Word: borneo
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...decisive sea battles of history was fought last week in the placid waters between Java and Borneo. It was the naval battle for Java. It was a battle for the last bulwark against Japanese conquest of the Indies, a battle for the Southwest Pacific, a battle for a great chunk of the world's seas and sea power. It was a battle fought too late and in the wrong place, lost before it began...
...admiring U.S. naval officer, Admiral Helfrich believed that the risks would be justified, that warships were built to be risked and perhaps lost. But higher orders kept the combined Dutch and U.S. Fleets from the offensive until the Japs were firmly based in the northern Celebes and upper Borneo, were on the way down the Strait of Macassar...
Then the Allies hit hard: U.S. sea attack, Dutch and U.S. air attack ravaged the Japs' warships and transports. But, if it had ever been early enough, it was now too late. The Japanese secured their bases in lower Borneo, in Sumatra on Java's western flank, in the Guineas, in Amboina and elsewhere in the east...
...impossible task. Admiral Helfrich had to be prepared for invasion convoys on his left (Sumatra), at his center (Borneo), from his right (Bali). Exactly what he had long dreaded, what he had long planned to prevent, had now come to pass: the Japs were too many and too close...
...northern approaches to Java the Jap strengthened his footholds in Borneo and Celebes. From ruined Balikpapan patrols fought southward toward Banjermasin on Borneo's south coast, 300 miles from Java...