BURMA CAMPAIGN

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24555, 10 April 1943, Page 7

BURMA CAMPAIGN

DONBAIR ABANDONED WITHDRAWAL OF TROOPS (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, April 8 In view of the development of the attack against the narrow lines of communication behind them, and the impossibility of clearing the Mayu Peninsula to Foul Point before the monsoon, our troops, to put it bluntly, abandoned the Donbaik positions, says the New Delhi correspondent of the Times. The troops are now in the area 15 miles north of Donbaik to a point east of Ruthedaung. Fighting is reported to be still'going on. British and Indian troops continue to receive assistance from the air, the correspondent adds. The withdrawal is bound to increase general disappointment over the Arakan campaign, which has largely arisen from an imperfect appreciation of its limitations and supply difficulties. Originally the planned attack against Akyab had to be given up through unforeseen delays in the arrival of necessary equipment. Indeed, it was remarkable that the Japanese had not shown more initiative, because we put out our neck and were allowed to draw it back. The Japanese, in spite of losses, are characteristically operating in the jungle with numbers of small detachments, but the much shorter British lines at the moment seem capable of resisting their assaults. A communique issued in India reports that on the Arakan front the position is unchanged. An attempted Japanese infantry advance was repulsed with heavy enemy casualties, and fighting continues in this sector. One of our light coastal craft engaged two large Japanese motor-launches on the Mayu River on Tuesday night and probably sank one. Roya] Air Force Blenheims, escorted by Mohawk fighters, have bombed Shwebo, the Japanese air base in upper Burma. Our bombers also attacked Japanese positions and motor transport at the mouth of the Mayu River. A formation of Japanese bombers today attacked an aerodrome south of Chittagong. Slight damage was caused but there were no casualties.

SUPPLY DIFFICULTIES ASSISTANCE FOR CHINA (Special Correspondent) (Recti. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, April 8 While it is often vaguely assumed that the reconquest of Burma would radically improve China's military supply situation and allow a great number of Chinese troops to become active, the special correspondent in Chungking_ of the Manchester Guardian, now visiting India, states that this unfortunately is incorrect. "It seems that supply assistance to China cannot exceed' a few tens of thousands of tons a month, even after the reconquest of Burma, until the decisive weakening of the Japanese Navy permits the Allies to use the ports of Indo-China and South China," he says. The correspondent points out that the small number of Anglo-Indian forces engaged in the present minor operation in Arakan need regular monthly supplies equivalent to several times the highest freight total ever carried over the Burma Road to China. While the authorities at New Delhi show the keenest interest in the earliest possible reconquest of Burma, in view of the moral and strategic values and oil and rice resources, they - conceive the task of the Indian war effort to be to develop India as quickly as possible into a great general supplies base for operations wherever they may occur. The correspondent adds that the perfecting: of the Indian defences has been virtually completed. There is a growing threat from the quickly developing strength of the Allied base in India which is evidently making Japan reluctant to dissioate her forces for major drives inside China. FIGHTING IN CHINA JAPANESE PUPPET TROOPS (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) CHUNGKING, April s The Japanese have altered their strategy in China. They are garrisoning minor points with puppets and concentrating their own forces on major positions. Explaining this to a press conference, a Chinese army spokesman said that the Japanese thus acquired greater mobility for the operations which might develop. The spokesman said that the enemy's strength, on the whole, was unchanged in China, namely 30 divisions. He reported that fighting occurred in the past week in the Hupeh, Honan, Yunnan, Kwangtung, Anhwei, Chekiang, Shansi and Shantung; provinces, but it was of a minor character. The Japanese unsuccessfully attempted to outflank the Chinese across the Yangtse River, south-west of Shasi. Enemy thrusts to the north and westward of Sinyang were turned back. Further clashes occurred in Yunnan, near the Burma frontier, in which a large number of enemy troops were killed. All thrusts were thrown back ARMY AND POLITICS AMERICAN REGULATION WASHINGTON, April S "The army regulation banning political activity by soldiers is not aimed at General Mac Arthur or anyone else." said the Secretary of War, Mr. H. L. Stimson, at his press conference today. He explained that the regulation embodied the War Department policy adopted in 1925 for the maintenance of the traditional American policy that no one should exercise both civil and military authority simultaneously. The latest regulation had not altered the previous policy, but merely restated it. Mr. Stimson expressed the opinion that this policy was wise and necessary in wartime. He said that the regulation was not discussed with the White House and no one outside the War Department was consulted regarding its preparation. The reporters asked specifically about public references to the regulation being designed to prevent any Presidential boom for General Mac Arthur. Mr. Stimson replied: "I can tell you with great explicit ness that I did not have General Mac Arthur in mind at all." Mr. Stimson said that the new regulation would not preclude the possibility of servicemen being discharged or placed on the retired list to run for office. Thus, if General Mac Arthur desired to run for the Presidency, and there was no indication that he did, he could apply to the War Department for relief from active duty. No comment is available at General MncArthur's headquarters on the regulation, states a Sydney message. It is recalled that General Mac Arthur has specifically disavowed any political aspirations. • DANGER TO JAPAN NEW YORK. April 8 A warning that America is massing many planes at Hawaii and Midway, from which air raids on Japanese cities are not impossible; was given by RearAdmiral Knnetsugu Tosa in a broadcast oyer the Tokio official radio. He added that it was evident from American preparations in (ho Pacific that direct raids were planned, This was all the more likely because air and submarine attacks were the only resources left America in the Pacific. i