Fierce Battles Raging In Java

Timaru Herald, Volume CLI, Issue 22214, 6 March 1942, Page 5

Fierce Battles Raging In Java

Enemy Making Continuous Advances . . .. —<l Situation Serious But Not Yet Desperate By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received 1 a.m.) LONDON, March 5. IN SPITE of the heroic resistance of the Allied forces, the Japanese are slowly battering their way forward in Java, where fierce battles are raging. It is difficult to give a clear view of the situation, but the Japanese are advancing continuously. The capture of two towns in Eastern Java and three towns in Western Java is confirmed in a Batavia communique. Reuter’s correspondent at Batavia describes the situation as serious, but not yet desperate. Fresh Japanese landings are reported. Agency messages point out that the situation is such that the Dutch have fully applied the “scorched earth” policy. The Allied defence has been handicapped by lack of air support, and as the Japanese filter through the jungle they are losing no time in striking at aerodromes.

The Bandoeng correspondent of the “Dally Mail” says that as the result of the great shortage of Allied planes air support for our troops seems to have diminished suddenly. On the other hand Japanese aircraft grow more and more numerous. The enemy control of the seas around Java seems almost complete. The British Air Force personnel, having no longer planes to fly or recondition, are being organised into ground units In order to strengthen Major-General Sitwell’s small force. Other reports say that the heavily outnumbered Allied and Dutch troops are being ceaselessly dive-bombed but are fighting magnificently. A small British force is fighting with its back to the wall on the plains of Krawang, north of Indramajoe. Japanese cyclists who occupied Soebang are reported to have been driven out. There are still no reports of the enemy invading force which landed in Bantam Bay. Confused fighting is going on in the Rembang area. The Netherlands Government in London, in consultation with the military authorities at Bandoeng, has instructed all commanders, including those who have to operate singly, that they must fight to the last. The Japanese in Java are using the same tactics that they employed in Malaya, says the correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph.” They have split into groups of 10 or 20 and then weave through tea and rubber plantations. They are meeting fierce opposition from the Dutch, who are well used to this kind of fighting. At the moment the Japanese advance is by infiltration—the only means whereby they can move. It would be certain death for them to try to negotiate the roads, which are thickly mined and covered by artillery at everv turn. A Bandoeng communique states: “During an attack by our aircraft on an enemy-occupied aerodrome heavy damage was caused to hangars and an anti-aircraft battery sustained a direct hit. A number of enemy bombers were machine-gunned. A formation of Japanese bombers and fighters attempting to raid Bandoeng was so heavily punished by Allied fighters that the raid was abandoned. Four enemy bombers and one fighter were shot down.” “And I give Java two weeks life at most.” This view was expressed by the war correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph,” Mr Tom Fairhall, who has returned to Sydney. He declared: “The Dutch will fight on to the end. They may be able to retreat to the hills and turn parts of the country, into Tittle Philippines.’ Their grand airmen will fly obsolete planes until they cannot take them off the ground. "The Allied Command in Java achieved little. According to Dr. Van Mook (Lieutenant-Governor of the Netherlands East Indies) a complicated command was superimposed over the

Dutch. He said it impeded the Dutch defence. Even after Singapore fell there did not seem to be a determined effort to push British troops into the Indies. The Japanese success was due to the deadly simplicity of their tactics, their common sense and leadership. We were outfought because of our red tape, blundering, scarcity of air power, lack of offensive spirit and native fifth column. Unlike the Japanese we showed little Imagination. “The troops properly trained in jungle warfare fought like tigers, but the reinforcements sent to Malaya had not been trained In jungle technique. I heard we had 250 planes in Malaya

when war broke out. I often heard our air tactics severely criticised. I don’t think any squadron fought the Japanese as an intact squadron. They were sent up two and three at a time against strong Japanese bombers protected by fighters. They did not have a hope. The Japanese concentrated on our airfields and bombed them constantly. The sinking of the Prince of Wales and Repulse was a perfect example of our air and anti-aircraft strength. There were more high angle anti-aircraft guns on the Prince of Wales than in the whole of Singapore. The Japanese bombing is good. Their bombers are beauties. Their antipersonnel bombs are terrific. They land and burst downwards. They will get you if you are lying flat on the ground or even in a shallow trench.”