WAR IN BURMA

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 99, 28 April 1945, Page 13

WAR IN BURMA

END COMING RAPIDLY

Retreating Jap. Army Lacks Transport N.Z. Press Association—Copyright Rec. 4.30 p.m. BOMBAY, April 27. The war in Burma is coming rapidly to an end—more rapidly than even the British commanders expected, says the Australian Associated Press special correspondent in Burma. Since the break-out from Meiktila, Fourteenth Army troops have been moving down the Manda-lay-Rangoon railway at a high speed, killing as many Japanese a$ 1000 daily. Although this is a small number by European standards, it has made such a hole in General Komura's Burma army that he would be justified if he decided to withdraw into Thailand and Indo-China.

The Japanese general, thanks to British armoured columns and their skilled air support, commands an army without transport. The southerly advance has been aided by two related factors, both springing from the operations of the Fifteenth Corps in Arakan. The fighting in this coastal belt, which culminated in the capture of Taungup, drew off Japanese who otherwise would have worried the right fiank of the advancing troops. It also cleared the way for sea supply to Akyab and Ramree Islands.