INDIAN TROOPS IN ACTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26077, 14 February 1946, Page 5

INDIAN TROOPS IN ACTION

THE JAPANESE FACTOR (Rec. 0.20 a.m.) BATAVIA, Feb. 13. The most serious flare-up in the Batavia district for several weeks has occurred in the notorious Bekassi area, eight miles from the centre of the city, reports the Australian Associated Press correspondent. Two battalions of Indians, supported by tanks, cleared 25 road blocks, searched several villages, and, dislodging snipers, reached Bekassi. On the return journey, an artillery observation officer and two British of other ranks were ambushed and found on the side of the road wounded. Two other ranks died. Dutch forces searched a large number of villages four miles south-east of Batavia and made 50 arrests, and recovered ; some arms. Minor opposition was encountered. 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 Jap- . anese are still armed, and because the Allied troops are concentrated in the three main centres—Medan, Palembang, and Padang—the large forces of Japanese in the inland areas are still under their own control. The Japanese, generally, . are being used to maintain law and order, and in some parts they have figured in a combat role. Only 2500 civilian internees, all Dutch native women and children, remain in Indonesian hands.