JAPS. RETIRING?

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21580, 6 December 1944, Page 3

JAPS. RETIRING?

NORTHERN BURMA SIGNIFICANT MOVES STEADY ALLIED ADVANCE (10 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 5. There are indications, slight as yet but signiiicant,' that the Japanese in northern Burma have decided m stage a slow withdrawal, leaving oemnd small suicide parties at points along the whole 250-mile front, accorcung to a statement from neaciquarters of the South-east Asia command.

'Beiore tiie start of tne current northern Burma drives, the Japanese neld a line running roughly m an aiirom Tengchung, on their right hank, tnrough JViyitkyina to Homaiin, on tne Cnindwin River. 10-uay, leading from east to west, the Allied aavancu on the Japanese right llank is being carried out oy Chinese troops. These forces, having crossed the Salween River,' are pushing down tne oiu Burma road and have reached trie aliening area, 40 miles south-west of Lungling. Other Chinese elements, branching oh from Hopin in the railway corndor, auvanced on Bnamo rrom the west and south, Bhamo is tightly iiiigeu i'ouila oil tlll'ee siucS allu, Wltn all the escape roads to the soutn cut, «s oeing stubbornly defended. The garrison represents a Considerable of enemy troops. It seems possible that tne Japanese are preparing to sacrifice tnese to gam time for the withdrawal of men ana stores to tne south and postpone as long as possible a link-up between the two Chinese forces and a consequent 1 e-opening of the land route to China, Progress By 36th Division

The latest reports suggest that these aims will not be achieved. A lmie further west, 'in th.e so-called railway corridor, the British 36th Division, having been held up for nearly three weeks just north of Pinwe, is on tne move again, pushing down the Myit-Kyina-Iviandalay railway towards Naba junction. From here a 15-miie uranen line runs south-east to Kama. The British, having started from Mogaung at the end or July, have advanced some 90 miles by way of Hopin, Mohnwin, Mawiu and Pinwe, ana oeen supplied almost entirely by air. The advance, though fast by jungle standards, has been halted every so i oy tactically-sited and lanaxi-caiiy-hetd defensive positions, of which Pinwe was typical. Here the division encountered some of the thickest jungle in northern Burma, which made defence comparatively easy and attack exceedingly ditiicuL. West of the railway corridor in the upper' Chindwin sector on the Japanese left tlank, the enemy appears xo toe withdrawing in me Paungoywin area before the 14th Army troops who are pushing eastwards. Thus m northern Burma synchronised Allied drives go on from the east and the north-west.