Evening star., 1947-08-16
Java Truce Called Mockery,
With War Casualties Mounting
BY StonIey Swinton
Assoeiotsd Pres. Staff Correspondent

w Hu VVOI SOSU
By StonIey Swinton
~ Assoeiotsd Press staff Correspondent.
GAROET. West Java, Aug. 10
The cease fire order issued by the
Dutch and Indonesians in the East
Indies is a pockery here in the
front lines.
More men are dying now than
when the war was officially on, say
soldiers and officers who are doing
the actual fighting.
The cease-f1re order had been
heralded as the United Nations Sc
curity Councils first great victory
for peace.
The cessation of hostilities" on
both sides really was not that at
all. -
For the Dutch, the cease-fire in
reality meant there would be no
drive on the Indonesian capital
of Jogjakarta nor on the small
chunk of Central Java still held
by the Republicans. Elsewhere,
they are continuing to move for
ward en the rich areas they of1i-
cially term occupied"
Pushing down from Cheribon and
east from Bandoeng, they have
achieved a tenuous hold on more
than 1856 square miles of South
west Java since the cease-fire order.
Reports say similar moves are be-
ing made in East Java.
While cut of, these areas never
were occupied at the time of the
cease-fire order.
The Indonesians, who after the
first cease-fire order announced
later they, too, planned "mopping
up and protective" action, now seem
to be pushing just as hard and in
just the way their staff officers In
Jogjakarta outlined to me months
ago. '.,H7''' n' <'' ,.'" ''''. 1"'''''''
On the Central Java front, where
Dutch troops actually pulled up, the
Indonesians were striking in fire.
gent small actions to which the
Dutch responded shot for shot. In
some areas the Dutch proclaim they
occup, but where actually a slender
line of blend Dutchs:youths have
just staked perimeter areas in few
towns, the Republicans were strik-
ing down from the mountains. snip
ing and avoiding frontal clashes
more effectively than when the
Dutch forces were moving.
I have not been with Indonesian
troops. but here is peace" as seen
at the front with the Dutch:
Dutch forces moved into destroyed
Tjitjalengka, 20 miles south of
Bandoeng before the cease-f1re rule
Fighter Planes Used.
Last Sunday, 100 Indonesians
struck down from the mountains
and attacked U.s." said Capt. Baltus
Van Dam. Monday between 200
and 800 attacked again, shouting
freedom and using Vickers guns.
The Dutch used fighter planes
to strafe the mountain area there
Here is your cease fire" said
1t. Frans Crane. Yesterday I came
upon an ambushed Dutch truck
outside Cheribon. Two soldiers
were dead and another was dying
They were stripped naked and
bathed in blood. Dumdum bullets
were fired into their vitals' repeat
edly from close range after they
already had been shot. It hap
pened five minutes before our ar
rival. We fired at the Indonesians,
but they got away"
This once-noted health resort of
Garoet was nearly 10 per cent de-
stroyed after the cease-flre order
The Indonesians did 1t. The Dutch
admit they occupied the town
August 10, Ave days after order.
Tasikmalaja, further on, was
taken after q full day of fighting
August s, the Dutch said. It was
wholly destroyed.
A few minutes ago, Pvt. Frans
Wagamakers drove up with a new
bullet hole in his jeep, bored by a
snjper's rifle.
Just before I wrote this dispatch,
a Bren gun snarled nearby. M. j.
Guykerbuyr, an officer, commented: :
There's your cease-fire."
Onicers and men everywhere say
the shooting has increased.
Despite the United Nations, they
want to drive on and capture jog
jakarta. believing that will stop
most of the shooting. So do civil
officers who said that, after COM
paratiyely friendly reception, the
Indonesians now we're afraid to CO.
operate because the Republican army
was still up in the mountains ready
to retaliate against collaborators.
The Indonesians have their side,
too. They considered what the
Dutch called "mopping up,," frank
Dutch expansion into new territory,
while the Hollanders were giving lip
service to the U. N. request that
hostilities cease.
Whoever Is right, one thing is Ger
tain: Not even an uneasy peace has
come to Indonesia. The cease-f1re
order made headlines, but very little
else.
Dutch List ~ Killed
Since Ceose-Fire Order
pATAvIA lava Arg IL (P-