Evening star., 1942-02-10
Indies
Continued From First Page J

because 1t lies some 20 miles up the
Barito River from the sea and there
fore could be blockaded by Allied
air and naval units.
Military Installations Destroyed.
| Aneta released the communique
dealing with the MacaSsar landing,
which said that again the Dutch had
destroyed all military installations in
advance Of the enemy landings.
The fact that the communique
spoke Of enemy landings" indi-
Gated that considerable Japanese
forces were involved.
The japanese attack on Macassar
was seen as an indication that the
Macassar Strait invasion feet was
on the move again. Halted for two
weeks by the heavy losses inflicted
by United States-Dutch air and
naval action, this force was believed
to have reorganized in the protected
harbor Of Balikpapan and to have
obtained reinforcements in ships and
men.
Batavia Has Another Raid.
The All-India radio reported that
Batavia had an air raid today and
that bombs were dropped in the
center Of the city and in the harbor
area" The broadcast was heard
in New York by c. B. 8. No men
ton Of this raid was made in today's
Indies communique.
The Dutch communique acknowl-
edged slight damage" to airdromes
near Batavia In yesterdays raid by
Japanese fighter planes. the first on
the indies capital, and said some
planes were destroyed on the ground.
"Oil and petrol fires caused .
large cloud of smoke" the COM
munique added. Some persons were
killed and some were wounded"
At least one and probably two
raiders were said to have been shot
down.
A flight of 70 japanese bombers
was reported to have attacked East
ern Java yesterday, with the air.
drome at Malang the chief objective.
No damage was reported there and
one enemy bomber was shot down in
an air fight near Soerabaja.
Infiltration Continues.
The communique said small jap
anese patrols continued slight in
filtration" in Southeastern and
Southwestern Borneo, where the in
vaders are believed to be seeking
footholds directly across the Java
Sea from Java.
The Dutch garrison at Amboina,
the Indies secondary naval base,
was said to be continuing its re-
sistance, though the major portion
OF the island was reported in Jap
anese hands several days ago.
The Netherlands Indies Naval De-
partment Information chief pre-
dicted today that If the Allies do
not soon regain naval dominance in
the Southwest Pacific they will
suffer heavy blows.
In q communication headed LES
son for the Netherlands East
Indies" he said a considerable part
of the Allied forces is busy with work
which has no direct connection with
fighting. No further explanation Of
this statement was given.
Continuing, the naval spokesman
said the remaining part of the Al
lied forces will have to be strongly
reinforced before the Allies will be
able to wrench the hegemony Of the
southern seas from the Japanese,
who are making swift use Of their
dominance.
One fact pointing the need Of
heavy reinforcements, the spokes-
man said, was that only two British
destroyers were used to attack a
Japanese naval squadron which was
covering q landing attack on the
east coast Of Malaga. Hence it was
not possible to prevent enemy in
filtration in Malaga, which was car
ried out by numerous small craft
setting ashore landing troops at
various river mouths. These troops
then forced their way into the tefr1.
tory behind the actual front.