POWER OF DUTCH

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 6, 8 January 1942, Page 7

POWER OF DUTCH

EAST INDIES FORCES

ROLE IN AIR WARFARE

LONDON, January 7. v The Netherlands Minister for Economics and Shipping has just arrived in London from Batavia. Today he gave some facts regarding the Netherlands forces awaiting the enemy. In Java, he said, there were 15,000 I professional soldiers and some 50,000 reserves. There were approximately 2000 first-line planes in the whole of the Netherlands East Indies, and munitions, including light tanks, were being produced there. Since Japan began the war the Netherlands air and naval forces had sunk two Japanese cruisers, two destroyers, nine transports, two tankers, tankers, two merchant ships, and des[troyed 15 aircraft.

An article in a Singapore newspaper said that a great deal was owed to Dutch airmen. - Without their work

Manila would not have been able to hold out as long as it did, and SingaI pore would have been subjected to | still more air raids. A Japanese communique today admits the sinking of a Japanese submarine in the Pacific, and says that a Japanese cruiser was slightly damaged by enemy aircraft off Davao, in the Philippines. FLYING-BOAT ATTACK. Today's Batavia communique says that eight Japanese flying-boats tried to attack military objectives on an island in the Molucca group,- about 250 miles north of Timor. The planes dropped 20 bombs and machine-gunned the island. Three civilians were killed and two injured. A civilian guard and a soldier were also slightly injured.