STILL FIGHTING

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25203, 16 May 1945, Page 8

STILL FIGHTING

> OPPOSITION IN BUEMA ; DRIVE DOWN IRRAWADDY COLOMBO, May 14 British and Indian troops are still meeting stiff opposition on the Irrawaddy sector of the Burma front, i says a special correspondent of the t Associated Press. These troops belong to Lieutenant-General Sir ' Montague Stopford's 33rd Corps, ' which captured Mandalay and was then switched to the right flank of J the Fourteenth Army's southerly 1 drive, 1 After capturing the oilfields the corps > began its present drive down both banks ' of the Irrawaddy toward Rangoon, I while the Fourth Corps advanced on Rangoon from Meiktila. The Japanese, 3 who were forced across to the western i side of the Irrawaddy when the oilfields . jvere captured, are now trying desperi ately to get back to the eastern bank !> in an attempt to escape across Burma ■ to Sifun, hut they are being wiped out. Many Japanese bodies are to be seen floating down the river. Meiktila - Rangoon Line ! "■ -East of the Meiktila-Rangoon line the Japanese opposition appears to be weakening generally. Lieutenant-General A. "Wederneyer, ! commander of the American forces in 1 the China-Burma theatre, announced 1 that the Fourteenth Air Force increased its flights 15 per cent in April against almost non-existent opposition. Only seven Japanese planes were shot down in combat and 53 were destroyed on the ground. The supplying of the_ victorious Allied forces in Burma, which had to be 1 carried out almost entirely by air, reached a peak during April when about 7000 tons —2000 more than the previous 1 month —were delivered through treacherous weather and over towering mountains by planes of the Combat Cargo Task Force of Eastern Air Command. Record Air Hours Flown Although operations were greatly hampered by pre-monsoon storms, every squadron operated every day in the month. The supply lines lengthened as the Fourteenth Army moved swiftly on to Rangoon, and in order to maintain thj combat pilots had to fly the greatest number of air hours that had been flown by the task force in any one month, the total hours for April being 8400. , The weather was unusually bad and some missions had to be cancelled. Others were diverted in order to fly around storms. So great was the strength of tornadoes that one aircraft was torn apart in the air. Many forward airfields became inundated by heavy rain and longer hours had to he spent in the air as alternative fields were sought. . In addition air- commando liaison planes flew 6087 hours and evacuated approximately 5000 casualties.