KOHIMA RELIEVED

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24874, 21 April 1944, Page 5

KOHIMA RELIEVED

NORTH BURMA FRONT ROAD BLOCKS CLEARED INDIANS HELP BRITISH (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, April 19 Kohima, the British base oil the Assam side of the Burma border, has been relieved after being cut off by the Japanese for a week, says the Daily Telegraph's correspondent with the 14th Army. Enemy road blocks were shelled, then cleared with bayonets by a British and Indian column which had pushed to the south-east from Dimapur. A Rajput patrol made the first contact with the garrison, and then men of a British regiment linked up with Rajput arid Punjabi troops. The Kohima garrison was subjected to shelling by day and night before its relief. It had also been engaged in particularly heavy fighting in the western part of the base. The Japanese were apparently preparing for the final assault. Major - General Lentaigne's jungle forces in Burma are now firmly entrenched astride the enemy supply lines between Indore and Myitkyina. A delayed despatch from a correspondent with these troops says that on Saturday the Japanese began to make their fourth major attempt to dislodge our men. They used artillery, heavy mortars, fighters and bombers to support their infantry in a desperate assault. The attack began with six hours' mortar and artillery bombardment, after which Japanese infantry moved up under covering fire. The correspondent says it is over a month since this road and rail block was established and our troops are holding even more firmly now than at first.