Word: surabaya
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...Lovely Island. But last week's most interesting Pacific gesture was a carrier task-force raid on Surabaya on the north coast of Java. Next to Singapore, Surabaya was the biggest non-Japanese naval base in the Far Pacific-bigger than Manila or Hong Kong...
...military men still stood firm in their predictions of a long war against Japan. Even if the Japs lost Truk (which they will not until many foot soldiers have lost their lives taking it), or if Truk were bypassed, many bases remained for Admiral Koga's Navy: Singapore, Surabaya in Java, Balikpapan in Borneo, Saipan in the Marianas, Manila and the Japanese homeland bases...
...Surabaya, on the island of Java, was not sleeping. Lights glittered along the waterfront, indicating that the Jap was making full use of this great shipping and naval base he had torn from the Dutch. Out of the dawn swept a formation of Liberator bombers, their exhausts glowing red. For 70 minutes they "buzzed" the city, bombing warehouses, railroads, docks. Most important target was the big oil refinery. As the bombers winged homeward to their Australian base, flames from the refinery could be seen for 140 miles. It was the longest raid of the Pacific war-2,400 miles round...
Nightmare Field. Malang Field near Surabaya was "a better job of camouflaging than anything we'd ever dreamed of in the Philippines." Before long, it was a nightmare field. From here the shattered remnants of the U.S. 19th Bombardment Group tried to stop the massive Japanese advance down Macassar Straits to Java...
...bases are as important as numbers of planes and ships. In this respect Japan is in a far stronger position than the Allies. At sea, while the Allies improvise with external lines at such harbors as Noumea and Suva, the Japs have great forward bases at Rabaul, Surabaya, Singapore, intermediate bastions...