Conrad Helfrich
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Conrad Emil Lambert Helfrich (born October 11, 1886 in Semarang , Java , Dutch East Indies , † September 20, 1962 in The Hague , Netherlands ) was a Dutch Vice Admiral in the Royal Navy .
Life
As the son of a Dutch doctor from the Koninklijk Nederlandsch-Indisch Leger (KNIL) and a local woman, the young Conrad Helfrich had always been interested in the navy and left his parents' house at the age of 17 to sign up for the naval academy in Den Helder . After four years he was sworn in as an officer and took part in the Bali expedition in 1908. The other stages of his career were deployments on a wide variety of warships before he studied at the military college and shortly afterwards worked there as a lecturer for three years .
In 1931 the naval command appointed Conrad Helfrich as chief of staff of the navy in the Dutch East Indies and from 1935 to 1937 he commanded the NEI squadron. He then went to the Naval War School as a principal and stayed there for a year and a half.
In October 1939 Helfrich was given command of the entire units in the Dutch East Indies and was promoted to Vice Admiral on August 31, 1940. At that time he made friends with the British Admiral Sir Geoffrey Leyton , who led the China fleet for the Allies . Together with him, Helfrich put together the ABDA fleet at the beginning of the Pacific War , which consisted of Australian , British, Dutch and American ships. With her he wanted to hit the Japanese at their most vulnerable point. On February 12, 1942, Helfrich was given command of the fleet as the successor to Admiral Thomas C. Hart ( US Navy ).
After intelligence services informed Conrad Helfrich about the approaching Japanese invasion units that had set course for Java, he put together two defense fleets on February 21, 1942. One was based in Batavia in the port of Tandjong Priok , the second in Surabaya . On February 26, the western fleet under Rear Admiral Karel Doorman fought with the Japanese in the Java Sea , as a result of which almost the entire ABDA fleet of the Allies was destroyed.
Conrad Helfrich left the Dutch East Indies on March 2nd in a Catalina and flew to Colombo on Ceylon . There he set up a new headquarters for the remaining ships as quickly as possible .
As the new commander of the armed forces in the East, he had authority over the remaining land and naval forces that opposed the expansionist efforts of the Japanese in the Far East . In his eyes, however, this function turned out to be a deportation to a high post, which had been promoted by the Americans, as they blamed Helfrich for the intervention of the ABDA fleet and its loss. He had no real influence on the tactical approach to fighting the Japanese.
After the end of the Second World War , the Dutch Navy gave him supreme command of the entire fleet worldwide in August 1945. As Dutch representative, he took part in the formal signing of the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945 on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay .
Vice-Admiral Helfrich resigned from the Dutch Navy on January 1, 1949. In 1950 he published his memoir . He died on September 20, 1962 in The Hague .
Web links
- Conrad Helfrich in Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland (Dutch), accessed on January 18, 2019.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Helfrich, Conrad |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Helfrich, Conrad Emil Lambert (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch Vice Admiral in the Royal Navy |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 11, 1886 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Semarang , Java , Dutch East Indies |
| DATE OF DEATH | 20th September 1962 |
| Place of death | The Hague , Netherlands |