March 15, 1942 – News In English from Radio Tokyo – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
March 15, 1942 – As the Japanese sweep across Southeast Asia continued, Radio Tokyo was making maximum use of the propaganda those victories in Rangoon, Java and The Dutch East Indies brought. Reporting the alleged admission by General Wavell that allied forces, now subject to the ordeal of prison camps and extended marches, were equipped with too little and reinforcements arriving too late brought about one of the most pivotal moments of the Pacific War: the Fall of Java. The surrender of the Dutch island not only brought the total collapse of the ABDA Command and the Malay Barrier, which had failed in every one of its missions; but also consolidated the position of the Japanese Empire in the Pacific, having achieved supremacy over the two main resource hubs of the East: Singapore and the Dutch East Indies. With the completion of the Malayan campaign and the Dutch surrender, new objectives appeared for the Japanese on the horizon: the British colony of Burma, with its key port of Rangoon, and the last of the Chinese lifelines, the Burma Road. The result was a disaster for the Allies and a stunning wave of victories for Japan.
This one of several news reports given by Radio Tokyo throughout the day on March 15, 1942. It also signifies a dramatic change of tone for coverage of the war as broadcast via shortwave.
And so the war continues, as seen through many different eyes and interpreted in many different ways.
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