Cablegram K73 BATAVIA, 16 February 1948, 5 p.m.
SECRET
The following is portion of the Committee’s communique issued Sunday [1]
‘according to latest reports a total of 24,000 Republican combatants have now been evacuated from Netherlands-controlled areas. Another thousand are awaiting transportation. The Committee is informed that evacuation of TNI [2] from Netherlands controlled West Java has now been completed except for stragglers, sick and injured persons who have been hospitalized at assembly points and several groups of few hundred each who are in contact with Netherlands Commanders but who have not yet been able to reach assembly points. In East Java the Netherlands command has extended the period for evacuation since contacts with isolated groups are still being made.
General lack of friction with which these operations have been conducted and in many instances the friendly spirit which has developed between commanding officers on both sides who have been charged with responsibility for evacuation are clearly a credit to both parties.’
_
1 Information Release No. 49, issued by the Committee of Good Offices on 15 February.
2 A sign here indicates ‘mutilated’.
_
[AA:A1838, 854/10/4/2, iv]