ATTACK ON FOOD CONVOY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 66, Issue 44, 1 December 1945, Page 3

ATTACK ON FOOD CONVOY

FIGHTING IN JAVA BANDOENG AREA CLASHES (N.Z. Press Association-Copyright.) (Rec. 9.30 a.m.) LONDON, Nov. 30. Armed Indonesians in the Batavia area are still causing trouble in spite of appeais by the Indonesian Prime Minister, Sultan Sjahrir. Shots were fired at a big road convoy which left with air cover to take food to 50,000 internees and refugees in Bandoeng, and Indian troops who escorted the convoy halfway suffered six casualties on their return to Batavia.

Extremists near Bandoeng yesterday got dangerously out of hand. There ai’e 250,000 refugees in this area. . An Indian patrol clashed with Indonesian extremists in the streets of Kramat, a trouble spot on Batavia’s southern outskirts, yesterday. Some Ambonese troops assisted the Indians but their intervention was unpopular. Indians and Indonesians sniped intermittently all day, but no casualties were reported. Shipping Problem “A suggestion from the Australian Government to overcome the difficulty caused by the freezing of Dutch shipping in Australia is at present the subject of negotiations involving the Commonwealth and the Allied command in the Netherlands East Indies and the Dutch,” says the Australian Associated Press correspondent. ‘‘The Australian proposal is that five Dutch ships which previously were destined to bring food and medical supplies from Australia to Java shouklbe exchanged for the equivalent tonnage of nonDutch shipping from Australian waters in which supplies might be carried without involving industrial difficulties. Dutch ships in return would be taken over temporarily on a charter ‘‘A condition of the offer was to be that supplies should be made available to people in Java in greatest need irrespective of race. Details of the offer were communicated to the Indonesians pending Dutch acceptance to discover whether they were prepared to cooperate. The Indonesians promptly applauded the idea, as did the chief British supply officer, saying it might make the difference between disaster and salvation. Dutch officials here undertook to enter into negotiations. The matter is now at the stage where a Dutch reply is awaited.” Air Support Relays of Thunderbolts yesterday gave constant air cover to the convoy of 100 vehicles carrying urgently needed food to the internees and refugees and their defenders in Bandoeng. Dakotas manwhile flew in additional supplies of tinned foods as a precaution against a possible worsening of the situation. Rocket-carrying Mosquitos covered a column of troops searching for traces of the 25 occupants of the Dakota which last week crashed six miles from Batavia. It is now feared that all 25 were massacred. More than a battalion of British, Indian, and Gurkha troops belonging to the 23rd Division landed in Batavia yesterday from a transport. The troops had been left behind in Madras when the division embarked on the Malayan operation. They are now joining the parent unit, whiclb arrived in Batavia months ago.