BURMA FRONT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24910, 8 May 1942, Page 5

BURMA FRONT

WITHDRAWAL IN PROGRESS • DESPERATE FIGHTING LONDON, May 6. Officers returning to India from Burma say that a rapid Allied withdrawal is in progress, and as many troops and civilians as possible are being evacuated by air, reports the New Delhi correspondent of the Associated Press. Seven American air liners took out 1200 on May } alone. The spokesman said a considerable number of British and Chinese troops are likely to be captured. The Chinese Sixth Army is scattered in small pockets for hundreds of miles south, north, and east of Lashio, and the British forces west of the Irriwaddy have their backs against trackless, jungle-clad mountains. They are fighting desperately, but are subjected to terrific punishment from Japanese planes. A communique issued from United States Air Headquarters at New Delhi reports a successful attack by heavy bombers on Mingaladon aerodrome. A petrql dump and hangar and 40 Japanese planes were destroyed, and 25 planes badly damaged. Blenheim bombers yesterday bombed and Tnachine-gunned a convoy of supply laden barges in the Chindwin River, near Monyma. They scored direct hits on three barges, causing considerable damage. THE JAPANESE INVADERS ADVANCE IN YUNNAN PROVINCE LONDON, May 6. The United Press correspondent in Chungking says the Japanese forces invading Southern China, in spite of the most furious resistance, are advancing in the Yunnan Province along the Burma road, apparently aiming at Paoshan and the American volunteer group aerodrome at Yngchang. Reports are meagre, and the situation at Wanting is obscure, but the reinforced Japanese mechanised units are reported to have stormed the Chinese defences in that sector.