CAMPAIGN IN BURMA

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 December 1944, Page 6

CAMPAIGN IN BURMA

TWO VILLAGES CAPTURED RUGBY, December 27. West of Mayu, British patrols entered a village five miles north of Foul Point, states a South-east Asia Headquarters. Following an air strike, our troops captured a village on a plain east of the Mayu River about fourteen miles south southeast of Buthidaung. The Chinese continued to clear the Namhkam Road between the milestones thirty-five and fifty-two. The main task force was engaged in extensive patrol action in the Tonkwa area. The British sent patrols south of Tigyaing along the Irriwaddy. Four enemy aircraft were intercepted by Allied fighters off the coast of Aarakan on Christmas night. Two were destroyed and the other two damaged. Allied aircraft gave strong support to the ground forces in Arakan, and destroyed or damaged rivercraft elsewhere, and attacked Japanese occupied districts near the Irrawaddy. Other formations attacked rail and river communications and bombed and strafed airfields in central Burma. JAP. PLANE LOSSES (Rec. 11.30 a.m.) CHUNGKING, December 27. Mustangs again raided Tsinan aerodrome yesterday and destroyed 29 Japanese aircraft on the ground, raising the three-day total to 69, says a Chinese communique. Fighters struck at Yangtze River shipping, sank one gunboat and one freighter, and damaged another gunboat and another freighter. A large fuel dump at Siangtan was destroyed and 140 Jappanese troops killed. Lightnings raided Kiungshan aerodrome on Hainan Island and damaged several grounded aircraft. Mitchells sank a cargo vessel in the Formosa Straits and damaged another. Other planes strafed enemy positions in the Burma and Thailand areas.