Evening star., 1942-03-18
BY GEORGE WELLER,

| FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT of The Star and
the Chicago Daily News.
SOMEWHERE IN AUSTRALIA,
March 18.-To what degree Singa-
pores well-publicized naval base
was actually destroyed by British
demolition squads remains uncertain,
but 'Soerabaja's annihilation by the
alert, well-prepared Dutch navy men
was accomplished with complete
ness which makes every other
Allied retreat insignificant by COM
parison. Nothing that flames could
consume. explosives rend or sea
water engulf was left last week
when the first Jap patrols entered
the smoking former naval base.
Although the Dutch had failed
before the war to sell the Allies on
the fact that Soerabaja was su-
perior base to Singapore, events
proved the truth of their claim.
Singapore's huge, empty buildings.
underground oil stores and great
drydock were liabilities after Jap
bombers gained the upper hand and
Jap artillery began shelling the
island.
But even after Jap bombers from
Bali were pounding Soerabaja, war
ships, limping back from the sad
battle in the Java Sea, still found
Succor and help. Singapore was
gold brick as a naval base, but
Soarabaja actually did its job.
Demolition Systematic.
British submarines long depended
on Soerabaja's big. excellent work
shops for the outfitting, which Sing
apores yard were never able to
supply, and American destroyers and
submarines found little lacking there
except the most highly specialized
American submersible equipment.
Your correspondent paid his sec
ond visit to Soerabaja three days
before its demolition began and ac-
companied party of Dutch naval
demolitionists aboard the last ship
which ran Japan'S cruiser and sub
marine blockade south, from Java
to Australia. Without panic but
according to fully prearranged plan,
they coolly carried out their total
labor of destruction on three sep
arate sites, namely, the naval air
base at Morokrembangan, the naval
base at Oedjoeng, and the COM
mercial harbor at Perak, all parts
of the Soerabaja water front.
With Dutch method they had di-
vided the demolition into two
phases, manual destruction and
heavy destruction. Manual destruc-
ton began on Sunday, March l,
after Vice Admiral c. E. L. Helfirch,
formerly commander of the United
Nations naval forces in the South
west Pacific, carrying the Neither
lands East Indies most secret docu-
ments. had left by plane. This hand
destruction was done by the Navy
executives themselves.
All Documents Burned.
All documents were burned. With
fire axes. ordinarily used to fight
AFRAID fires, desks and chairs were
smashed into small kindling. Tele-
phones, both individual and switch
board, were attacked with heavy
hammers and smashed into bits
The radio workshops alone employed
$50 trained mechanics. Hammer in
hand, the superintendent walked
down the line Of scores of big Amer
ican-made radio tubes. each worth
more than $500, shattering them
like wine glasses. The Office staffs
ended their work by sprinkling kero-
sene over the interiors of all build
ings.
The heavy destruction occurred
on Monday. March 2. occupying six
and one-half hours. Fifty specially
deputized members of the naval
police carried out the task.
During Sundays manual destruc-
ton, Jap fighters and bombers were
sent in nine raids over the base,