"A DAMP SQUIB”

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21093, 13 May 1943, Page 4

"A DAMP SQUIB”

FAILURE_IN BURMA BRITISH REVERSES CAUSES ANALYSED (Bv Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) LONDON, May 11. Nothing can be gained by trying to explain the British reverse in the Arakan district in Burma as other than a failure, says the Calcutta correspondent of the Daily Telegraph. The Indian Associated Press, surveying the position, calls it a "damp squib.” The Japanese are now almost back to where they were before the British- offensive last December, it says. The consoling feature is that the failure was on only a small scale which undoubtedly will be redeemed triumphantly, when we have sufficient men, planes and ships for a real offensive.

“The failure can be ascribed basically to causes outside the Indian Command’s control. We could make a successful seaborne assault against Akyab if. the' available shipping had not been needed for the African campaign. The Japanese could not have counter-dttacked strong enough to push us back, as they have now done if we had Held Akyab. “The secondary causes of the reverse must be sought partly in officer^’,errors of judgment.and partly in the troops’ inefficient training for the conditions in Arakan. Some local commanders at,the outset under-esti-mated, riot so much the numerical strength of the Japanese as their fighting qualities.” Sufficient Troops LackingThe Daily Telegraph’s correspondent adds: “Tam convinced that on occasions during my first visit to Arakan in the New Year that the employment of a few additional companies would have given us complete success in. the limited objectives then sought. Difficulties of supply were doubtless the reason why we did not use additional troops, but there is also the unfounded confidence among officers on the spot that they had sufficient men for the job. They realised their mistake too late when even the bringing in of a fresh brigade could not compensate for the shortage of a few hundred men a couple of months-previously. “High officers admit frankly that the men needed a considerably longer period of training. Many Jacked, any previous experience in jungle fighting. In the Burma campaign our troops man-to r man were at a, disadvantage.” The Rome radio states that the Japanese, after taking Buthidating, captured a great number of prisoners and a large quantity of booty. The radio adds that the capture of Maungdaw, which is being attacked from the rear, is only a question of a fe.w days. The threat to India’s east door is becoming more and more serious. A New Delhi communique states that American bombers on Monday attacked Wataung. north of Mandalay. Engine sheds and trucks received direct hits. Other targets included Kwaitu. Mayaseik and Myitkyina. An area of Kwaitu -city was set on fire. The Pyawbwo railway junction was also bombed. All the planes returned.