Word: java
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Singapore's defenders knew the stakes. If they should fail all United Nations bases from Suez to Pearl Harbor would be in hazard. Japan's Malayan forces would be free to attack Java, Burma, perhaps Australia. With evacuation almost impossible, it would deal a heavy blow in manpower. Some 60,000 British troops were on the island. And it would give Japan a free passage to the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. Knowing these things Singapore's defenders fought bravely and well, but bravery was not enough...
...Amboina. There were very few Dutch, U.S. or Australian planes to meet them. Soon more yellow men came than the brown men could kill. The brown men's green uniforms melted back into the green jungles. So fell Amboina, the Indies' second naval base, a key to Java...
Japanese bombers ravaged the hot and busy streets of Surabaya in eastern Java, heralding a seaborne drive at the Indies' No. 1 naval base. The U.S. Asiatic Fleet was based at Surabaya, and before the bombs came U.S. sailors strolling among the stucco shops, the bright roadways, the bungalowed suburbs thought it was all remarkably like home...
...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...
Japanese planes dropped their first bombs on Batavia, the capital. Slowly the lines tightened about Java. The Dutch bombed back, claimed the sinking of a Japanese cruiser and a transport. A few U.S. P-40 fighters joined a few U.S. Flying Fortresses in the Indies air. A few hundred more could save Java...