Hein ter Poorten

Hein ter Poorten was born November 21, 1887 in Buitenzorg (today Bogor) and died January 15, 1968 in The Hague , is a Dutch military, general of army in the Royal Netherlands Indies Army during the Second World War.

Biography

He was born in Buitenzorg, now Bogor , on the island of Java , then part of the Dutch East Indies . After being sworn in as an artillery officer in 1911, Ter Poorten helped found the Air Force, and in 1919 began his studies at the Hogere Krijgsschool (Higher War School ) in Haarlem ¹ .

During the inter-war period he regularly climbed the ladder, and on his return to the East Indies in July 1939 he became a general and a member of the staff of the Dutch Army of the Indies. The death of General Gerardus Johannes Berenschot in a plane crash in October 1941 saw Ter Poorten promoted to Commander in Chief of the Royal Netherlands Indies Army .

Ter Poorten was regarded by his contemporaries in the army as a skilful commander with a solid understanding of military affairs in the East Indies; he was therefore able to get on well with his subordinates and fellow officers; his relations with the civil administration have been less successful.

In January 1942, after the outbreak of the war with Japan, Ter Poorten was appointed commander of land forces in the US-British-Dutch-Australian command, a single short-term command of all Allied forces in Southeast Asia.

In March, Ter Poorten became the leader of all the allied forces of Java, following the rapid advance of the Japanese, he must surrender unconditionally to the Japanese. He spent the rest of the war in various POW camps and returned in 1945 to the Netherlands.

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