“FIGHT TO LAST”

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 122, 5 March 1942, Page 6

“FIGHT TO LAST”

ORDERS ISSUED IN JAVA. AIR ATTACK PREVENTED. RAIDERS HEAVILY PUNISHED. (United Press Association—Copyright.) (Rcc. 1.30.) BANDOENG, March 4.

The Netherlands Government in London, in consultation with the military authorities at Bandoeng, has instructed all commanders, including those who have to operate singly, that they mn’st fight to the last.

The Japanese in Java are using the same tactics that they employed in Malaya, says the .correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph.” They have split into groups of tens or twenties and then weave through tea and rubber plantations. They are meeting fierce opposition from the Dutch, who are well used to this kind *of fighting. At the moment the Japanese advance is by infiltration —the only means whereby they can move. It would ho certain death for them to try to negotiate the roads, which are thickly mined and covered bv artillery at every turn.

A Bandoeng communique states: “During an attack by our aircraft on an enemy-occupied aerodrome heavy damage was caused to hangars and .an anti-aircraft battery sustained a direct hit. A number of enemy bombers were mac-hine-gunnod. A formation oi Japanese bombers and fighters attempting to raid Bandoeng was so heavily punished by Allied fighters that the rajd was abandoned. Four enemy bombers and one fighter were shot down.”

A Netherlands spokesman in London described the picture in Java as gloomy. “It is* bitter and hard,” he said, “and the United Nations will realise what we have to face. ’ Jhe loss of two Dutch cruisers in the-early stages of the battle for Java bad been a crippling blow to the Allied naval forces in the area.