BRITISH IN JAVA

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 December 1945, Page 5

BRITISH IN JAVA

STRONGER ACTION ORDERED FURTHER ENCOUNTERS LONDON, Dec, 9. “It is authoritatively stated -that British and Indian troops will start a drive soon to restore order in large areas of Java, according to decisions taken at the military conference at Singapore on December 6,” says Reuter’s Batavia correspondent. “More troops will be brought to Java. Dutch troops will probably be used to police the areas after they are cleared up, but they will not participate in the initial effort. The new moves involve an extension of the original British task, which was restricted to maintaining such order as was necessary for disarming-, the Japanese and evacuating internees. The British mission in future involves the recovery of all Japanese equipment from whoever now holds it, with the object of creating a stable situation in which the Dutch and the Indonesians can discuss their problems. “The troubles at Bandoeng took a new turn to-day when Dutchmen rioted and set fire to houses as a reprisal for the arrest of two Dutchmen by the Allied forces. Serious fighting broke out in Batavia when two platoons of Indonesians armed with mortars, grenades, machine-guns, and rifles attacked the dock area. Punjabi troops broke up the attack.”' A Royal Air Force Mosquito fighter bomber was shot down over eastern Java by anti-aircraft fire. All the crew were killed. Disturbances continue at Semarang and Ambarawa. It was reported on Friday that Indonesians were believed to be trying to close in on the airfield at Semarang.' Royal Air Force Transport Command pilots landed there amid firing, having failed to pick up a signal warning them away. Dakotas returning to Batavia with evacuees were the last aircraft to leave Semarang on Friday. The airfield is now closed.

Indonesian guns hidden in the jungle on the shores of a lake two miles from Ambarawa bombarded the Ambarawa gaol, causing an unknown number of casualties. Six Thunderbolts bombed and strafed the suspected positions and guns also blasted Indonesian positions near the lake. Indonesians were reported to be concentrating north-west of Ambarawa.

A British officer and six men are missing from a patrol along the railway line south of Sourabaya. Three members of the patrol returned and reported they met constant machinegun fire. Gurkhas clearing Indonesian positions which were obstructing the -evacuation of war prisoners and internees from Bandoeng suffered three killed and nine wounded. STATEMENT BY SJAHRIR "BATAVIA, Dec. 9. The Indonesian Prime Minister (Sutan Sjahrir) to-day visited the Allied commander in Java (LieutenantGeneral Christison). Sutan Sjahrir told a 8.8. C. correspondent that the quick stabilisation of the position depended on British military methods. He said that collaboration by the Indonesian Peace Preservation Corps with the Allied command had already begun, with the departure of a relief train for Bandoeng guarded entirely by Indonesians and carrying no Allied personnel. 1 ' • A military spokesman in Batavia said: “The food situation all over Java is serious. In Sourabaya, where within the Allied perimeter there are 400,000 civilians, including peaceful Indonesians, Chinese, and Arabs, there is only four weeks’ supply of rice. Large rice stocks -exist south of Sourabaya, but the difficulty is to get at them. Sultan Sjahrir’s Indonesian Cabinet is sending a representative to Sourabaya to work with both British and Indonesion, and even with Dutch officials. Their safety under flags of truce has been guaranteed.” The Dutch Lieutenant-Governor (Dr. van Mook) in an interview, denied that he had been recalled to Holland. He said, however, that it had been arranged that he should go for a short trip to consult with the Netherlands Government and give a clearer view of the. situation.

INDONESIAN ATTITUDE. (Rec. 10.45 a.m.) BATAVIA, December 9. The Indonesian Government would not initially oppose British efforts to establish full control over Java, said a Government spokesman. The Government’s attitude would depend on the effect on the people of British military action. “I suspect the people may consider themselves threatened and ■behave in the same manner as extremists,” he said. MURDER BY VILLAGERS. (Rec. 11.0 a.m.) BATAVIA, December 6. A British Army statement announced the bodies of the British officers and a Red Cross girl who disappeared from Padang Beach, whither they had gone for a swim, had been found in the village of Tabin a few miles from Padang. The statement added that several natives had been shot and others arrested on charges of murder. RUSSIAN ALLEGATIONS (Rec. 12.15 p.m.) MOSCOW, December 9. Professor Grubber, in an article in the Red Star, alleged that the British Command in Indo-China ana Java was actively assisting in the restoration of French and Dutch domination. He declared that progressive forces throughout the world were watching with deep sympathy the heroic struggle of the peoples loi freedom. CANADIAN SEAMEN. OTTAWA, December 8. The Canadian Seamen’s Union have wired Mr. Mackenzie King, Prime Minister, that the Union will urge its members to refuse to sail any Canadian ships which might be used to transport war equipment to the Netherlands East Indies. The Union has also asked Mr. Mackenzie King to repudiate the statement made by the Defence Minister, Mr. Abbott, who expressed readiness to supply 'war equipment to the Government of the Netherlands East Indies.