WIDESPREAD SHOOTING

Southland Times, Issue 25836, 22 November 1945, Page 5

WIDESPREAD SHOOTING

TENSE NIGHT . IN BATAVIA TERROR TACTICS OF EXTREMISTS (Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 21. Widespread shooting broke out in Batavia last night after a day of rapidly growing tension, intensified by fighting in a number of sectors of Java, says The Daily Telegraph’s Batavia correspondent. Most of the clashes in Batavia centred on the Konigsplein, a large open space near the centre of the city, where Allied headquarters, hospitals and administrative buildings are situated. The 23rd Division’s headquarters were peppered with bullets. Shots were fired at R.A.F. officers and at a Dutch camp. Indonesians attempted to rush a road block manned by Allied troops on the outskirts of the city, but were driven off by a counterattack. All shops were closed and the streets were deserted by nightfall. Late at night only sporadic shots could be heard. There are still many thousands of European and Eurasian women and children in internment camps in, and on the outskirts of, Batavia. Feeling runs high at the extremists’ terror tactics, which are beyond all peaceful methods of control. It seems that a quick decision will have to be made, either to allow the landing of several thousand Dutch troops, or to increase the British garrison before the situation has an opportunity of getting out of hand. Dutch forces manning the main southern approaches to the city, were warned that Indonesian mobs were gathering in an arc about their positions. This Dutch unit fought in Tarakan. It has already suffered more casualties in the present action than in the Tarakan campaign. BRISTLING WITH WEAPONS Twenty people were killed or wounded in renewed, widespread fighting in Batavia, reports the Associated Press correspondent. Men, women and children took cover as the sound of gunfire came from every direction. British, Dutch and Indonesian cars and trucks, bristling with weapons, raced through the streets. The British and Dutch hastily tlu-ew up road blocks. • The advancing British ground forces at Semarang are meeting slight resistance after a successful Thunderbolt attack broke up an Indonesian attempt to capture British headquarters. The planes dropped leaflets giving the people 90 minutes’ notice to leave the district before the bombing began. Indian troops are advancing on Sourabaya naval base in face of Indonesian artillery and mortar fire. A News Agency message says that Roman Catholic officials reported that Indonesian extremists executed nine Jesuits during disorders in Smageland on November 1.