NEAR RANGOON

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 100, 30 April 1945, Page 6

NEAR RANGOON

SWIFT BRITISH DRIVE

Important Irrawaddy Town Captured N.Z. Press Association—Copyright Rec. 10.30 a.m. BOMBAY, April 29. A South-east Asia Command communique says: "On the Fourteenth Army front troops are driving south down the roau toward Rangoon. They have encountered stiff opposition immediately south of the 62nd milestone. Allanmyo, on the east bank of the Irrawaddy, four miles north-east, of Thayetmyo, has been captured." It was announced earlier that powerful armoured spearheads of the British Fourteenth Army were driving forward in the final stages of their advance toward the capital of Burma, Rangoon. They had made a swift advance of 56 miles in a day, and were near the town of Pegu, which controls the communications with Rangoon and south-east Burma. Behind them British and Indian infantry are going ahead. The progress was the fastest and most exhilarating yet made. In the 27 clays since the British broke out from Meiktila, on the Mandalay Plain, it has covered 276 miles in its advance south after routing Japanese forces in roadside towns. In the latest stages they are reported to have met disorganised Japanese resistance, and Burmese 'guerillas are dealing with the remnants of the forces smashed and broken by the speed and weight of the British advance. Japs Fleeing to Shan Hills Allied and Japanese forces to-day are engaged in a dramatic race for the last Japanese escape gap out of Burma, says a correspondent with the South-east Asia Command. Two Japanese columns, remnants of their 15th and 33rd Divisions, are hurrying toward Pegu, a railway station on the main Mandalay-Rangoon railway and key to the escape route into Siam. The Fourteenth Army, in their drive to Rangoon, is at present well ahead, with one Japanese column pressing forward on either side. The Japanese to the east are being gradually pushed back to the Shan Hills. Allanmyo, on the banks of the Irrawaddy, four miles north-east of Thayetmyo, was captured by Fourteenth Army elements, driving south from the Yenangyaung oil region. Indications are that the Japanese to the west will be cut off from their escape route. One column has already killed 747 Japanese and taken 78 prisoners. Stiffening opposition suggests that the Japanese intend to fight strongly for Pegu. The country is difficult and only slow progress was made yesterday.