SCORCHED EARTH

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25248, 29 July 1947, Page 7

SCORCHED EARTH

Republican Plans Of Destruction’’ PLANTATIONS IN WEST JAVA (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) „ „ BATAVIA, July 27. Mr Soeparna, secretary of the Union of Plantation Workers, speaking on the Jogjakarta radio, revealed that plans had been completed to transform 500 plantations throughout West Java into “roaring oceans of fire” if the Republicans were unable to hold the areas. No rubber, quinine, tea, or coffee would be allowed to fall into the hands of the Dutch, he said. More than a decade would be required to make the plantations productive once more.

Scorched earth tactics have been effectively applied in East Java, where Republican troops are successfully conducting guerrilla warfare around Dutch-occupied places. An aerial reconnaissance over the vast tract of British-owned freehold land in West Java belonging to the Anglo-Dutch Plantation Company indicates that the Republican scorched earth policy has caused millions of pounds’ worth of damage. Sabang, in the centre of the AngloDutch Company’s properties, has been destroyed. Installations razed included the power stations. “Landing parties from the Netherlands ; warships Evertsen and Banckert landed at Tegal, 40 miles east of Cheribon, in order to check the destruction of the city, which began even before the arrival of the Dutch troops,” reports a Dutch Navy communique. The communique adds that the occupation of the harbour area was completed without delay. A Republican communique, however, indicates that Tegal has been turned into a sea of fire.”