David, I will try to send you some info tomorrow (courtesy Mr Leland Ness).
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Originally posted by David_Hayward
Now, the other information is going to need research! The only 160" wheelbase truck that could fit the description was the 1941 Model YS 1 1/2 ton which would be a 3 Ton/Tonne military rating.
What I do not have very regrettably is wheelbases of U.S. military Chevrolets. I have a complete list of all cars and trucks, and would suggest that the 4 x 4 could have been a Model YQ [Cargo Long] but without seeing a photo I can't be certain.
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Knil did have some trucks that looked like Chevrolet's MS4403 (with a simple wooden body). These had (I am reading Vanderveen's directory) 160 inch wheelbase, but they were 4x2.
Maybe the Mission report itself was just not clear enough and they confused some types and measures?
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I have a possible answer as to what those trucks were doing in Batavia. We know from photographic evidence that the Japanese seized and then used Chevrolet cars and trucks in the NEI generally. When the allies liberated they recaptured vehicles which would then have been put back into service. I am also mulling over whether any trucks issued to the NEI forces in Australia were shipped to Java?
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So in the first scenario that would mean some 4x4 Chevrolet trucks were delivered in 1941/42 and survived the war. The truck on the picture has some really rundown tyres, by the way.
According to the US list of Lendlease deliveries the Dutch received a 136 1 1/2 ton 4x4 Cargo trucks during WW2, but I do not know when and to which theatre these were delivered (Ruling out the Dutch unit in the UK which I guess was equipped to British fashion, that would leave still 4 possibilities: Dutch West Indies, Australia, Java KNIL 1942 and the Dutch Marine Corps being trained in the US).
It is possible that the 1945 pictured truck had come with KNIL troops or had been otherwise "imported" from Australia, but it is not the most likely thing. Australian KNIL units were mainly stationed in Tarakan, Balikpapan, and the Eastern Indonesian islands (where the Australian Army was in charge). The British on Java in 1945 did not want to see a reconsituted KNIL or Dutch colonial government reinstalled at the moment due to the proclamation of the INdonesian Independence and the possibility of war. But I will check if some units made it from Australia to Batavia as early as oct 1945.
Kind regards,
Nuyt