MYITKYINA BATTLE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIV, Issue 147, 22 May 1944, Page 5

MYITKYINA BATTLE

ALLIES GAIN GROUND THIRD OF TOWN TAKEN > LONDON, May 21. . ’ The Allies who tire threatening ;■> Myitkyina, the important Japanese point in Burma, from three directions, have pushed further into the town and now occupy ,_ v about one-third of the town as well as the railway station. The enemy has only one communication line left—that with Bhamo to tho south—but this road is being constantly harassed by the Chindits. The fall of Myitkyina is in some quarters re-, garded as imminent. . . . L, Stubborn Japanese opposition, writes a 14th Army observer, quoted by the.--.. Official Wireless, is being encounter- .. ed by the Fourth Corps _ advancing..;u along the section of the main ImplialDiiiiapur road somo miles north of < Imphal. This move to clear the road -> began on May 15. In the initial stage British troops carried out a diffi- " cult all-night march through the foot-.’ * hills west of the main road to reach a position overlooking the road he-;,;” hind the enemy. Simultaneously diun troops made a shorter encircling movement to the road further south, while other Indian troops, with tanks' in support, made a frontal attack up the road. ~ By noon that day Kanglatongbi Village, on the road, was in our hands, while to the east the British and Gurkha troops were gaining a foot- ... hold on the 3000 ft Kanglatongbi”; Ridge in the face of fierce When Scottish infantry and Gurkhas moved forward to the forming-up place , under the ridge in the early hours, a thunderstorm broke. Vivid flashes of lightning lit up the rain-lashed hilltop, their objective. At first light the at- * taekers went in up precipitous spurs ■■/- leading to the knife-edge ridge which the Japanese were entrenched. ; Above the cheers of the Scottisii troops and the war cries of the Gurkhas could he heard the skirl of the. pipes as Pipers Walls and McDonald led the rain-soaked Scotsmen into battle to the.... strains of their regimental march. • Meanwhile, moving silently through /• the jungle by night, a detachment of -v Sikhs had travelled seven miles round the enemy’s flank to take up a position north of the ridge. The Scotsmen encountered strong resistance on the western edge of the ridge and tanks were called up. The position at present is that the main Japanese positions appear to be astride the road a few miles north of ’ * Kanglatongbi, although a series of isoluted strong-points on ridges to the east of the road still hamper our pro- M gress on the flank. There has been heavy fighting both east and west of tlie road involving British and Indian troops and resulting in heavy Japan-/, ese casualties.