Books & Movies
Only a couple of good reads are published about the “Gadja Merah”. Unfortunately all out of print but can still be found online as secondhand or (digital) copies.
Gadja Merah op Bali en Lombok (Ruud O. Spangenberg – 1948)
Tales about events happening just after the POW’s liberation and after arriving at Bali/ Lombok. Also battalion diary.
Het Reizende Bataljon (Pieter de Kam - 1996)
Mostly about a unit which accompanied Gadja Merah – the so called ‘Stoottroepen’ – which arrived from the Netherlands. Not many tales about Gadja Merah but good descriptions about the same battles these units fought together and events.
Verborgen Dageraad (Joop Hulsbus - 1988)
Not much about Gadja Merah itself, but a very good description about the mindset, thoughts and reasons why the ex-POW’s re-enlisted in the KNIL after 1945 and participated in the ‘politionele acties’ (police actions).
There have been a couple of movies which give a very realistic impressions about the brutal treatment of POW’s the Japanese wielded in their camps. Recommended:
To End All Wars (2001)
A tale of POW’s working on the Birma-Siam death railway – very realistic.
Unbroken (2014)
A captured US airman who ended up in a Japanese POW camp – realistic, true story.
The Great Raid (2005)
Story of the 1945 rescue action of 500 POW’s from a Japanese camp in the Philippines. More like a standard war movie, but still some good impressions.