After the murder of five RAF aircrew and twenty Indian soldiers by Indonesian nationalists, the village of Bekassi (Bekasi) in Java, Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) is burned in reprisal.

Buildings on fire. A sapper of the Bengal Sappers and Miners throws a tin can full of petrol onto a small fire burning inside a house; the fire flares up immediately. A corporal holds a jerry can. The sapper throws a second can of petrol through an open door and an entire room is set ablaze almost instantly; the soldier grins broadly as he retreats from the flames. Treeline with smoke rising. An aircraft circles overhead. A column of smoke in the distance. Chinese civilian inhabitants of the village who were evicted when the troops arrived. Four disarmed Indonesians, apparently members of the 'Black Buffaloes' nationalist group, who were held reponsible for the murders and were captured by Indian troops. Close-ups of the Indonesians. Smoke rising in the distance.

Notes

On 23 November 1945 a Dakota en route to Semarang crashed 6 miles from Batavia (Jakarta), with five RAF aircrew and twenty Maratha (Mahratta) riflemen aboard. Before they could be found, they were abducted by Indonesian nationalists and murdered on 25 November, their bodies being buried by a riverbank. They were exhumed on 1st December

This act of reprisal was also filmed by an RAF cameraman and covered by a British Army still photographer. The exhumation of corpses was also filmed and photographed by both Services. All of these, as well as an interview with the RAF cameraman who witnessed the exhumations, can be found at the references below. See related items.