10th Battalion's Encampment in Batavia

Other name: Kampement 10de Bataljon Infanterie, Cycle Camp
Internees: prisoners of war
Number of internees: 10.569
Information: From March 25th 1942, Dutch, Moluccan, Menadonese, Timorese, British, Australian, and American prisoners of war were interned in the barracks and houses at the 10th Battalion infantry encampment. Because part of the encampment had been used as a shelter for a company of cyclists, the English speaking prisoners of war called the camp the “Cycle Camp”. The camp functioned as a transition camp for prisoners of war from elsewhere who were being sent via Tandjoeng Priok to overseas labour camps. Between April and 28 December 1942, the governor-general jhr. mr. A.W.L. Tjarda van Starkenborch Stachouwer, luitenant-generaal H. ter Poorten, and other highly placed civil servants and military personnel who had fallen into Japanese hands in the Netherlands East-Indies were also interned at the camp. On 28 December they were put on transports for Singapore and Formosa.
Commendant: kpt. Yamamoto Hisao; Sonei Kenichi; kpt. Maruyama Naosuke; kpt. Kurashima Hideichi; kpt. Nishikawa Shikasaburo
Camp leaders: gen.-maj. G.A. Ilgen; vice-adm. P.C. Maltby; brig.-gen. A.S. Blackburn; lt.-kol. L.F. Lanzing
Literature: Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., Advocaat-soldaat: oorlogsherinneringen (Amsterdam 1999)
Audus, L.J., Spice Island slaves. A history of Japanse prisoner of war camps in Eastern Indonesia, May 1943-August 1945 (Ham 1996)
Veenstra, J.H.W. e.a., Als krijgsgevangene naar de Molukken en Flores. Relaas van een Japans transport van Nederlandse en Engelse militairen 1943-1945 ('s-Gravenhage 1982)
Kesasar, Totok, Geen saai leven. Het leven van een thee- en rubberplanter gedurende de jaren 1926-1947 [1982])
Korteweg, R., De 1000 van Amahei (Batavia [1946])
Jacobs, L., Executie van een dwangarbeid: krijgsgevangen op de Zuid-Molukken en Flores 1976)
Hovinga, H., Op dood spoor. Het drama van de Pakan Baroe-spoorweg 1943-1945 (Franeker 2009-5)
Liesker, H.A.M. e.a., Je denk, ken niet, maar kèn!! (Waddinxveen 1997)
Schoonenberg, B., De poorten der hel. Van Batavia tot Pakan Baroe, veertig maanden slavenarbeid in Japanse gevangenkampen 1942-1945 (Bussum 1978)
Hofstede, N.W., De slaven van Roku Ban (Franeker 1979)
Scholten, P., Op reis met de 'Special party'. Oorlogs- en kampherinneringen van P. Scholten (Leiden 1971)
Sorgdrager, D., Kamperen met oom Nippon (Oosterbeek 2007-2)
Hamel, J.C., Soldatendominee. Ervaringen van een legerpredikant in Japanse krijgsgevangenschap (Franeker 1980-3)
Hovinga, H., The Sumatra railroad. Final destination Pakan Baroe, 1943-1945 (Leiden 2010)

Other name: Kampement 10de Bataljon Infanterie, Cycle Camp
Internees: men, women, and children
Number of internees: 8.000
Information: At the time of the Japanese capitulation, there were approximately 1,500 prisoners of war in the 10th Battalion encampment. Most of the prisoners were taken in the period May-July 1945 to Bandoeng. In November the camp filled up with families, primarily Moluccan and Indo-European, who were fleeing and sought refuge in the camp. In February 1946 the camp sheltered approximately 8,000 men, women, and children. The people were housed in large sheds, and sarongs were hung up to separate the families from each other. The sanitary facilities at the camp had not been intended to serve so many, and the clothing was in general very poor. The camp was protected by Moluccan KNIL military personnel.
Commendant: kpt. Nishikawa Shikasaburo
Guards: Moluccan KNIL soldiers