BURMA CAMPAIGN

Grey River Argus, 10 November 1944, Page 6

BURMA CAMPAIGN

BRITISH COMPLAINT OPERATIONS POORLY REPORTED. LONDON, Nov. 7. Air Marshal Sir, Philip Joubert, Deputy Chief of Staff to Lord Mountbatten, who is visiting- London, spoke to-day about enormous difficulties the British Indian Fourteenth Army encountered in holding what he termed “the biggest single front against the Japanese in the whole Pacific war” in mountains and jungles of ‘Burma. Marshal Joubert is accompanied by Captain Frank Owen, formerly editor of the London “Evening Standard” and now editor of an Army newspaper “Seac,” who made an impassioned appeal for more light to be thrown on their heroic deeds in Burma. Mr Owen said:— “Lads from cities, towns and villages in Britain are supermen, who are beating the superman of the jungles, Japanese troops.” He spoke of terrific climatic conditions, and said: “A quarter of a million men are fighting in a country where thirty inches of rain falls monthly for six months in the year. They are attacked by lice and leeches? They are fighting up and down their line in mud, mist and a deluge. There w.as a good deal of patrol work. Men went out on patrol into the jungle with ten or fifteen days’ rations and if they did not return at the end of that period they did not return at all. If they fell sick or were wounded in the jungle, they just had to die there. I don’t know how our men live in the jungle, let alone fight in it. Their enemy is a beast, a savage, but a brave savage. The Fourteenth Army are not bitter about their deeds being unknown to the world. in fact they are rather proud of themselves, but they do wonder why people at home know nothing of it.” Sir ’P. Joubert said: “There are a quarter of a million very angry white men in Burma, who are deeply concerned that what they are doing in fighting Japan is not being publicised at home. The British and Indian troops are not only saving India, but are also knocking hell out of the Japanese. They, up to date, have inflicted a larger number of casualties on the Japanese than any other force in the Pacific.”