biography
| name: |
Helfrich, Conrad (Emil Lambert)
|
pronunciation:
[helfrikh]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1886–1962)
|
| biography:
| Dutch admiral, born in Semarang, Indonesia. In 1942 he succeeded the American Hart as supreme commander of the Allied Navies in the Far East (ABDA fleet). He could not get authority to attack until Hart had gone, and then it was too late. He has sometimes been blamed, particularly by Americans, for giving the orders to attack the Japanese, which led to the Battle of the Java Sea resulting in the defeat of the Allied fleet. Afterwards he withdrew to Ceylon to command the Dutch forces that remained in the E. In 1945 he represented the Dutch at the Japanese surrender. He was the supreme Dutch naval commander from 1945 until retirement in 1949. After his retirement he opposed the government's Indonesian policy. |
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