1942 : Japanese WWII war crime at Tiga Roenggoe, June 28, 2017 By Ronny Geenen
In the night from 14 to 15 March 1942, 21 voluntary City guardians of the KNIL in Tiga Roenggoe, a village on the road from Pematang Siantar to Kabangdjahe, were killed by Japanese soldiers.
The city guards of the KNIL Hendrik Jan Theodoor HESSING, Paul M Visser and Jacobus Wilhelm Merkelbach also belonged to these victims.
The task of city guards was to guard some bridges and upon hearing messages that Japanese units had landed on the East coast of Sumatra – before their retreat for the highly powerful enemy – they acted in accordance with their entrusted mission-to dutifully destroyed the bridges. This brave decision was taken by them – despite being informed via the NIROM (Dutch-Indies Radio broadcaster) and newspapers – that the Japanese army, among other things, on the island of Tarakan and Balikpapan, had executed and beheaded our soldiers– who were involved in the destruction of bridges and important installations in their area.
In the meantime, on 12 March of 1942, the Japanese, who had landed, among others, at Laboean Roekoe, belonged to the motorized Regiment of the 2nd Division of the Imperial Guard.
After the landing this unit made a circulating movement and surprised the city guards at the village Tiga Roenggoe.
The city Guards were immediately captured, disarmed and then on 14 of March 1942 between 20.00 and 21:00 hours in cold blood murdered by the Japanese soldiers of the Cavalry scouting unit. bron: myindoworld.com
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