WesWorld

18 July
Foreign Minister Jan Baars read the communiques on his desk after settling down with the first cup of coffee of the morning. The first was from his counterpart in Batavia regarding the news of a joint Japanese-Pacifica maritime zone sprawling ever further outwards towards the East Indies. The document fretted how local fishermen and commercial tramps would be affected and the economics it would have. The second document was from Berlin, a copy of their response to the actions of Japan.
Jan reached for the telephone, "Albert, arrange a meeting with me and the Japanese ambassador as soon as possible. Impress upon them the urgency of the meeting."

As civil war and colonial crakdowns continue in Ubangi-Shari news comes of greater proof of the Kingdom of Knogo's complicity in maintaining white rule in Africa.
The Kongolese government have placed orders for 5,000 more FN SLR rifles, 32 M45 Pantserwagen armoured cars and 32 GD-45 tracked carriers to equip its forces currently engaged in combat in trying to supress the rebels.
The Association calls on the Dutch and Belgian governments to void these orders and begin negotiations with General N'Dofa. This war is unjust and serves those who seek power and control over the indigenous people's land and wealth. Open dialogue is the only way forward. To this end, Julius Limbani, the only viable Ubangi political leader with the will and power to bring peace must be released from his house arrest and allowed to lead his party towards reconciliation.

4 August

Padang Docks, Sumatra
The Customs Official looked at the small party of Sumatrans and their packing cases.
"These documents state you are travelling to East Africa?"
The leader of the group of twenty smart dressed men spoke up, "Yes Sir. We are a geographical survey expedition bound for Kongo."
The Customs Official stamped the documents. "Not a healthy place to go these days. Could you open the cases please?"
The leader waved his hands, "Oh no, we have delicate equipment in them. It must be handled very carefully. We beg you Sir not to disturb them."
The Customs Officer felt something was wrong. "I see. Let me get some fragile labels and some Form 207s, then they won't be disturbed further."
The man nodded in agreement and the Customs Officer went into his shed-like office. He picked up the telephone and rang his superior. When he returned with the labels the Dock Inspector and ten armed Police arrived.
"I am the Dock Inspector. I must insist you open the cases."
The group quickly tried to escape, three of them were subdued with rifle butts and a couple of others were wrestled to the ground. Another broke free but unfortunately ran into the path of a truck and was killed outright. Two of the party managed to evade capture.
The Customs Officer and Inspector ripped into the boxes with a crowbar and found instead of survey equipment old Mauser rifles and ZB vz. 26 machine guns.
The leader of the Sumatran nationalists trying to join N'Dofa's rebels shook his head as he was thrown into a truck. One day he would finally make his blow against Dutch colonialism.

18 August
The cruiser Van Ghent and the destroyers Z58 and Z59 have begun patrols along the outer edges of the Pacifica Maritime Zone.

24 August
A Putten class escort today intercepted a Moro refugee boat some 60km off the Nieuw Guinea coast. It contained 30 refugees who were suffering from dehydration and exposure. They were taken aboard and ferried ashore and the vessel was scuttled.

31 August
King’s Day. A national holiday in the Kingdom of the Netherlands in honour of the head of state.
The entire royal family appeared on the platform of Soestdijk Palace, including King Alexander of Kongo. Many people enjoyed walking along the mile-long parade and gave gifts and flowers, in which the platform was covered. Across the Netherlands and the Empire, during the morning schoolchildren walked in procession to their town halls singing patriotic songs, culminating in the anthem. Then they organized traditional children's games in many villages and towns, such as sack races and koekhappen. The day was concluded with a traditional lantern parade. In many places there were celebrations for older youths and adults, including performances by jazz bands. In Diever, the day concluded with a performance of A Mid Summers Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. The translation and direction made by G.P. Broekema, founder of the theatre in the town. Also during the day was a celebration of Queen Wilhelmina’s life.

10 August

Naval Air Station De Kooy
The morning was still and small waves gently lapped against the hull of the giant Fokker flying boat of KLM moored in the basin.
One the quayside three large black Minerva saloons rumbled to a halt. A naval MLD groundcrew Sergeant stood at attention as the rear doors were opened by the escorts. A small party of men exited the cars and stood in a small huddle before a Chief Petty Officer guided them down the gangplank into a small launch. It was still early and the apron was mainly empty of men and no activity could be seen.
As soon as the men were aboard its diesel engine spluttered into life, awaking a few seagulls who flew off into the early morning sun. The launch made its way to the flying boat and the party boarded without mishap, their luggage having already been brought board earlier.
Then the pilot began to start the engines and soon all four were throbbing the spray was being blown back, a head appeared at the mooring hatch in the prow. He raised the sea anchor and soon the big Fokker was moving into the wind and lining up for the take-off.
As they finally got onto the step and then away, the party settled down for their long flight and the stewards began preparing for breakfast.

Hmm... Watson, the game's afoot!

Minor nit and a history bit.

I am not sure why, but when I read the very first bit, it looked kinda weird to me and I did not know why so I went and looked on Google... Oddly enough while we Dutch use "IJ"/"ij" as one letter similar to the Englsh "Y"/"y", De Kooy is actually written with "y" and not "ij".

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vliegveld_de_Kooy

Looking around a bit regarding this, I'm fairly certain that it is a 'y' because of the Dutch spelling back in 1918 when it was built. The name comes from the fact that prior to the construction of the base there, there used to be a Duck decoy (the trap, not the lure) on that location. In Dutch it is eendenkooi ("duck-cage"), sometimes shortened to kooi. While the Dutch spelling may have changed over all those years, names usually do not and remain the same which is most likely why it is De Kooy. If the current version of the Dutch language would have been used back in 1918, it would have been De Kooi.


Regardless of the spelling, definitely a suspicious lot moving out there. Who knows where they are going to cause trouble.

No problem, name amended. Thanks, relying on google translate throws up these oddities, though I'm sure its spelt the wrong way on the English version of wiki.

Suspicious? Who would be suspicious leaving just after dawn in a civilian flying boat from a naval air station? *whistles innocently*

Quoted

relying on google translate throws up these oddities

Yes. While it can help a lot to give you an idea what it is about, sometimes the result with Google translate makes you go like "Uhm... yeah... right..." but I think that that is true for other translating programs as well. For some odd reason (and I don't know why) I always translate stuff from some language into English which makes it pretty hard for me to read it when Google translate decides to spit out weird grammatical English sentences (though it is not as bad as trying to read the old Dutch language which I was trying to do after my previous post).

I recently downloaded the Japanese movie Nobo no Shiro (English title 'The Floating Castle'), and the English sub srt file is quite odd at times and on one or two occasions I noticed some a few German words in the English subtitles which tells me that whoever made that srt file must have taken the German subtitles and thrown it through some online translator. Odd stuff like "The trample with weapons the innocent!" or "You really Nagachika want it?" to name a few.

... maybe I should try and find the German subtitles to see if they make more sense...

Quoted

Suspicious? Who would be suspicious leaving just after dawn in a civilian flying boat from a naval air station? *whistles innocently*

Well, I doubt that they will be going to an oil platform somewhere in the North Sea. Considering the situation, I guess they are off to stir some trouble in Africa.

11 August

Naval Air Station Boma, Kongo
The giant Fokker F.122 touched down gently on the waters of the lake, spray thrown up behind as it came to a slow crawl, turning to taxi in towards the anchorage. Three Fokker T.XII-W naval flying boats were lined up on one side. As the propellers swung to a stop as the pilot cut-off the engines, the bow hatch opened, the engineer with his long pole grabbed the mooring buoy and tied up.
From the shore came a launch, an immaculate MLD crew aboard. The passenger door opened and a party of men disembarked carefully. Once safely aboard the launch made its way back to the shore. Two sentries saluted as one man disembarked behind two others just ahead of him. The line of MLD groundcrew stood to attention. The man shook hands with the base commander, briefly walked along the line of men and then the party got into three black Minerva saloons and the they sped off towards the main gate where they picked up a police motorcycle escort. On the roads they headed north to the city of Tshela.

The cars rumbled into the courtyard of a neat large house, the tyres crunching on the gravel.
The house was a well-kept two-story wooden house with veranda and a trim garden with green lawns and numerous exotic plants. It was a lush and well secluded spot.
An escort held the rear door open of the middle Minerva. Out stepped the man and he hurried indoors to meet his host.

"Alexander, it has been a long time since we met." He shook hands beaming a smile.
"Welcome William. It has indeed been a while, please forgive me for not coming to Mother's funeral but I could not get away. I dare not leave at this delicate time." Alexander was dressed casually and gripping his brother's arm he led him into the large reception room at the side of the house.
William then introduced his small entourage of men, "and this is Wilhelm der Graaf, my personal QIS adviser. A very capable man, I have been glad of his advice many a time."

The men sat and exchanged small talk before getting down to the business of the meeting.
"It was good of you to fly here to meet me, but you did not say in your message why you were coming. I have no specific briefing prepared but my military aide Colonel Mertens can update you on the Ubangi matter.
William waved his hand. "There no need. We know all about the failed attack at Bassangou." Alexander knew the Dutch Army had eyes and ears everywhere within his domains and knew how his brother collected intelligence keenly. All he could do was shrug in disappointment.
"The Army failed me William. The old fools who run the Army are cowardly old men, no doubt treacherous elements want to dispose me here like in Ubangi. Power mad Generals."
William rolled his eyes, "You see this is why I'm here Alexander. You have too many paranoiac feelings and its hampering your judgement in these matters. You cannot win by locking up politicians and sacking Generals. We know what happened to the students in Kabalo last month, even though you kept it supressed. This autocratic style is driving more people into the hands of N'Dofa. They have a taste of power now and the longer you fail to deal with them, the more stronger they grow and more problems occur. It's spreading too, Sumatran nationalists trying to sail here to join the anti-Dutch forces here to steal a blow against our rule, the British have had problems in Rwanda too. Arab men in Chad have been speaking of casting off the European yoke."

Alexander punched the arms of the chair, "It's easy for you to say, who started all this with talk of Confederations, sharing power and closer ties to the Hague! You and Mother, more concerned about your Guilders in the vaults than about my people. You stirred them up with half-promises and half-truths! I shall smash the rebellion and have N'Dofa's head! If you helped us instead of making stunt sideshows the other side of the country, we could have smashed N'Dofa before the rains began."
William tried to stay calm, "Alex, you know we had no choice, we are fighting hard to keep the entire Western portion of Ubangi-Shari safe, but you must realise opinion at home and abroad is not so sympathetic.
Alexander ranted some more but eventually stopped and William eased in his plans, the reason for coming here so secretly.

"Look, we have a set of plans to defeat N'Dofa. First you need to set up a more compliant and fairer government there. Release Julius Limbani from his house arrest. My sources tell me he is a moderate and wise man, someone you can talk too. His Ubangian Socialist Action Party could be rebuilt easily and I'm sure he could share power with the Chamber of Commerce List. He could inspire the people to listen to reason, and with careful watching you could still hold the puppet strings on his power. We keep up the military presence and protect the ballots at the election, we keep hitting hard with mobile forces and hunting down rebel groups in the west. N'Dofa is cut-off in one corner of the country. He has an Army but no economy, no robust political system, no money and no direct access to friendly sources of sustenance. He will wither as his rebels fail, sap their support and morale and he is finished."
"But what about all these arms? Every cheap hood in Europe and Asia is selling them arms!"
"Relax Alex, Before I left, I gave orders to base some ships at Yemen to begin patrols in the Red Sea. They will board and inspect all suspect ships we can identify. I not think the British will stop us and even though some might complain, we can point to events in the northern Middle East to embarrass their lack of success in stopping smuggling."
Alexander smiled, I felt a little better. Sharing power with Limbani went against his grain, but when he had N'Dofa he would be free to do as he liked. "I need more men, artillery, trucks, bombers. Its all very well talking the rebels to death but we need more direct methods too."
William nodded. "You will have more of everything."
"What about the Belgian protests at making arms for us?" Alexander sighed. William looked shocked how he knew this. "We have our own sources too Willi, the QIS is not the only gatherer of information in the world."
William was taken aback slightly, but assured him the weapons would arrive ,even if some deception was required.

After dinner the brothers talked further, made some policy decisions and played cards. The Kings' Party stayed the night and then just after dawn left the residence to head back to Naval Air Station Boma to reboard the Fokker and fly home.

Hmm...

If a Dutch warship were to board a vessel of another flag state on the high seas that could make for some very interesting developments... and a dangerous precedent.

... or not. Just track the vessel with a sub, torpedo it and vanish. No traces. No witnesses. Just another missing vessel. Who can prove that the Dutch have anything to do with it? Best thing to do is to blame the Mexicans.

Quoted from "Rooijen10"

... or not. Just track the vessel with a sub, torpedo it and vanish. No traces. No witnesses. Just another missing vessel. Who can prove that the Dutch have anything to do with it? Best thing to do is to blame the Mexicans. :D

Unfortunately, that method would work only for inscrutable orientals like the Chinese or Chosenians.

The plan would be to act on intelligence received from; a) foreign allied intelligence (UK, France, Germany etc.); b) Dutch agents operating in African ports; c) commercial intelligence.
If en route already to their destination, the idea is to intercept them. Better to catch them on the open sea where they can't run or hide the goods or risk them getting some of them away before the cops arrive. I'm not sure how many ships will be stopped and it should in no way be considered a blockade. Of course if an international naval force can be assembled then the Dutch would welcome that option.

Quoted from "Hood"

The plan would be to act on intelligence received from; a) foreign allied intelligence (UK, France, Germany etc.); b) Dutch agents operating in African ports; c) commercial intelligence.
If en route already to their destination, the idea is to intercept them. Better to catch them on the open sea where they can't run or hide the goods or risk them getting some of them away before the cops arrive. I'm not sure how many ships will be stopped and it should in no way be considered a blockade. Of course if an international naval force can be assembled then the Dutch would welcome that option.

What would be the legal basis upon which to intercept them on the high seas? If not Dutch-registered, you have no authority over them. You have not declared a blockade, as you say. Their cargos may have likely cleared their port legally, the export of munitions is legal, the carriage of munitions is legal, and the Netherlands Navy has no legal basis to check a manifest upon the high seas. This would be the legal situation prevailing in the middle 1940s; today, of course, such matters also involve various UN sanctions that give legal cover for stopping ships believed to be carrying prohibited cargos from one nation to another.

As a practical matter, stopping a vessel on the high seas for inspection would cause an international incident. Do it to a vessel registered under a flag of convenience or some minor nation that hasn't any way to effectively protest the fallout would not be much. Do it to a vessel flying the Japanese, German, French, or American flag and the results could be much more serious. Of course, a vessel of Dutch registry is under your authority. Similarly, once a vessel enters your territorial waters you have more leeway.

It is fraught with difficulties but with the inability of neighbouring authorities to stop this kind of trade (though the Netherlands applaudes Germany for its actions stopping the Altalena) something must be done.
Even if it drives the traders to seek longer inland routes, that increases the chance of them being intercepted by local police etc. Air interdiction of routes into Ubangi could be tried too, but the risk of bombs falling on British territory might be too high.

Quoted

I'm not sure how many ships will be stopped and it should in no way be considered a blockade.

Not sure if a blockade is actually an option. How do you blockade a land-locked region without blockading the ports of other nations that have nothing to do with the conflict?

Quoted

As a practical matter, stopping a vessel on the high seas for inspection would cause an international incident. Do it to a vessel registered under a flag of convenience or some minor nation that hasn't any way to effectively protest the fallout would not be much. Do it to a vessel flying the Japanese, German, French, or American flag and the results could be much more serious.

Considering the location of the DEI, it would be reasonably easy to intercept and inspect vessels from China, Chosen, Indochina, the Philippines, Pacifica and Japan heading west or vessels from other nations heading west through the East China Sea or the Celebes/Ceram/Molucca Seas. A vessel would either have to go between the DEI islands or take the Malacca Strait.

For smugglers in the Southeast and East Asia region it is quite a big detour to take in order to avoid the DEI. Illegal cargoes coming from Australia, the Southern part of Asia west of the DEI, the Americas, Europe and other parts of Africa would be much harder to intercept. So what you say might be true for ships flying the German, French, or American flag but not for ships flying the Japanese flag.

Considering the situation, even if a Dutch naval vessel were to stop and inspect a Japanese cargo ship in the middle of the Indian Ocean, I would think that the Japanese would consider the possibility that their weapons are illegally transported and ending up in the wrong hands a much more serious problem than that some of their ships are stopped for inspection on the high seas by the Dutch.

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Air interdiction of routes into Ubangi could be tried too, but the risk of bombs falling on British territory might be too high.

You should drop enough bombs along the borders to make the area more cratered than the surface of Callisto. That way it would be impossible for smugglers to get the illegal goods across the border and into Ubangi.

Quoted

Considering the location of the DEI, it would be reasonably easy to intercept and inspect vessels from China, Chosen, Indochina, the Philippines, Pacifica and Japan heading west or vessels from other nations heading west through the East China Sea or the Celebes/Ceram/Molucca Seas. A vessel would either have to go between the DEI islands or take the Malacca Strait.

The problem would be that the Dutch would have no legal right to stop, board, and inspect any vessel on the high seas, if that vessel is not of Dutch registry. Familiar with the Trent Affair?

Well looking around at the gaps between all the islands, they tend to be fairly narrow. Even if the normal territorial limits are applied, I would think that the bigger gaps (>6nm) could and perhaps should still be treated as falling under Dutch jurisdiction as well since both sides of the passage is controlled by the Dutch.

Another thing is that the Japanese may have applied those maritime zones to their own islands, it also applies them to all other nations even if those nations never made such claim (although if one were to look at a "current" Japanese map of territorial waters, one would see that for some strange reason a 3 mile limit and no zones is applied to China ). Therefore Japan would consider all the waters between the islands of the DEI to be Dutch territorial waters and therefore have the right to stop any vessel for inspection within that area (so even if other nations would not consider it to be legal, the Japanese would consider it to be well within the rights of the Dutch to do so).

There is also the possibility that the Dutch may themselves decide to extend the limits of their territorial waters to "close off" the DEI. Other nations can shout all they want, complain all they want, not recognize it all they want, but as was mentioned in the past there is really nothing that those nations can do to stop and prevent the Dutch from doing that and enforcing that. The talks that were held back a long time ago were the only things that could have if nations had agreed to it, but it ended nowhere (although even if it did, the proposed limits would have "closed off" the DEI anyway).

And I am not sure if the Trent Affair could be compared to a ship being stopped among the islands of the DEI. To me there is a difference between stopping a vessel well beyond the boundaries of your jurisdiction and stopping a vessel in an area that is completely surrounded by your jurisdiction. For arms dealers and smugglers the best option would be to take a detour through the waters of lawless Australia as far away from the DEI as possible.

But this is all just my opinion.

I would refer you to this article ofn Strait passage.

Legally, the Dutch cannot prevent a ship from traversing a strait or otherwise interfering with its movement. Germany will not permit the abrogation of Strait Passage by any nation, whether Dutch, Japanese, or Pacifican.

Also, the original Dutch proposals indicated that warships would be operating at the entrance/exit of the Red Sea, which is certainly not under Dutch de jure jurisdiction.