BATTLE FOR KOHIMA

Evening Star, Issue 25172, 11 May 1944, Page 5

BATTLE FOR KOHIMA

CRUSHING JAPANESE DEFEAT TOKIO'S INDIAN INVASION DREAM ' SHATTERED LONDON, May 9. " Every report from the Assam front points to a crushing Japanese defeat in the battle for Kohima," says the Ceylon correspondent of the ' Daily Mail.' " Battered enemy units, out-gunned and outmanoeuvred, are facing annihilation by massed Allied forces. Tokio's dream of seizing Indian bases before the monsoon breaks has been shattered. Already more than half of the Japanese troops have been destroyed.

" Planes, artillery, and infantry are concentrated against them, and our tanks are rolling straight over their positions, smashing or blowing them up. Their casualties have been out of all proportion to the weight' of their attack, and continue to mount. They havl no tanks and little hope of getting armour to their surrounded troops. There are also signs that their food, arms, and supplies are running short.'' i"Xhe Japanese who are trapped must either withdraw or be annihilated," said Sir Sultan Ahmed, information member of the Viceroy's Executive Council, at a Press conference in New Delhi after a visit to the Imphal and Arakan fronts. " I have the fullest confidence that the Japanese will he completely defeated. There is no danger of an invasion of India. Our position on the eastern front was never stronger, and a steady stream of supplies is reaching our troops. The confidence of the British and Indian troops and their allies was overwhelming." The supply weapons, the armoured strength, and the air superiority impressed Sir Sultan Ahmed, who said that the Indians, man for man, were superior to the Japanese.