The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
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Malang (112.62E 7.98S) is a city in eastern Java. When war broke out in the Pacific, the city was headquarters of 3 Division. Singosari Airfield, located five miles northwest of the city, based 1-VI.G.II and 2-VI.G.II Squadrons with 22 Martin Bombers. The airfield had no radar or antiaircraft and the runway was a 5000' (1524m) grassy strip, but the ground was stable enough that the B-17s of 19 Bombardment Group were based here after they had been withdrawn from the Phillipines. The field was heavily raided on 3 February 1942 by elements of 21 Air Flotilla and became untenable soon thereafter.
Following the surrender of Java by the Dutch commander, some 200 Dutch and British
soldiers in the Malang area took to the hills rather than turn
themselves in. However, all were rounded up by the Japanese within a
month. The Japanese refused to treat them as prisoners of war,
instead packing the men into pig baskets, taking the baskets to sea on
a coastal freighter, and dumping the men into the ocean to drown.
References
Craven and Cate (1947; accessed 2011-3-22)
http://www.freeport-tech.com/WWII (accessed 2002; now defunct)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2008, 2012 by Kent G. Budge. Index
