The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1942-03-03
Three Invading Jap
Armies Were Stopped
CONTINUED from Page u

forced at any time am, the oduS
against the courageous defenders
should not be ignored. Enemy air
raids were continuing and forma-
ton of IS japanese rombers and
fighters raided the Bandoeng air
port this morning, Wrechng a
hangar, causing some other damage
and killing two persons.
But regardless of the odds there
was no lack of courage and deter
mination to be found among the Al
lied forces when toured the fight
ting front.
(McDougail said that the censor
did not permit him to mention
American forces in his telephoned
dispatch, but a report to the Lon
don Star told of Americans partici-
pating with Dutch and British
troops in a moonlight raid that
wiped out Japanese jungle force
after bitter fighting not far from
Batavia. Radio Tokyo claimed that
Japanese troops were within sight
of Batavia.)
Enemy Pushed Back
l know that the enemy was pushed
back as much as seven miles in
the sector that I visited, although
the action has not yet been Of
ficially announced.
Dutch and Indonesian troops,
fighting with swords as well as
tanks, pushed along a road leading
to a plantation center that was in
Jf )anese hands on Monday.
! followed these troops through a
toIrential rain storm. We advanced
seven miles through an area where
on Monday the japanese were snip
ing from every bush. They were
not there today.
Dutch soldiers told reporters that
the Japanese used tommy guns
with considerable accuracy and that
they carried grenades and some type
of fire bomb as they advanced in
the jungle and plantation areas.
There was a great deal OF fire
in front of me-" one soldier said.
THE japanese may have been using
flame throwers."
The spirit among the defense
forces was excellent.
"There will be few prisoners in
this fighting" one officer told me-
"We will drive them into the sea.
"They can't get off in transports
now because we sank at least seven
of IL at one landing place alone
near Indramajoe (east of Batavia.)'
Gravity of Java Threat
The return of Gen. Sir Archibald
Wavell to India and dissolution OF
the unified Allied command in the
southwest Pacific-announced Of
ficially only today-did not mean
that the situation had become more
serious, it was emphasized, although
the general gravity Of the threat
to Java was emphasized in Official
circles.
A tall, husky Dutch tank comman-
der at the front told me how the
spearhead OF his armored wedge
operated against the Japanese in
one plantation town on Monday,
with infantry following up the tank
attack.
1.-THE place looked deserted" he
said. But there were Japanese
troops in the houses and they began
firing on us.
IT saw one anti-tank gun-it was
a good one-that they had set up
in the street. I headed my tank for
it.
1.-The gun got my tank but not
until we were SO close that our mo-
mentum carried us crashing into the
gun and over it.
I'VE wiped out the whole gun
crew.
Then I hoped another tank
which was out Of the immediate fir
ing range Of the enemy.
1--WE finally rejoined our main
forces, after swimming a river"
The Japanese tactics included in
filtering through plantations and
jungles In groups Of about 20 OF
more, trying to follow path par
allel to the highways. They sriped
at everything on the highway and
were skillful in concealing them
selves among the bushes, coconut
palms and other greenery that
blankets the landscape.
Use Similar Tactics
The Dutch and native troops meet
them with similar tactics.
In our force Of advanced infan-