HIDE-AND-SEEK WAR

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 250, 21 July 1942, Page 5

HIDE-AND-SEEK WAR

Sparring Across Indian

Frontier DURING THE MONSOON (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Received July 20, 11.40 p.m.) LONDON, July 20. (

“A strange war of hide-and-seek has been going on on the Burma frontier all through the monsoon lull—the sort of war that is not read about in communiques but will vitally affect the operations when the autumn comes,” says the “Daily Express” correspondent at General Wavell’s headquarters.

“Like boxers sparring, the British in Assam and the Japanese in'Burma are weighing each other up. They are concentrating on three kinds of activity. first, sending out patrols through the rain-lashed jungles to locate enemy positions; secondly, finding out by air and otherwise the enemy strength and judging his plans; and thirdly, consolidating their conununications. * “Fresh Imperial troops are having a rough time. The monsoon rains pour clown for days, and our patrols have to put up with such weather in flimsy bamboo huts. The troops often wade waist-high through swamps dragging pack mules and keeping their rifles and ammunition dry. Snakes, mosquitos and leeches frequently are encountered in the jungle. The leeches suck the marching man’s blood even through the thick woollen socks.”