RAIDS ON JAVA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 February 1942, Page 3

RAIDS ON JAVA

NUMBER OF JAPANESE PLANES SHOT DOWN Slow Enemy Headway in Sumatra and Bali DEFENCE OF LAST RIVER LINE COVERING RANGOON ARTILLERY AND AIR ASSAULTS IN PHILIPPINES LONDON, February 22. Allied, successes are reported in beating off Japanese air raiders on Java, with heavy enemy losses. A Batavia communique states that a Japanese force of 15 bombers escorted by fighters was intercepted near a West Java aerodrome and that three and probably four of the enemy planes were shot down. Four planes of another enemy formation of 18 fighters, headed for a place 70 miles from Batavia, were also shot down and another was almost certainly destroyed. Two Dutch planes were lost, but the pilots are safe. Several enemy planes, including a bomber, were shot down over other parts of Java. Full details are still awaited of the Allied attack on the Japanese invasion fleet off Bali. Japanese spokesmen have been declaring that no matter what the Allies may claim, the invasion of Java is continuing. The enemy losses thus far known are one cruiser, two destroyers and eight transports sunk, with five other cruisers and an unconfirmed number of destroyers and transports damaged. The Allied losses are one destroyer sunk and another warship damaged. The latest report on the campaign in Burma is given in a Columbia broadcast picked up from the All India Radio. It states that in fighting between the Bilin and Sittang rivers our troops have inflicted losses bn the enemy. The Sittang River is 25 miles west of the Bilin and is the last of the river defences of Rangoon. It is stated in London that Japanese claims to have captured Pegu, an important town on the railway from Rangoon to Lashio, the terminus of the Burma Road, can be regarded as completely unfounded. Continued strong Netherlands resistance in the air and on land is reported in both Sumatra and Bali. In Sumatra the enemy has not penetrated as far as it had been feared and has not yet reached the chief port in the south. His advance has been considerably impeded by the blowing up of all bridges and railways. In Bali the airport has not yet been captured and the Japanese are having great difficulty in gaining a foothold. A Washington communique reports that enemy activity in the Batan Peninsula has been largely confined to artillery fire and frequent air raids over the American lines. General MacArthur has told a stirring story of how some troops from North Luzon, with American tanks, annihilated the whole of the 20th Japanese Infantry Regiment. The troops rode on top of the tanks in order to guide them through the dense undergrowth.