A belated post as I discovered this website a few months ago and had an exchange over why the Dutch returned to the Dutch East Indies after the Japanese surrender. The author responded:The author has a website on one Dutch brigade in central Java 1945-1949, it is also in English and may help readers:http://tijgerbrigade.com/Why did France decide to return to French Indo-China? I think for the Dutch there were more reasons:
1. The Dutch had a romantic relationship to their colony (guess the Brits had too)
2. The Government wanted to free their countrymen
3. They needed the income to rebuilt the Netherlands
4. They needed to get rid of a lot of resistance fighters with arms (the first 30.000 of 100.000 men were volunteers)
Bookmarks