The above picture with two Marmon Herrington’s on patrol in Batavia is from after the war.

A few Marmon-Herrington wheeled armoured cars arrived in the Dutch East Indies just before the war in 1942. They were used by the KNIL, which had been planning to modernize for years but only started when it was too late.

These were basic 4×4 armoured cars made from commercial truck parts, lightly armoured and equipped with machine guns. They were intended for patrol and road control, not direct combat.

In the Indies they were a sign of hurried modernisation. Crews were trained quickly and often learned on the job. Maintenance arrangements were thin and spare parts uncertain.

On paper they gave the KNIL a mobile, protected element that could move fast along the road networks of Java and Sumatra. In practice they were used wherever something with wheels and a gun was needed, escorting columns, watching airfields, or acting as a mobile reserve when Japanese landings began.

Once the fighting started, the cars were committed in small groups rather than as formed armoured units. They worked best on sealed or plantation roads where their speed counted. Against lightly armed infantry they could be effective, using mobility and machine-gun fire to keep pressure on advancing troops.

But they had very little protection against proper anti-tank fire or even determined close assault. In jungle country they were tied to roads, and roads were exactly where ambushes waited.

Their presence still mattered. For many KNIL infantry units they were the only visible sign of modern armour on their side. Even a couple of armoured cars could steady a position or help cover a withdrawal.

Once Japanese forces gained control of the air and pushed inland in strength, the cars became increasingly exposed. Fuel shortages, mechanical strain, and the general collapse of the defensive line meant most were eventually abandoned, knocked out, or captured during the Java fighting.

They never existed in large enough numbers to change anything. Like much of the KNIL’s late-war equipment, they arrived just in time to be used hard and lost quickly. What they show more than anything is how the Dutch tried to modernise under pressure — and how little time they had left to make it count.

I am not sure where this model came from but I think it is from Warlord games.