RESISTANCE BY INDONESIANS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25357, 12 November 1945, Page 5

RESISTANCE BY INDONESIANS

AIRCRAFT AND WARSHIPS AID TROOPS By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received November 11, 10.30 p.m.) LONDON, November 10 Sourabaya was under shellfire from 6 a.m. yesterday when the ultimatum of Major-General E. C. Mansergh, commander of the Fifth Indian Division, expired. Major-General Mansergh had ordered the Indonesians at the Sourabaya naval base and other areas in Eastern Java to surrender their arms by 6 a.m. "or face all the naval, army and air forces under my command." The shelling was reported by the Indonesian Republican Foreign Office spokesman, who said many Indonesians had been wounded by the shellfire, which had increased in intensity at 8 a.m. The Republican Foreign Minister, Dr Soebardjo, stated that British warships had joined the artillery in shelling the city, and that many Indonesians had been killed. The manager of the telephone exchange in Sourabaya had informed him that Indonesian families were evacuating the city and the telephone exchange was being abandoned. People appeared to have decided to carry out a scorched earth policy in their flight. Dr Soebardjo stated that the Indonesians up to 10 a.m. had not returned the British fire. Indonesian reports today state that Sourabaya and the vicinity are devastated and that thousands of Indonesian soldiers and civilians were killed by continued British attacks from air, sea and land. The British spokesman sltated that troops of the Fifth Indian Division early yesterday began slowly to clear Sourabaya against light sniping and light machine-gun fire, but resistance increased by the middle of the morning. Major-General Mansergh had ordered the bombing and shelling of Sourabaya because the increasing resistance had inflicted casualties on the advancing Indian Division. Four Thunderbolts and one Mosquito operated from the Sourabaya airfield, and made bombing and strafing attacks on the Post Office and Government buildings in Sourabaya. The Mosquito was damaged, but landed safely. The spokesman stated that Major-General Mansergh, before the expiration of his ultimatum, had sent a message to Dr Soerio, Indonesian "governor" of Sourabaya, specifying that tanks, armoured cars, spears, blowpipes and poisoned arrows must be surrendered along with other arms. British and Indian forces by today occupied nearly twothirds of Sourabaya, according to Dutch sources. Allied headquarters, denying that the air strikes yesterday were indiscriminate, stated that all the targets were well-known extremist strong points. Major-General Mansergh gave every opportunity for the Nationalists to comply with the measures necessary for the safety of the city, but they appeared determined to fight. Allied headquarters stated that there had not been any strong reactions elsewhere in Java to the news from Sourabaya, and the Indonesian reaction was almost phlegmatic. The Indonesians at Jogjakarta, where large numbers of native youths are meeting, invited Brigadier Bethell, the British commander at Semarang, to broadcast over the Jogjakarta radio last evening. Indonesian Republican sources declared the British bombing and shelling went on until late last evening and claimed that the bodies of Indonesians and Dutch were piling up in the streets and evacuees were crowding the roads from the city. General Christison's headquarters denied the reports that thousands of Indonesian soldiers and civilians were killed in Sourabaya. British casualties on the first morning of the assault were one killed and four wounded. Another Dutch report says Islamic religious teachers have gone to Sourabaya to rouse the people to a so-called holy war.