FAR EAST FIGHTING

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 December 1944, Page 5

FAR EAST FIGHTING

OFFENSIVE IN BURMA

LONDON, Dec. 25. Admiral Lord Mountbatten’s offensive towards central Burma is moving steadily forward on several s ec " tors. From the Chindwin bridgehead 14th Army columns are moving inland. Japanese air attempts to destroy the bridge over the Chindwin have been foiled. Other 14th Army troops are 120 miles north of Mandalay. A Aircraft of the Eastern Air Command attacked the railway running from Mandalay to Lashio, and heavy bombers struck at Hanoi, in French Indo-China.

RUGBY, December 26. Troops of the 14th Army have continued their advance along che Shwegyin-Yeu road, says a Southeast Asia communique. On the 15th Indian Corps front Enemy sampans on the Mayu River were engaged by artillery and machine-gun fire. Elsewhere our patrols were active.

RAID ON SUMATRA

RUGBY, December 26. “On the morning of December 20 British naval carrier-borne aircraft attacked the harbour of BelawanDeli, on the east coast of Sumatra, and oil installations in the same area,,” states a special South-easi Asia .communique. “Bombing from 1500 feet, Avengers scored hits on jetties, warehouses, and railway yards. Fighters set an oil tank and a petrol tank on fire. Owing to the low clouds and rain squalls the results could not be fully observed. One enemy bomber was shot down. In the afternoon of the same day, enemy airfields in the Sabang area, and the anchorage at Uleelhoe were attacked by Corsairs and Hellcats. Enemy airfield installations and small cra-t were damaged in low-flying attacks. We suffered no casualties.”

CHINESE “HIT AND RUN”

CHUNGKING, Dec. 25

“Chinese forces, in a hit and run attack Qn Japanese supply lines north east and north-west of Kweilin, inflicted 240 casualties on the Japanese and seized supplies,” says a Chinese communique. “The Chinese repelled a Japanese thrust from Lungsheng against Chinese positions 40 miles north of Kweilin.” AERIAL OPERATIONS. RUGBY, December 26. In North China aircraft of the 14th Air Force destroyed 38 Japanese aircraft in Shantung Province on Sunday, states a Chungking communique. Four other enemy aircraft and 14 locomotives were destroyed in another sector. In an operation northeast of the Yellow River five enemy planes were destroyed or damaged, and targets in the Tungtmg Lake area were bombed. A large tanker was probably sunk. One American aircraft failed to return from the latest raid on Shanghai. A Chungking correspondent says that owing to the severe Allied bombing of Nanking, civilians are being evacuated from the city. A bogus University started there by the Japanese is being closed down. Shanghai has also received a shattering air blow. Half its coal depot has been destroyed and most of its factories have been forced to close. Fifty per cent of the electric supply for the factories has also been put out of action.