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KOEPANG IN
RUINS
Australians Take
Over
From NOEL ADAMS
The disembarkation of the Aus-
tralian force occupying Timor is
continuing with complete smooth-
ness.
ness.
Seven Japanese landing barges.
I with their crews, are helping to put
I the Australians ashore, and ratings
]of the small Japanese naval gar-
I rison at Koepang. which sur
rendered its arms yesterday, are
working In gangs under their own
NCOs unloading stores and equip
ment.
They are working with every sign
of willingness to get the occupation
over and done with in the shortest
possible time. Their officers are!
held under a guard in their HQ.
The first Australians to land—
I some of them wearing the color
patch of the Tasmanian battalion
which was taken prisoner in Dutch
Timor three and a half years ago
—were welcomed with wild delight
by the native population.
As the procession of staff cars
(handed over by the Japanese) and
Jeeps swept through the ruined
town the natives cheered, shouted
I gaily in their few words ol Eng
lish. and most surprisingly gave
Ithe "thumbs up" sign.
There was no doubting their
sincerity. A few bowed or saluted
in the manner enforced on them
by the Japanese, but otherwise
there was no sign of the frightened
obsequiousness which, for example,
was so obvious during the Aus
tralian occupation of British and
Dutch Borneo.
Confident Smiles
Here there Is nothing but con
fident smiles and cheerful "Good
mornings"—the time of the day
makes no difference.
Already the Australians are be
ing pursued with demands for "One
cigarette, please."
The health of the natives ap
pears to be extraordinarily good.
So far no evidence of semi-starva
tion—again so common in Borneo
—has been seen.
Apparently the natives, even
around Koepang, which at this
time of the year is dry and barren,
have been able to live off their tiny
gardens together with what rice
the Japanese have allowed them.
The Japanese who have come
into our bands seem to have
wanted for nothing in the way of
food. They all fill their freshly
washed but very worn uniforms
comfortably.
Koepang itself has long been on
inhabited. The town is in utter
ruin, and from one end to tile other
will have to be completely rebuilt.
The only buildings which have
escaped the persistent bombing of
years are the barracks on the bluff
overlooking the town, and these
our troops are occupying.
In toe town not a house still
stands. Nothing remains but a
jumble of broken white stone walls,
jutting upwards or leaning crazily
out of acres of rubble lying hot and
dusty in the burning sun.
Every stick of furniture—every
thing, indeed, that might nave
given a sign that this heap of
masonry was once a collection of
bouses and shops—has gone. The
ruin looks hundreds of years old.
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