LOSS OF RANGOON

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 44, 21 February 1942, Page 7

LOSS OF RANGOON

EFFECT ON POSITION' IN INDIAN OCEAN

RUGBY, February 19. ! A very serious view is taken by "The Times" of the Japanese thrust in Burma following the fall of Singapore and the consequent danger to the Burma Road, along which supplies are passed to sustain the armies of Marshal Chiang Kai-shek in their heroic struggle. After pointing out that the Japanese not only have been able to force a way through obstacles in the north .which were prematurely described in some quarters as impenetrable, but also have sidetracked them by the operations in the south, "The Times" continues: "There can be no shadow of doubt that the threat to Rangoon has become vital and urgent. "The loss of Rangoon would mean, in the first place, the cutting of the only means of communication by which the bulk of supplies can be transported to hard-pressed China and, in the second place, the acquisition by Japan of a potential base of operations against shipping in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. THREAT TO LOWER GANGES. . "The threat to Rangoon is a threat also to all southern Burma, and that iin its turn is a threat, at least in the air, to the -teeming propulation of the Lower Ganges. It would be worse than folly to underrate the seriousness of this situation. . j "Forces from India and China have been moving up to the front in increasing numbers. If it is possible to pro- j vide them and their bases and their sea. and land communications with adequate air support, the enemy may j yet find the task he has tackled one of great difficulty. "The time has come to put aside any notion that the Japanese army is an opponent of the second order. Good and well-equipped troops will always be required to defeat it, even when it is encountered en equal terms, and it is by no means certain that it does not now possess advantages almost as great as those which it enjoyed in the Malayan campaign. "Above all, its fanaticism must be fought down by iron resolution." It was announced yesterday that a new route was being established to transport supplies to China and that Rangoon was being mined.