WesWorld

Another long one, and late. But Q4 is half done!

The Amsterdam Advocate, July 4, 1932.

The Kingdom of Saud has indicated that the much debated pilgrim camps will be allowed international access and the pilgrims will be allowed to return to their countries of origin. By this act, the Kingdom of Saud shows a respect for humanitarianism not always evident. Initial reports indicated that the Royal Dutch Lines vessel Nederlander may be chartered by the Red Crescent. This paper sought confirmation from Royal Dutch Lines CEO Piet Hudson.
“As you may know, the Royal Dutch Lines has indeed been contacted by the Red Crescent. The Nederland has been laid up as the Belgae and Zuider Zee have been completing sea trials. We are arranging the details now, once the Saudis give permission. After the sealift, with the expected lifting of the quarantine and travel restrictions in the Netherlands East Indies, we were expecting to bring those three into full service and shift the smaller liners to secondary routes. “

The Amsterdam Advocate, July 8, 1932.
Foreign Minister, Pieter van Grootveld was asked regarding the announcement yesterday that the Kingdom of Saud will not be permitting the pilgrims to depart at this time. The minister stated “We were greatly encouraged by the previous news in this matter, and we are greatly disappointed that the Kingdom of Saud has not chosen to remove the perception that these individuals are being held.

Bogor Palace, Batavia, July 10th, 1932
Prince William listened to the briefing by his private security chief, Gerrit Schuyt .

“Your Highness, As you known we have identified 14 vessels which have been involved in establishing and supplying the two exploration teams, of which 5 have made the trip twice. We still believe at least 6 of those 19 voyages involved off-manifest or mislabled cargo. This is not substantially different that what was known previously.

Per your request we have also been investigating the personnel manifests and have identified 35 individuals of suspicious standing and possibly fraudulent identification. We believe we have confirmed identification on six.

In terms of the supply chain we are having substantially more trouble. While the annual declaration of surplus is clearly recorded, the quartermaster records of surplus disposal appear to have discrepancies- some endemic to the system, some suspicious. These discrepancies appear in files administered by Assistant Quartermaster General Jacob Snellensoon..”

“Snellensoon? No relation to the…”

“His nephew I’m afraid sir. Unfortunately Sipke Fockes is our leading suspect as a financier. “

“Fockes? Where do I know that name from?”

“Major Fockes was once known for winning a medal in defense of Port Blair, now he is known as an aide to Mr. Snellensoon, the Uncle I mean “

“That could become a problem, go on”

“This makes tracing just what was disposed of and to whom it was sold more difficult. The records of sale to Nations seem solid, but a large chunk of the surplus goes to scrap yards and foundaries, and no chain-of-possesion records are available to establish what happened to that material. Since 1928 we have sold material to at least a dozen separate facilities in the Netherlands and the Kongo, several European countries, a consignment to Texas and even as far as Chosen.

The prime suspects for transitions, are the warehouses at the Port of Zeebrugge owned by Zeebrugge Shipwrecking & Scrapyards, and that is tied to three of the suspect vessels and that old coast defense ship. There is also a series of warehouses leased in the Port of London through a series of holding companies by parties unknown. Of the vessels tasked to establish the 3rd exploration party, two are in Belgium, one in Amsterdam, two in England, and the last is already at sea.”

“Which one is Captain Daendal’s SS Dufyken ?”

“I’m sorry to say none of them, Captain Daendal is picking up cargo in Italy for the Mexican Eagle operations”

“Just our luck, he’s out of this one. Anything else?”

“One of our people in England thinks he overplayed his hand and raised suspicions, he doesn’t know if the individual will act.”

“Damn, I want to wrap this up and get these people all delt with, not have them scatter to the winds if the media gets wind of it, any good new?”

“Yes, our contact at the time was inquiring regarding Captain Lloyd, of the SS Ascania, not Captain Wilshaw of the SS Heldia whom we think is more likely. AND.. we have photographs of Hector Baesius, who does the scheduling for Sh”

“I know who Mr. Baesius is”

“Well, Mr. Fockes had a series of meetings one day, and his last was brief chat with Mr. Baesius. The next day the Uncle and Nephew had lunch.”

“Did he meet with anyone else suspicious? Who did he meet prior to Mr. Baesius”

“A Mr. Takigawa, as far as we can tell a Japanese national and a representive for a Chosen shipping company. Preliminary investigation indicates there’s no basis to believe the Takigawa or other individuals met that week are likely involved. “

“Excellent work Gerrit. According to the reports, the Saudis are starting to behave civilized and treat those people better, so I’m going to contact CEO van Seelst and advise him there will be no objections to paying the lease and commencing the third survey effort out of Yenbo. Van Seelst is already talking a fourth lease outside of Damman on the Gulf of Arabia, so if our people cannot fully trace the money flows this time, we may get another shot. ”

“We’ll get them sir “

The Amsterdam Advocate, July 30th
The opening of Summer Olympics occurred today in the grand Olympic Stadium in Los Angeles, California. There are over 2,000 athletes representing the Nations of the world in 14 sporting competitions. Prince Karel and his new bride, our darling Princess Juliana are in attendance. The Prince will of course be competing in the Equestrian events, both individual and team grand prix, these Olympics, as well the Netherlands’ own Charles Pahud de Mortanges and Equestrian grand prix team. While this reporter is biased in favor of the grandeur of the Amsterdam Olympics of 1928, one must admit that the venue here in Los Angeles is quite fine. The weather is wondrously clear, though somewhat warm.

The Batavia Bugle, August 2nd, 1932
Governor-General A.C.D. de Graeff issued a statement today expressing his condolences to Senator Cabral’s family. The Governer concluded with a statement that “hopefully this event will spark no further violence a land and strong people already scourged by revolution and wracked by plague.”

The Amsterdam Advocate, August 10th, 1932
A small assemblage saw units of the Fleet depart for the short journey to Spithead. The Dutch attendees at Spithead BB Ocean, CL-18 Terschelling, CL-19 Texel, Z50, Z61, Z62, Z63, Z64 and S19 & S23

Civilians will be allowed to board the Texel as well as Z50, S19 & S23

The Batavia Bugle, August 12th, 1932
VACCINE ! The Filipinos have done it! A vaccine has been found for El Derretir . Laboratories in Java, Borneo, Kongo and the Netherlands are preparing to produce and distribute the vaccine. Governor-General A.C.D. de Graeff issued a statement praising the Filipino effort and pledging to ensure that all facilities capable of production will be put into use to ensure the vaccine is widely and cheaply available to all those in need. The Bank of the Kongo has issued a statement offering fiscal help to facilities seeking to produce the vaccine.

The Amsterdam Advocate, August 16th, 1932
The glorious conclusion of the Los Angeles Olympics yesterday found the Netherlands the proud possessor of 2 gold medals and five silver medals.

Jacobus van Egmond , Netherlands-Cycling silver 1000m time trial, Cycling gold in sprint

Charles Pahud de Mortanges, Netherlands- equestrian individual, gold
Prince Karel, Belgium- equestrian individual, took Silver

The equestrian eventing team, led by Charles Pahud de Mortanges also silver!
While the Belgian equestrian eventing team takes Bronze!

The Netherlands womans swim team of Willy den Ouden, Puck Oversloot, Corrie Laddé, Marie Vierda took silver in the Women’s 4x100m relay.

The Batavia Bugle, August 20th, 1932
Governor-General A.C.D. de Graeff and Prince William presided at the graduation ceremony for the first group of Pioneer school graduates. The plan announced last year is to convert 10 battalions of territorial infantry into pioneer battalions. The graduating class represent the first fully trained battalion, and it’s members received high marks from the instructors shipped in from the Netherlands.

The Amsterdam Advocate, August 26th, 1932
The War Minister Jan Snellensoon, announced today that Skoda has been awarded the new tank development contract over FN and CKD. Skoda-Davao has been developing a new tank, based on a new chassis, for the Philippines. The work to date is promising and the tank is well advanced. The Philippines as graciously allowed the Netherlands to join the development effort. The Netherlands will be matching development funds spent in the past and in the future. FN and CKD have been requested to continue work on the tank variant mounting a large bore hull gun.

The Hauge Herald, September 20th, 1932
Prinsjesdag: The traditional return of the States-Generaal from recess occurred today. The occaision was marked by the Queen’ s speech from the throne marking the State Opening of the States General. The Queen’s ride in the Golden Coach occurred in beautiful weather and was watched by a large assemblage of her subjects. The Queen’s annual speech from the throne continued the Prinsjesdag tradition of focusing on the positives of the previous year and hopes for the new year.

Prime Minister Eduwart Land, of the De Progressieve Eland-Stier Partij, followed with a speech advancing his party’s platform of improved worker’s rights, support for infrastructure & agricultural development in the Netherlands and overseas provinces. A system of stewardship laws is to ensure that a property owner’s exploitation of land does not render it worthless to his successors, or damage his neighbor’s property. Official actions discouraging monopolies and trusts will continue while providing a light but firm and predictable regulatory approach to companies and the banking system.

The Prime Minister’s speech included a veiled admonition to the States-Generaal that the current excess receipts the treasury was enjoying may not last, and that additional demands, including the need to support economic adjustments caused by competition due to PETA, by the Belgian recession and measures to support that economy, and the need to expend a greater level of funds in the territories for the improvements the TIDE commission is expected to identify, all must factor as projected long term obligations in the expectations of members.

War Minister Jan Snellensoon, of the De Mannen met Zeer Boze Blikken Partij , followed with a report on the state of defenses. The first part of the report dealt with the need for incremental improvements to the existing land fortifications incorporated in the defensive web and to the old coastal forts. The primary focus is repair of existing facilities, and expansion of anti-aircraft capabilities. Further efforts will focus on updates in artillery communication capability.

In the provinces, the focus was of course on the Netherlands East Indies. Minister Snellensoon cited a concern regarding the power projection capacity of SATSUMA and growing carrier capacity. No longer can a single fighter squadron be presumed to provide adequate aerial defense for a region given that concentrated carrier power can outnumber the fighters. Additionally, the dearth of bombers means that counterstrike options would limited. This is offset by the T.IVa’s naval strike capacity, but there are inadequate numbers of land based bombers.

Additionally, the territorial battalions, while professional and long service, lack numbers. The demonstrated ability of the Indians to project multiple divisions, including an armored force, overseas to Asir, is disturbing. The recommendation of additional territorial units is made.

The last part of Minister Snellensoon’s speech focused on the long term development of defensive works, with over 45 sites identified from a seaplane base on Greater Natuna island, to batteries on the Sunda Straits, to strong points along the railway through the Kayser mountains in Dutch Guiana.

Foreign Minister Pieter van Grootveld, of the Rooms-Katholieke Volkspartij , presented a favorable assessment of the potential of PETA, but offered this assessment of events at Cowes “The effort to close loopholes failed utterly. Some governments were obviously unwilling to participate in good faith. While the Netherlands made clear our willingness to downsize our capital ship fleet, and even other elements, there were those completely unwilling to discuss the matter. There were promising dialogues regarding reduction in forces, and creating incentives for smaller, cheaper fleets of capital ships, but these unfortunately foundered.”

The Matadi Messenger, September 23rd, 1932
An unusual debate erupted this week in the States-Generaal. On Wednesday the 21st, Representative Unruh made a motion to lodge a formal complaint with the Netherlands for not including the Kongo in the recent defense assessment.

The proposed motion was met with ridicule from some other members who rudely reminded Herr Unruh that the Dutch military presence was a result of the joint defensive agreement inherent in the Statute of the Kingdom, not a sign they were solely responsible for the Kongo. Count Mbuti suggested that as the peoples of the Kingdom had a proud warrior lineage, the Kingdom should have no less than 100 divisions. Count Baka pointed out the extraordinary cost of such a force and general lack of anyone around to fight.

The debate lasted until late Thursday, when Representative Aldawolf Krieger suggest a system similar to that used by the Swiss to supplement and train with the standing forces.

This measure was taken up again on Friday, and the details hammered out. Count Mbuti’s force of 100 divisions was trimmed to 5 standing brigade sized forces to work in association with the existing Dutch and territorial forces, while a ‘Swiss’ system would be installed to provide for the defense of the Kingdom. The final vote was three votes over the two thirds needed to implement the measure this parliamentary session, without waiting on the Queen’s signature or the mandatory revote next year had it only been passed by a simple majority.

The Batavia Bugle, September 28th, 1932
Governor-General A.C.D. de Graeff has announced a relaxation of the transportation restrictions in place due to plague. Shipping from known or recent infection areas will still be restricted, and voyages shorter than quarantine time will only be permitted after crews are vaccinated. The ban is expected to be fully lifted as greater control is achieved.

Nice stuff, particularly the detective work on those smugglers and the reports on the speeches.