JAPANESE FEAR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 221, 18 September 1942, Page 3

JAPANESE FEAR

ATTACKS BY ALLIES Air Raids Cause Strengthening Of Burma Defences Rec. 1.30 p.m. LONDON, Sept. 17. "The increasing Allied air attacks on Burmese bases, with the end of trie monsoon, have forced the Japanese hastily to improve their defences, ' says a North American newspaper Alliance correspondent Experts don't believe that a major Japanese air offensive against India is imminent. "On the contrary, reports received here indicate that the Japanese fear the Allies have selected Akyab as a base for the early recapture of Burma in a combined counter-offen-sive by land, sea and air. "Furthermore, experts agree that the Allies are at present holding the most strategic cards in air warfare on the Assam-Burma front, while the Japanese are probably unable to maintain runways and other installations needed' for operating heavy bombers against India." A New Delhi communique said that the R.A.F. raided Mandalay again yesterday. Japanese river craft were attacked and bombs fell in the area of the quay. A direct hit was scored on a barge, but other results could not be observed. All our planes returned.