BURMA GAINS

Grey River Argus, 21 March 1945, Page 5

BURMA GAINS

By the Allies

(Rec. 12.30.)- 'BOMBAY, March 20. To-day’s Allied South-east Asia Command communique stated: From ouij now large occupied area south of Mandalay, armoured columns have struck southwards to threaten Japanese forces which have been assembled north of our Meiktila base. Troops of the British Second Division, pushing north-east from Ava, have occupied Amarapura. They are astride the railway and also are fighting in the southern part of Mandalay. In the Fort Dufferin area, the enemy continues to resist stubbornly. Our troops have cleared a road from Maymyo to Tonbo, twelve miles' south-east of Mandalay. West of the Irrawaddy, in the Sagaing Hills, enemy resistance has now ceased. Sharp fighting continues in the Myingyan sector. Our troops are fighting in the southern half of the town. From Meitila, our armoured sweeps to the north have continued, and the enemy again suffered severe casualties. In Northern Burma, Indian troops have entered Magok. Chinese troops have continued mopping' up operations round Hsipaw. Another column, moving south, cut the Hsipaw-Maymyo Road at Bawgyo, five miles from Hsipaw. Heavy bombers of the Eastern Air Command hit targets on the Kra Isthmus. Bridges on the Isthmus Railway, and as far as 1 one hundred miles south of Chumphon on the BangkokSingapore line have been wrecked and damaged, and large areas set afire in railway sidings.

ALLIES’ FOUR BURMA FRONTS

SUPPLIED BY AIRCRAFT LONDON, March 20 Because of the effectiveness of Allied airpower in Burma, the Japanese now move troops and supplies by road, railway, and costal shipping routes almost entirely at night, stated an Air Ministry spokesman. The Allies on the other hand, because they have won air supremacy, can supply big armies entirely by air, enabling land forces to strike out in any direction in the knowledge that their supplies will reach them. Allied air superiority to-day extends not only over the whole of Burma, but over Siam. The Japanese . air force rarely attacks in day _ time, while Allied air forces are on an average of six to seven sorties daily. Long-range bombers, navai planes and land-based fighter bombers are subjecting Japanese communications from dispatch to delivery to constant attack. Ja are compelled to use very forms of camouflage to protect rail way and road traffic. They PUt. P duplicate bridges, and make serviceable bridges appear unserviceable oy removing planking in the day tim and replacing it at night, iney build bridges with moveable pontoonj in the middle, which they remove in the daytime, and put back after dark. Allied transport planes in 1944 m Burma flew over three thousand hours on ninety tb ° aSaJ r flights. They carried over a 9 of a million tons of supplies to we combat zone. They now fly J cl hundred sorties daily. A J- 0 ™ 1 ied two thousand, tons is being ca £ itla daily to four fronts—Lashio, Mitta, Mandalay and Arakan.