The Daily Monitor

Crisis at Hand in Grim Fight for the Indies

Dutch Rally Allies for Last-Ditch Struggle

BATAVIA, N.E.I., Feb. 24--(A.P.)-Urged by the governor-general of the Dutch East Indies to face the foe with "faith and an iron will," the allied defenders of Java neared the zero-hour today in the battle for this last bulwark blocking the Japanese from the vital United Nations supply lines in the Indian ocean.

There was no new official word on the situation in southern Sumatra and in Bali, where the invaders have wrested their latest footholds directly west and east of this island citadel in the face of stubborn opposition from outnumbered defense forces.

A brief Indies high command communique reported only fresh aerial blows at Java, the heaviest of which was aimed at military objectives around Bandoeng, Dutch army headquarters.

BLASTING BARRAGE

Three low-flying formations of enemy bombers, apparently without fighter escort, were greeted by a blasting barrage of anti-aircraft fire from Dutch guns and new, British-made cannon which gave the Japanese an explosive welcome. At least one bomber was shot down and others were damaged.

But in the face of this intensive fire the planes circled the city and then, swooping even lower, machine-gunned various parts of the town, causing a few casualties.

One other bomber was listed as "probably" shot down last night near Malang, in eastern Java.

The governor general, A. W.

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L. Tjarda Van Starkenborgh Stachouwer, also reiterated an appeal for reinforcements, saying in a broadcast declaration that "additions to our equipment would still be welcome."

HARD FIGHT AHEAD

Stachouwer urged the men of the N.E.I. armed forces and civilians particularly in Java, to stand firm in the "hard fight that is ahead of us.

"We will fight with all the power in us," he added.

The representative of Queen Wilhelmina in the Orient, whose five-year term as head man of the East Indies was extended indefinitely last September because of the Japanese danger, told the beleaguered islanders that there is on Java a strong army with an air force and that the Dutch fleet fights on "the offensive principle."

Discussing the impending attack on Java, he said:

"This time the enemy broadcasting stations speak the truth. The moment approaches when the all-out attack will be launched on our main island.

"The situation in Java is entirely different from that in the outer provinces. Putting a strongly superior force up against the Dutch forces on Java will be much more difficult.

"We face the coming military operations with faith and an iron will. Beating off the enemy, holding out, maintaining our positions, are conceptions which have come to have a new sense of grimness, hitherto unknown.

"A will for offensive operations must be in us to push ahead every time an opportunity offers."

The Dutch announced yesterday that the Japanese had overrun part of Bali, to the east of Java, occupying the airport of Denpasar, on the southeastern part of the island only 70 miles from the nearest point in Java.

To the west of Java, on Sumatra, the Dutch and their allies were fighting delaying actions against the Japanese, it was reported.