INDONESIAN SNIPING

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 149, 21 December 1945, Page 8

INDONESIAN SNIPING

BRITISH AND INDIAN TROOPS AS TARGETS

Eec. 10 a.m. BATAVIA, Dec. 20. Three British and Indian companies with tanks and armoured cars, advancing towards the scene of Monday's battle near Buitenzorg, were sniped as they turned back from a bridge ■which was impassable to armour. Two Indians were killed and one wounded. A parachute battalion newly arrived from Singapore was sniped and attacked with grenades at Batavia, one 'British soldier being wounded. Cases of arson are reported from Samarang. These are believed to be reprisal measures by Indonesians for Allied action, against looters.

Dutch troops are mentioned in an operational role for the'first time in today's Allied headquarters' communique. They occupied the Passarminggoe area near Batavia, capturing arms, ammunition, and vehicles. The situation at Samarang is still uneasy, with Indonesian concentrations to the eastward. Forq^s which cleared the troublesome northern sector of Bandoeng found many weapons, including blunderbusses, in a hotel ■which had been strongly defended. The total British and Indian casualties in the Netherlands ' East Indies' fighting to December 14, are now 178 killed, 742 wounded, and 175 missing. A 60-ton wooden motor ship displaying the Red Cross insignia fired on a Dutch party landing from a destroyer :off Billiton Island last Friday, reports a Netherlands Navy communique. One Dutch signalman was. killed.