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|commander1= Middle Sumatra: Major-General Roelof T. Overakker〔 West-Sumatra: Lieutenant Colonel John Blogg North-Sumatra: Colonel George Gosenson〔 Rear-Admiral Karel Doorman |commander2= Vice-Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa〔 〕 Rear-Admiral Shintarō Hashimoto Rear-Admiral Kakaji Kakuta Lieutenant-General Tomoyuki Yamashita 16th Army: Lieutenant-General Hitoshi Imamura |strength1= |strength2= |casualties1= |casualties2= |}} The Invasion of Sumatra was the assault by Imperial Japanese forces on the Dutch East Indies that took place from 14 February to 28 March 1942. The invasion was part of the Pacific War in South-East Asia during World War II and led to the capture of the island. The invasion of Sumatra was planned to occur prior to the invasion of Java to destroy the west flank of the allies and to give access to Java. ==Background== After the Japanese successfully conquered the Malay Peninsula, the Allies began to transfer personnel in December 1941 to Sumatra. First British and Australian bombers were moved in relays to the south of the island to recuperate from losses on the Malay peninsula. In addition, a convoy brought about 3,400 Australian soldiers to Sumatra. In a joint conference on 16 December, the Dutch requested aid to strengthen the defence of Sumatra and Java. Furthermore, plans were made in Sabang to establish Medan and Pekanbaru supply camps. However, these plans were revised on the 27 December, with airfields P1 (Pangkalanbenteng) and P2 (Praboemoelih) near Palembang selected as locations of the new headquarters to station an operational bomber relay. P2 had not been discovered by the Japanese reconnaissance flights up to then. Because of the poor state of the airfields, the relocation began on 31 December; available ground staff arrived at the beginning of January. Another airfield was located in Oosthaven, today's Bandar Lampung. Works on roads were also started in Medan and Pekanbaru. Lack of anti-aircraft guns was remedied with the delivery of six heavy and six light Bofors anti-aircraft guns to each Palembang airfield. Another eight anti-aircraft guns were placed at the refineries.〔 However, there was an ammunition shortage, because the ammunition delivery ships had been sunk by the Japanese during the crossing.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Invasion of Sumatra (1942)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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