FORCES MERGING

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 1, 2 January 1945, Page 5

FORCES MERGING

PATTERN IN BURMA Mandalay Threatened From West And North British Official Wireless Rec. 1 p.m. RUGBY, Jan. 1. British troops coming from the Chindwin are now 85 miles northwest of Mandalay and are converging on the line of the advance of the British force from the north, which has advanced to about the same distance from Mandalay along the railway to the north and north-west of the ancient Burmese capital. The Japanese base at Yeu, which is 65 miles north-west of Mandalay, is threatened from the west and north. The British have also moved on down the east bank of the Mayu River on Rathedaung, 25 miles north and north-west of Akyab. Various Sectors More Closely liinked In Burma the various sectors are becoming more closely linked in the pattern of the advance. In the northern area the right flank linked on December 17 with the left flank of the 14th Army near Pariauk, and the two forces are converging on Yeu. To the east of these British operations, Chinese troops with an American Mars task force are continuing to meet stiff opposition in the area of Tonkwa, 56 air miles south of Bhamo, the Irrawaddy port which fell to the Chinese on December 15. East of Tonkwa a Chinese force is also swinging in from the north to cut the Bhamo-Namkham road at milestone 52, nearly 10 miles beyond a village which had been captured a few days earlier. But the BhamoNamkham road is still controlled in part by the enemy, and operations to clear it are in progress. At milestone 52 the Chinese forces were about 40 miles from where the Bhamo road junction links with the Burma Road, this junction being 10 miles from the China border. Nearly half as much territory has been occupied in North Burma in the first two months of the present campaign as in the whole preceding 12 months. 10,000 Square Miles Liberated Since the middle of October, when the Chinese 38th Division and the British 36th Division began their , concerted southward advances, they have liberated about 10,000 square miles of Burma. In three months of the present intensified campaign General Sultan's combined forces killed more than 4000 Japanese. To the south, 14th Army troops are advancing roughly parallel with the British 36th Division to Kanbalu. South-west of this sector the 33rd Indian Corps is pushing eastward along the road to Yeu. Further south again and away to the east on the Bay of Bengal, the 25th Indian Division has pushed down the coastal strip to Foul Point on the extreme tip of the Mayu Peninsula. This has been a rapid, advance, with a corresponding parallel push down the Mayu Range. While our advance from Buthidaung on the further side of the Mayu Range has been less rapid, considerable progress has been made and Rathedaung has been taken.