Over Balikpapan on the east Borneo coast the smoke hung thick; flames from the oil wells fired by the Dutch stabbed red into the murk. The Japanese were closing in. Off the port in the Strait of Macassar a great Japanese convoy stood, ready to move south toward Java. Before the next dawn. Feb. 24, it had been slashed into gaping disorder in one of the wildest naval raids in modern naval history.
In a great burst of overdue news about the desperate, last-ditch struggle to hold the Dutch East Indies, the U.S. Navy last week told the story in detail. Its...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
