SOME locations in Kupang, NTT, still holds the remains of Japanese soldiers fighting against the Colonial Army (Dutch East Indies army that some troops were indigenous Indonesian) and the Australian army.
Cannons and bunkers, two kinds of relics in the area, remained intact until now. End of 1941, a total of 200 Australian troops landed in Kupang to help Dutch troops defending the island from Japanese invasion of Timor. Australia worried about the arrival of the Dutch to the island of Timor will smooth their path to attack Australia.
They prepare with hundreds of bunker in the hills Penfui Village, Village Oepura, and Coconut Village Five.
The bunker serves as a hiding place to face the enemy. Onwards at the beginning of 1942, a Japanese fighter plane suddenly appeared and shot down a fighter plane owned by the Dutch. The incident adds tension of war so that troops continue to build a bunker. In fact, the bunker was also built in houses, schools and offices.
Dutch army began to recruit young people to become soldiers trained reserves. In the midst of preparations, the Japanese army attacked again in February 1942. Peak on February 22, 1942, residents were asked to empty Kupang and go to the hideout that had been prepared. In the battle in The Village Oesao, almost all of Australia’s soldiers were killed, while the Dutch soldiers who are still living intermingled with the local community and the rest retreated to the interior of the island of Timor.
Japan then build a government headed by a vice Menseibu.
Menseibu who heads all over the archipelago berkeduduk in Makassar, South Sulawesi.
To face an enemy attack, Japanese soldiers build a bunker and utilizes a number of caves as a bulwark of defense.
After the 1945 Japanese surrender to Allied troops, the Dutch soldiers who fled to the interior re-mastered Kupang.
After that, the Dutch founded the State of East Indonesia, which is divided into 13 regions, including South Sulawesi, Bali, Flores, Sumba and Timor.