- Yes
- No
TL;DR: Dutch Rear-Amiral, remembered for his fighting spirit during WWII.
History
History:
Rear Admiral Karel Doorman was the commander of the Allied Combined Striking Force stationed in the former Dutch East Indies from February 2 until his disappearance on February 28, 1942. In the Netherlands, there is a deep appreciation for the actions of the Royal Netherlands Navy in the battle for the Dutch East Indies in 1941-1942. This is partly due to the belief that Rear Admiral Doorman and the commander of the cruiser De Ruyter, Captain Lieutenant at Sea Eugène Lacomblé, went down with the De Ruyter during the Battle of the Java Sea on February 27-28, 1942. This is seen as part of a centuries-old tradition of the Royal Netherlands Navy. In 1942, however, there was still uncertainty about their fate. All crew members aboard the flagship De Ruyter had either perished or been taken prisoner by the Japanese.
Three years after the Japanese Navy largely destroyed an Allied fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Karel Doorman in the Battle of the Java Sea, the resistance newspaper Strijdend Nederland wrote: “We know a young member of the KP (Dutch resistance) who named his revolver Doorman. In his heart burns the motto: ‘I attack, follow me.’” The newspaper argued that the story of the Java Sea must be retold, “so that the spirit of Doorman may live on in the entire nation.”
In early 1945, this was not an unusual sentiment. In her contribution to a recent collection on Dutch memory of World War II, Dr. E. Touwen-Bouwsma stated that, just like the situation in the Netherlands in May 1940, the struggle in the Dutch East Indies “did not produce heroes. The fight was too short, and the defeat too great.” However, around Karel Doorman, a certain hero cult had indeed emerged during the war years, fueled by the Dutch government in London, but also with clear resonance in both the illegal and later legal press. Doorman’s story of determination and self-sacrifice was perfectly encapsulated in the signal he supposedly gave to his fleet: “I attack, follow me.”:
A 1945 poster from the Government Information Service: the Battle of the Java Sea was seen as the turning point in the Pacific War.The fact that the fleet commander actually signaled something much more prosaic remained largely out of the public eye until the early 1960s. The words fit too well with the Dutch memory of the battle.
A “seeming defeat”
The Battle of the Java Sea, which took place on February 27 and 28, 1942, was the final attempt by Dutch, British, American, and Australian naval units to halt the Japanese advance toward Java. Vice Admiral Helfrich, commander of the Allied fleet in the Indo-Pacific region, ordered his fleet commander, Doorman, to attack the Japanese invasion fleet and to “continue the attacks until the enemy was destroyed.”
It did not end as hoped. Ten of the fourteen Allied ships were sunk during the battle and in the days that followed, while the Japanese suffered minimal losses. Over two thousand Allied sailors, including more than a thousand Dutchmen, lost their lives. This was a defeat that not only marked the end of the Dutch fleet as a significant force in the fight against Japan but also led to the loss of most of its global empire: the invasion of Java occurred with just a one-day delay.
The Dutch cabinet in London decided, by Royal Decree on June 5, 1942, to posthumously award Doorman the distinction of Knight 3rd class of the Military William Order, in recognition of his skilled and courageous leadership of the Allied fleet on February 27, 1942. By Royal Decree on May 28, 1949, Lacomblé was posthumously awarded the distinction of Knight 4th class of the Military William Order. Among the reasons cited for this decision was the fact that:
In June 1942, the cause of Doorman’s death had not yet been clarified, though the Royal Netherlands Navy had already openly acknowledged it in the years immediately following World War II.
However, there are differing opinions regarding the cause of death for Doorman and Lacomblé. Most Dutch authors state that they perished with the cruiser De Ruyter. Yet, some sources suggest that both may have died while on a lifeboat. The deaths of survivors from De Ruyter in lifeboats were partly due to disturbances surrounding the only lifeboat that could be launched after the De Ruyter began sinking.
A career overview
A career overview:
1889 : Karel Willem Frederik Marie Doorman is born in Utrecht.
1906 : Karel Doorman and his brother Lou begin their training to become naval cadets at the Royal Naval Institute.
1910 :He is appointed an officer. His first assignment: to the Dutch East Indies.
1915 : He is placed with the Aviation Department in Soesterberg. Doorman becomes one of the first naval officers to earn a pilot’s license. He later trains other pilots as an instructor.
1919 : He is appointed commander of the naval airbase De Kooy in Den Helder, a position he holds until 1921.
1932 : He receives his first command over a ship: the minesweeper Hr.Ms. Prins van Oranje.
1938 : He takes command of the Naval Aviation Service in the Dutch East Indies.
1940 : Doorman is promoted to Rear Admiral and takes command of the fleet in the Dutch East Indies.
1942 :
February 27: The Battle of the Java Sea. Doorman leads a fleet of American, Australian, British, and Dutch ships. With two heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and nine destroyers, he aims to prevent the Japanese invasion of Java. Difficult communication between the ships causes confusion, and Doorman’s “patchwork fleet” ultimately loses the battle. The ships Hr.Ms. Kortenaer, Hr.Ms. Java, his flagship Hr.Ms. De Ruyter, and the British HMS Electra and HMS Jupiter are sunk. Over 1,000 Allied men are killed, including 900 Dutchmen, among them Doorman. On the Japanese side, about 10 men are lost. Doorman is posthumously awarded the Military William Order 3rd class.Follow me: This was the famous final order given by Rear Admiral Karel Doorman. Amid the chaos of the battle, confusion arises within the Allied fleet about the course to take. Doorman signals from his flagship Hr.Ms. De Ruyter: “All ships - follow me.” Later, this order is dramatized as “I attack, follow me.” The tragic reality is that five Allied ships are sunk that day.
Decorations
Honours and Decorations:
- Military William Order, 3rd class or Officer, posthumously recorded in the register on June 5, 1942, by Royal Decree No. 9 of June 5, 1942
- Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion, appointed on August 21, 1941
- Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau
- Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau
- War Memorial Cross with two clasps
- Distinction for Long Service as an Officer, with the number XXX
- Mobilization Cross 1914-1918
- Virtuti Militari, Silver Cross, 5th class, on October 17, 1942 (Poland)
Gallery
Sources
Sources
- Ensie. (2014, February 28). Oude bekende: Karel Doorman. 03 | Defensiekrant. Oude bekende: Karel Doorman | 03 | Defensiekrant
- Rear-Admiral Karel Willem Frederick Marie Doorman. (n.d.). Rear-Admiral Karel Willem Frederick Marie Doorman
- Karel Doorman (1889-1942) Nederlandse schout-bij-nacht. (n.d.). AbsoluteFigures.nl. All Rights Reserved. Karel Doorman (1889-1942) Nederlandse schout-bij-nacht
- ‘“Ik val aan, volg mij…!”’, Strijdend Nederland , 3 maart 1945.
- E. Touwen-Bouwsma, ‘Het Bronbeekpark’ in: Madelon de Keizer en Marije Plomp (red.), Een open zenuw. Hoe wij ons de Tweede Wereldoorlog herinneren (Amsterdam, Bert Bakker, 2010) 108.
- C. Dullemond, ‘“Ik val aan, volgt mij”. Verhalen van een nederlaag ’, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (2013)
- K.W.L. Bezemer, Zij vochten op de zeven zeeën (Utrecht, De Haan, 1954)
- ‘Proclamaties Koningin Wilhelmina’ en L. de Jong, Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog 9. Londen. Eerste helft (Den Haag, Staatsuitgeverij, 1979)
- ‘Drie zeeslagen om Java I. De heldhaftige strijd van onze kruisers volgens de nieuwste gegevens omtrent den Java-zeeslag’, Onze Vloot , oktober 1946
- ‘Het Spookschip’, Telex , 19 januari 1945. Voor meer voorbeelden: Dullemond, ‘‘Ik val aan, volgt mij’’, 25, 33, 40
- ‘De slag in de Java Zee’, De Wervelwind , april 1942
- Ph.M. Bosscher, De Koninklijke Marine in de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Deel 2: Indië tot en met 8 maart 1942 (Franeker, Wever, 1986)
- ‘“Attack” Is Netherland Slogan’, The New York Times , 11 mei 1942.
- R. van Ginkel, Rondom de stilte. Herdenkingscultuur in Nederland (Amsterdam, Bert Bakker, 2011)