Hi David, thanks very much for the revelation and the proof!
So we know for sure that some of these trucks (and they were most likely 4x4) did reach Java before the Japanese did. Their port of destination must have been Tjilatjap as well since it was the safest way of reaching Java by that time. The port was badly congested however with newly sent equipment.
That means you have basically solved both questions: the Canadian supplied, Dutch converted artillery tractors in 1940 and the 4x4 trucks ordered after the war in the Far East has started!
About the moved production plant: The Wonosari I found on my pre-war NEI-atlas is next to Djokjakarta, quite far from Tjilatjap. Maybe there was another place with the same name: do you have any more references to the place and its location?
Anyway, the move to Central Java was in retrospect a very bad move. Though many other facilities had moved there, including truck and car workshops, fuel and food stores etc. (especially around Djokja) Central Java was hastely evacuated by most KNIL troops after it became clear that no Allied reinforcements were on their way to the NEI. KNIL's 4th Infantry Regiment as well as the Second Mountain Artillery Battalion (AIIBerg) left the area for Western Java on Feb 22nd, leaving the long roads to Eastern Java (and now the Allies were beaten at sea, useless navybase of Soerabaja) extremely vulnerable or practically undefended.
Kind regards,
Nuyt
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