ORIGINAL: DOCUP
Been doing some research of my own. I found that the KNIL had ordered almost 700 Marmon-Herrington tanks, 200 M3 light tanks, some M3 scout cars, and about 100 P39s.
Plus 30 DB7s with interchangeable bomber/strafer noses and torpedo capability (due for delivery mid 1942 IIRC). And 204 37mm AT guns (Not the M3, a National Forge and Ordnance Company design of similar performance) and 2750 Chevrolet trucks. They were receiving the trucks as bare chassis and completing them at a local GM factory at Tandjong Priok, which they evacuated into the boonies near Djokjakarta. It kept on producing locally right through the campaign at the rate of 30 a day.
The original gun tank order in 1939 was for 45 2 Pdr armed Vickers Command Tanks from the British and Belgian factories, supplemented by 73 MG armed Vickers Carden Lloyd light tanks, but these never materialised (49 of the latter going into British service as the Vickers Dutchman), forcing KNIL to go to the US instead. The initial US order was for 200 of the near useless CTLS-4TAC/Y (US T14/16) (two variants as the turret only rotated about 270 degrees, so they were meant to operate in left and right handed pairs). An order for M2A4s was approved, but production then switched to M3s, so they went to MH for an alternative, which was to be the CTMS with a 37mm M2 AAC automatic gun with a 5 round clip, 194 were ordered but not delivered, ending up in US service as 'Dutch 3-man tanks' (the Dutch did get 31 of them for service in the Dutch West Indies). The third order was for 200 MTLS ('Dutch 4-man tanks') with a twin 37mm AAC turret, 125 were built but not delivered, with 19 going to the Dutch West Indies.
The M-H tank factory was having a hard time producing the tanks fast enough. A transport with a 20 plus ran aground and delayed the arrival. Some M3 light tanks almost made it before the KNIL surrendered. 50 M3s were diverted to the Dutch after the outbreak of the war, but again ended up in Australia.
They got the initial batch of 20 CTLS-4TAs, but 149 more ended up in Australia and served as the basis of the Australian armoured training units for about a year. 50 M3 light tanks were diverted to the Dutch after the outbreak of the war, but again ended up in Australia. 40 M3 scout cars did arrive in early 1941 (ie pre-war). 20 from the order of 73 Vickers Carden Lloyd light tanks were delivered. They also got 49 South African built Marmon-Herrington armoured cars (Zuid-Afrikaanse pantserautos) as compensation for the Vickers Command Tanks, arriving in Feb 1942 (despite the name this isn't an MH design, it's a South African hull on a MH cross-country chassis. Apparently at least 21 of the NF&O 37mms were delivered, with more (40+?) ending up in Australia while 40 of the 37mm AAC guns were delivered on pedestal mounts for use on naval patrol boats (there was a local building programme underway for small combatants). The Australian government agreed in Apr-41 to send 25 Vickers guns a month to the NEI, which would suggest around 200 delivered by the outbreak of hostilities.
The KNIL ground forces was suppose to be reorganized into mechanized BDEs with either Alvis or M3 scout cars. I am thinking 5 to 8 BDEs. A tank unit of around 90 AFVs was suppose to be created with M-H tanks.
To the best of my recall it was 5 mechanized brigades, each with a mixed CTLS/CTMS/MTLS tank battalion and infantry in Overvalwagens, not sure if this was in addition to the infantry divisions or cannibalizing them. The Overvalwagen forum (
www.Overvalwagen.com) has a lot of information buried in it about the KNIL mechanization programme, but you need to dig into the articles about each vehicle type and down into the forum itself for some of the stuff.
....GP
