BITTER RESISTANCE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 123, 6 March 1942, Page 3

BITTER RESISTANCE.

ENEMY ADVANCE IN JAVA. FOUR RAIDS ON BANDOENG. LONDON, March 5. In Java the Allied forces are putting up a bitter I'esistanee, but the enemy has succeeded in making advances. Bandoeng, the present military headquarters and capital of the Indies, was raided four times yesterday. In the fourth raid the medical institution, which was clearly marked, anil a temple were damaged. A Netherlands spokesman in London described the position as gloomy, saying that the Japanese had air bases which commanded the sea routes over which reinforcements would have to come.

Exploiting their numerical superiority. particularly in the air, the Japanese made further headway in some parts of the invasion areas of Java yesterday. Fewer Allied aircraft were in the air.. Engifrements wore on a hide-and-seek basis. Both sides are using tanks and Japanese aircraft are strafing the roads and airfields. Reports disclose that part of the population of Indonesian villages in the front zones insist on remaining in their homes. It is also reported that the main destruction under the scorched earth policy has now been completed, but it is emphasised that no foodstuffs have been destroyed, or will be destroyed. Civilians have been advised not to destroy their personal possessions without aii official order. The desperate nature of the struggle for Java was emphasised by an authoritative commentator in London, who said that the Japanese command of the sea in the south-west Pacific, which has never been so strong as now, was a determining factor. The Allied navies had done their utmost to check the invasion of the island. Their cruiser squadron had made a very dashing attack against the vastly superior naval force which had escorted the large enemy transports. The first attack was successful, but on their way home tho Dutch cruisers came across a Japanese submarine line, and two were lost. The loss of these two 6-inch-gun cruisers was another crippling blow to Allied sea power in the Far East.