“FORGOTTEN ARMY”

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 November 1944, Page 5

“FORGOTTEN ARMY”

NO PUBLICITY IN BRITAIN TROOPS IN BURMA ANGRY (Rec. 11.45 a.m.) LONDON, Nov. 7. Sir P. Joubert and General Owen, addressing a Press conference at the Ministry of Information, both strongly criticised the British Press for neglecting the Burma theatre. Sir P. Joubert said: “There are a quarter of a million very angry white men in Burma, who are deeply concerned that what they are doing in fighting Japan isnot being publicised at home. The British and Indian troops are not only saving India, but are also knocking hell out of the Japanese. They, up to date, have inflicted a larger number of casualties on the Japanese than any other force in the Pacific.” General Owen, graphically describing the appalling conditions under which the 14th Army, the “Forgotten Army,” is fighting in a theatre comprising 100,000 square miles, said that the British lads were the toughest jungle fighters' in the world. He added that the Japanese Army was mot' good. It was probably a-third-rate army, but the individual Japanese had one thing which was probably not found among other soldiers—determination to die to the last man. Every Japanese had to be killed. OPERATIONS IN BURMA. KANDY, November 7. “All Japanese resistance has ended around Kennedy Peak, in the Chin Hills, Burma,” says a South-east Asia Command communique. “Troops of the 14th Army occupied a strongpoint and pressed on to clear another eight miles of the Tiddim-Fort White road. Fighting is in progress two miles north-west of Fort White, where some enemy positions astride the road have been cleared. “On the Arakan front West African troops are moving down the Kaladan valley to within four miles of Palewa. “Allied bombers on Saturday night heavily damaged engine-sheds at Bangkok (Siam), and mines were laid in enemy waters. Enemy railway objectives in Siam were bombed on Sunday.” JAPANESE PROGRESS. (Rec. 10.30 a.m.) CHUNGKING, November 7. Japanese pincers closing on Liuchow are now only 80 miles apart, says the Associated Press observer arriving from the battle zones. He says that the Japanese are well equipped and the Chinese poorly equipped and outclassed. The Japanese south of Kwangsi, pushing westward from Kweihsien, are now 20 miles from Pingyang, the capture of which would distinctly . advance the Japanese plan of establishing an overland link with French IndoChina.