BURMA ACTIVITY HITLER YOUTH LEADER

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 February 1945, Page 5

BURMA ACTIVITY

HITLER YOUTH LEADER

NEW BRIDGEHEADS FORCED

ALLIES ACROSS IRRAWADDY BOMBAY, February 19.. Fourteenth Army troops have established a bridgehead on the south bank of the Irrawaddy opposite Myimum, reports an Allied South-east Asia Command communique. The enemy is reacting strongly. He has launched a number of counterattacks. These were repulsed, after fierce hand-to-hand fighting. On one sector of the. bridgehead our troops were forced temporarily to withdraw, but, following a heavy artillery concentration, we re-occu-pied our original positions. . The bridgehead has since been extended. Singu bridgehead also has been enlarged in the direction of Mandalay from the north. Troops of the Fifteenth Indian Corps with naval and air support made a successful landing at Ruywa 60 miles south-east of Akyab town, and occupied a village. STUBBORN DEFENCE An Allied bridgehead over the Irrawaddy, west of Mandalay, is steadilv being consolidated on a south-easterly axis, despite savage, but unco-ordinated Japanese counterattacks, says an Australian Associated Press correspondent. Against, onp of these counter-attacks a British company in a small village fought for eight hours until ammunition gave our, and forced them to retire, but not before nearly 100 Japanese had been killed. In this engagement they sustained 39 casualties, only a few beinc killed. Later, following a concentration from nearly 100 guns the village was recaptured. “There is no important change in the Singu bridgehead on the east bank of the Irrawaddy,” says an Allied South-east Asia Command communique. Fifteenth Indian Corps are still being offered stubborn resistance from positions on high ground north and east of Kanga village Ground operations to clear this area are being supported by air strikes. Except for stragglers, Ramree Island is now clear of Railway bridges in Burma anu Siam were attackeci in strength by aircraft of the Eastern Air Command, three bein°' wrecked on the Burma-Siam railway, and two on the MoulmeinYeu line. An Associated Press special corresnondent says: Fourteenth Army troops advancing on the Mandalay from, made a second successful crossing of the Irrawaddy and now hold a bridgehead of nine square miles approximately 50 miles west of Mandalay. Japanese have counterattacked unsuccessfully each night, using artillery, and have losd more than 300 troops. Our fighterbombers made a record number of sorties on Sunday, February 18, causing widespread damage and knocking out a tank. ANOTHER LANDING. LONDON, February 19.. A new landing has been made in Burma, on the Arakan coast jus.opposite the northern tip of Ramiee Island. The landing is reported to have been a complete surprise to the Japanese. A correspondent says t only opposition was very minor aitil(Jmted kingdom and Indian troops of the 15th Indian Corps went ashor-, covered by an artillery bombardment of the high ridge which dominated their landing point. The bombardment was laid on by guns of the Royal Indian Navy and by light artillery which our commandos had secretly landed the day before and hidden in a mangrove swamp. Royal Indian Air Force Hurricanes helped in the good work by bombing the ridge. To reach the beachhead landing craft had to steer through a maze of swamps and hall-dried river beds. Within an hour men of Yorkshne and Lancashire Regiments were astride the main road, a mile and a half inland. It is the main coastal road of Arakan, and our troops are about 40 miles south of our road block at Kangaw, and,, something like 60 miles north of the enemy s supply base and port. “It is revealed that the 25th Indian Division in Kangaw is being entirely served by the Royal Indian Navy,” writes a New Delhi correspondent. Arms and equipment are being supplied by the Navy, and the support includes marines and landing craft.” MANDALAY FRONT.

tirely served oy me pyy? 1 . Navy,” writes a New Delhi correspondent. Arms and eciuipment are being supplied by the Navy, and the support includes marines and landing craft.” MANDALAY FRONT. A special correspondent of the Associated Press says that 14th At my troops, advancing on the Mandalay front, have made a second successful crossing of the Irrawaddy, and they now hold a bridgehead of nine square miles approximately 50 miles west of Mandalay. The Japanese have counter-attacked unsuccessfully each night, using artillery, and have lost' more than 300 troops. Allied fighter-bombers made the record number of 180 sorties on Satuiday. causing widespread damage and knocking out one tank. “The Allied bridgehead over the Irrawaddy west of Mandalay is steadily being consolidated on a southerly axis, in spite of savage but unco-ordinated counter-attacks, states the correspondent of the Australian Associated Press in Burma. “Against one of these counter-attacks a British company in a small village fought for eight hours until its ammunition gave out and it was forced to retire, but not before nearly 100 Japanese had been killed. In this engagement we sustained 39 casualties, only a few being killed. Later, following a concentration from nearly 100 guns, the village was recaptured.” ” , ADVANCE ON MANDALAY. LONDON, February 19. With the crossing of the Irrawaddy, opposite Myinmu, 35 miles east of Mandalay, the 14th Army are conducting a pincer movement on Mandalay. The other arm of the pincer is the Isingu bridgehead, 40 miles north of Mandalay. i A Colombo message says the new ! bridgehead on the south or left bank > of the Irrawaddy is 10 miles wide, and is growing bigger daily. The new landing from the sea ai Tuywa, in Arakan, places a second block on the Japanese line of communications, the other being at Kangaw. A 200 ft railway bridge over the Yonbin Chang River at Ela, 217 miles north of Rangoon, on the railway to Mandalay, was wrecked by United States Mitchell light bombers yesterday, states South-east Asia Headquarters. R.A.F. and United States Liberators on Sunday dropped more than 200 tons of bombs in the Yenangyaung oilfield, 130 miles southwest of Mandalay. R.A.F. Hurribombers. Spitfires, Thunderbolts, and United States aircraft attacked targets south and south-west of Mandalay. In attacks on supply lines close to and remote from the battlefront, one of the most succesful strikes was that by a flight of Hurri-bombers, which wrecked at least 80 per cent, of a concentration of 1100 vehicles spotted about 100 miles south-west of Mandalay. Mosquitoes scored strikes on 60 rivercraft, motor transport and railways as far south as Moulmein and as far east as Siam.

LONDON, Feb. 19. The German radio announced that Helmut Moekel, Chief of Staff of Hitler Youth was fatally injured in an accident while on duty on the Western Front.