FIGHTING IN JAVA BRITISH TROOPS ENGAGED

Evening Star, Issue 25620, 22 October 1945, Page 5

FIGHTING IN JAVA

BRITISH TROOPS ENGAGED

CLASH WITH INDONESIANS TENSE SITUATION AT SAMARANG BATAVIA, October 20. Shooting again broke out in Batavia to-night, when a clash occurred between British and Indian Patiala troops and Indonesians Thirteen Indonesians were killed and two Patialas wounded. The Dutch cruiser Tromp is leaving to-day with a detachment of Netherlands East Indies civil administration personnel for the tin-bearing island of Billiton, where Nationalist disturbances are reported. The task of the people on board is stated to be restoration of lawful authority. Dr Soebardjo announced that 11 Dutch officers were killed by an angry mob between Batavia and (Bandoeng. This is not confirmed by any British source.

The situation at Samarang is still tense. An official spokesman of the Twenty-third Division said that British and Indian troops who landed at -Samarang yesterday were engaged in a four hours’ battle, in which two Gurkhas were killed and six wounded. Fighting began when shots were fired from the shore against the landing forces. When the fighting died down, an Indonesian, under a white flag, laid the blame for the firing on the Japanese. There was another outbreak of fining and a skirmish with the Japanese later, due to a misunderstanding. All the personnel engaged in the recovery of Allied prjsoners of war and internees were found safe in the Pavilion Hotel, where they had been locked up. Indonesians to-day massacred over 100 Japanese at Buta prison in Samarang, and killed 26 unarmed Japanese in the street, and also three Netherlanders in another prison in Samarang. Japanese soliders .are reported to have cut down unarmed Indonesians who were unwilling or unable to reveal the whereabouts of the leaders of the extremist youth organisation. Indonesians are slaughtering Eurasians on the north and central coast of Java, 'especially those educated in European schools or with relatives in the Netherlands East Indies.

Armed forces of Indonesians at Peknlongan and other large towns imprisoned all Eurasians and threatened to kill them if Netherlands troops arrive.