of 42 PLA-wagens (as these vehicles were called),
distributed over the 4 regiments in this way: 15 in PLA-1, 9 each in PLA-2, PLA-4 and PLA-6.
In the fighting on Java many PLA-wagens saw action and the well-trained crews managed to
shoot down several planes. Read more on these units here.
Chevrolet 1940 model light
trucks or pick-ups (called
autolette in the Indies) were
mostly used. The design was
simple. The civilian style
chassis with cab received a
wooden body with low
dropsides (picture from Tanda
Mata KNIL).
Another type of light vehicle used was the 1935
Opel P4 delivery van (Lieferwagen) chassis. This
vehicle was significantly smaller and had no cab.
Adam Opel AG exported worldwide under orders of
the Third Reich from 1935. Right hand drive Opels
were exported everywhere including the UK, and
this would have been a Lieferwagen imported as a
chassis-cab by General Motors Java. According to
David Hayward, GM historian, Opel exported
10,676 Opels to the NEI and Indonesia from 1912
to 1962.
Another shot of the same
vehicle. All Opel pictures
show the APLA unit
stationed at Bandung
before WW2. These are still
the nineteen thirties: the
troops are wearing their
peaked caps. Later, in
1941-42 the crew would
have worn helmets (picture
from Tanda Mata KNIL).
September 1941, the
big K.N.I.L. parade at
Batavia. Two heavy
.50 Colt-Browning AA
machine guns have
been fitted on a
Chevrolet 1940 model
as used by K.N.I.L. and
its auxiliary forces
(Picture from Orient
Magazine). These
trucks, guns and men
probably belonged to
the AA Battalion
stationed in Batavia.
In 1941 the Dutch authorities
purchased a number of these
4x4 Ford/Marmon-Herrington
LLDMG5-4 light trucks, similiar
to the ones used by the US
Marines at the time (picture
through Bill Murray).
The vehicles were to be armed with 3 machine guns. "Its
intended use was to protect emergency landings, temporary
landing fields, fuel and ammunition dumps, etc. (Hanno
Spoelstra)". The machine guns were fitted on a dash mount,
an AA mount rear and a high mount to the right of the driver
respectively. The trucks were probably ordered for use in the
Netherlands East Indies, though we have no proof the vehicles
actually arrived before the Fall of Java. Some reportedly
ended up in Australia, where at least one truck survives.
Judging from the description of their use, it is likely the
vehicles were intended for territorial units and not for front
line troops. The unarmoured vehicles had to rely on
speed. This picture (Fred Crismon) shows an earlier
model, in service with US Army as training vehicle, but
originally designed as escort and anti-aircraft trucks. Note
how the crew in action is exposed to enemy fire.
A little off topic, but no less interesting is this picture (for the month of
June 2005). It has been published twice recently. Once in "Odyssee
van een Marinier" by Dutch Marine Arie van Wijk and once in "Het
Korps Mariniers in de Twintigste Eeuw. Van Peking tot Albanie" by the
Dutch Navy. It shows two of the 5 or 6 vehicles used by the Dutch
Marines stationed on Curacao in the 1930s. Both trucks are US
sourced Internationals. The trucks are loaded with AA-machineguns on
a Navy mount, probably just for the occasion.