SITUATION IN JAVA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 303, 24 December 1945, Page 5

SITUATION IN JAVA

INTERMITTENT BATTLE OFFER BY INDONESIANS TO HAND OVER JAPS Recd. 7 p.m. Batavia, Dec. 22. Allied tanks were active to-day in Kramat. where an intermittent battle has been raging for 36 hours. Five members of the R.A.F. were killed and two wounded when Indonesians in this area fired on a truck in which the victims were returning from a football match. Indonesians are now sniping from tree-tops and from native huts. The Netherlands news agency estimates that the maintenance of order in Java takes a daily toll of three or four killed. One British officer and one Gurka were killed during clearing operations in northern Bandoeng, where 17 Indonesians were taken prisoner. TweK* bodies were found lying in a ricefield, with their throats cut, believed to be some of 27 Eurasians whom the Indonesians abducted.

The British, supported by naval guns and artillery, cleared a troublesome area in Semarang. Bridge demolitions in Sourabaya are holding up the British-Indian advance. The situation at Buitenzorg is quieter. Dr. Siahri announced that the T.K.R. (Indonesian Peace Preservation Corps) agreed to undertake the transfer of Japanese from the interior to British hands. “If the plan works out to British satisfaction, the Indonesian Government is also prepared to guarantee the removal of Dutch internees Jo British areas for evacuation from Java.”