BATTLE IN BURMA

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 July 1945, Page 5

BATTLE IN BURMA

JAP. ESCAPE EFFORT WATER-BOGGED COUNTRY COLOMBO, July 21. “Large groups of the Japanese forces who have bten concentrating at various points in the Pegu Yomas, are now attempting to break out eastwards across the Mandalay-Rangoon road towards the Sittang River,” says la communique issued by the Southeast Asia Command. “The village of Pyu, on the main road, 32 miles south of Toungoo, is the centre of a zone of activity. Our infantry, supported by artillery, tanks, and armoured cars are heavily engaging the enemy? “On the lower Sittang River, the Japanese are still moving northwards into the area around the village of Yyitkyo, 29 miles north-east of Pegu. Gurkhas drove the Japanese from a village 28 miles east-north-east of Pegu. The enemy withdrew to another village, which the Gurkhas attacked and captured. “Liberators yesterday bombed warehouses at Singora, in southern Siam, causing heavy damage and fires. In close support of our ground forces, Spitfires bombed and strafed enemy positions east and west of the Rangoon-Mandalay railway.” “The first big stand-up, face-to-face battle of the whole war in Burma is opening out to-day, with largescale skirmishing round the Zaha railway station, 140 miles north of Rangoon,” says a correspondent in Burma. “Here, the remainder of the Japanese army in this area has at last joined battle with the Allies. More than 3000 Japanese were last night observed concentrating in the jungles a few miles west of Pyu and Toungoo in the Rangoon-Mandalay corridor. This morning 200 Japanese launched frontal attacks on Indian infantry positions along the rail track at Saa, three miles south of Pyu. “More than 7000 Japanese may within the next few days make a desperate dash for the farther bank of the Sittang River. This will be the signal for the first major action in Burma - since the struggle 'for the approaches to Rangoon in the beginning of April, when 3500 Japanese were killed. . “The Rangoon-Pyu supply tram has stopped running. The Tactical Air Force is operating a ‘cab rink’ of fighters and fighter-bombers. Convoys of transport aircraft skimmed the tree-tops for four hours this morning, flying through a steady blanket of monsoon rain. The whole country is waterlogged and boggy. The Allies in this battle are operating defensively for the first time since they originally went on the offensive in this theatre of war, but they are sitting astride the main Japanese escape routes.” In the area of the lower Sittang patriot Burmese forces have been assisting our troops, says an Allied communique. One party of them killed a number of Japanese who were endeavouring to cross the Sittang near Nyaungkashe, 25 miles east-north-east of Pegu. On a section of the, main Mandalay-Rangoon road, between Toungoo and Pegu, our forces are taking a daily, toll of Japanese stragglers attempting to make their way eastward towards the Sittang. On the Toungoo-Mawchi road. Gurkhas, following up an air strike on the Japanese positions east ol Paletwa, 17 miles east of Toungoo, were held up by enemy fire. More than 1000 Japanese troops have slipped through the Allied lines over the Pegu Mountains to the Sittang River. The remaining Japanese in the area are being worn down with starvation and disease. It is .reported that the Japanese are preparing for a last stand along the Sittang River. JAPANESE MAJOR DEFEAT ~RUGBY, July 24. Between Pegu and Toungoo, 500 Japanese were killed on Saturday, writes a Rangoon correspondent. The estimate does not include those killed by artillery fire, and those bombed and strafed, as the desperate enemy tried until 3 a.m. to break through east, with a view to crossing the Sittang River. In yesterday’s battles the Japanese suffered a major defeat. A staff officer said their casualties by air and artillery might be double the figure of 500. It is not optimistic to estimate that half the Japanese who come into the open in a bid for lite are killed by our fire or drowned in the Sittang 'River. For the enemy, it is one of the most costly actions of the Japanese war in Burma.