"The Gloves Are Off"

The fighting grew fiercer in Java last week. Japanese soldiers helped the British in a sharp action at Semarang in central Java. U.S.-made Sherman tanks helped British Indian troops finally clear most of Surabaya. Noisy, effective Indonesian radio stations cried to the youth of the Indies to rise and join their jungle columns. At week's end the British sped Mosquito-borne rockets into two radio stations.

A wave of fresh recriminations spared only the Japanese, whom the British found to be "good troops." The Indonesians charged the Dutch with "burning our villages and murdering our people," and a British officer confirmed the report that Dutch and Amboinese troops had killed 60 Indonesian policemen in cold blood at the Batavia police station. The Dutch accused the British of refusing to let them land their own troops. The British listed 56 killed in three "atrocities," and said grimly: "The gloves are off now."

Meanwhile, negotiations languished. Moderate, socialistic Prime Minister Sjahrir had to face a plenary session of his government's 240-man "National Committee," convince extremists that it was still worth-while to dicker with the Dutch for self-government under a United Nations trusteeship, with guaranteed independence to follow later. Even if Sjahrir could swing his Committee, the Dutch were not likely to agree to such a plan.

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