FRESH FLARE-UP

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21946, 14 February 1946, Page 8

FRESH FLARE-UP

BATAVIA AREA TROOPS AMBUSHED SUMATRAN SIAUATION (11 a.m.) BATAVIA, Feb. 13. The most serious flare-up in the Batavia district for several weeks occurred in the notorious Bekassi area, eight miles from the centre of the city, reports the Australian Association Press correspondent. Two battalions of Indians, supported by a tank, cleared 25 road blocks, searched several villages and, dislodging snipers, reached Bekassi.

On the return journey an artillery observation officer and two British and two other troops were ambushed and found on the side of the road wounded. The two other ranks died..

The Dutch forces searched, a large number of villages four miles southeast of Batavia, made 50 arrests and recovered some arms. Minor opposition was encountered and one Dutch officer and one other rank were killed and two others wounded.

Two thousand Japanese have been evacuated from Sumatra, but 70,000 remain there. The position is very different from that in Java, as the great majority of the Japanese are •still armed and because the Allied tioops are concentrated in the three main centres —Medang, Palembang, and Padang. Large forces of Japanese in the inland areas are still under their own control. The Japanese are generally being used to maintain law and order and in some parts they have figured in that role only. Twenty-five hundred civilian internees, all Dutch and native women and children, remain in Indonesian hands.