Japs Denied Sumatra's Petroleum

Northern Advocate, 18 February 1942, Page 3

Japs Denied Sumatra's Petroleum

(Rec. 1.30 p.m.) BATAVIA, Feb. 17, Japanese plans to capture Palembang, on the island of Sumatra, the greatest oil centre in the Netherlands East Indies, before the Dutch had time to carry out their scorched earth policy, were frustrated when the huge oil storage tanks were emptied into the river and set on fire. •

After the Japanese parachutists had failed to gain control of the refineries Japanese transports arrived in the estuary of the Moesi river and enemy troops began to pour into all kinds of small craft for the assault on Palembang. The Dutch by this time decided that the risk of the oil installations falling into Japanese hands was too great and began to carry out a systematic scorched earth policy. River of Fire The storage tanks were set on fire and thousands of gallons of burning oil were poUred into the Moesi, turning it into a river of fire just as the first Japanese boats appeared down stream. Then Allied fighters and bombers struck, diving down to within a few feet of the river. All the leading Japanese boats turned over or caught fire, and the river became dotted amid the flames with swimming enemy soldiers, but more and more boats came up the river and its meandering side channels. The odds were too great and the city, with a population of 120,000, fell, but the fighting is going on in the tangled jungle outside. Dutch Bombers do Well A Batavia communique says that during a raid by Netherlands bombers on aerodromes at Palembang, we shot down two Japanese fighters and also scored a direct hit on a transport, while a near-hit and also probably orje hit was scored on another transport. Several places on the small Sunday islands have been bombed and machine-gunned. Several people were killed and several wounded, but relatively small damage was done to material. Gained Only Flames, Smoke j Accounts reaching London of the Japanese capture of Palembang all speak with the utmost admiration of the spirit of the Dutch authorities and people which showed itself in the unhesitating destruction of this vast oil centre. The capture intact by the Japanese of the 25,000,000 -dollar oilcentre would have been the greatest single prize in the whole area. However, the Dutch appear to have carried oat the destructionvery completely. The Japanese captured only flames and smoke.