BURMA INFERNO

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24913, 12 May 1942, Page 2

BURMA INFERNO

OILFIELD DESTROYED ESTIMATED LOSS £12,250,000 SYDNEY, May 7.. The British in the Burma campaign have “ scorched ” their path behind them with increasing thoroughness, reports William Monday, the Sydney Morning Herald’s war correspondent in Burma. “If everyone destroys oilfields as well as we have done, it will ultimately mean the end for the Japanese,” said General Alexander, after the destruction of the Yenangyaung field. Twenty-four tanks, which contained 10.000,000 gallons of crude oil, went up in flames in an inferno which, seen from the hills at night, turned 10 square miles of the oilfield into a shop-window in fairyland. Driving in the streets was like driving in a dense fog, and as the night went on the sky became a starless black smudge. Presiding over it all, like a tireless magician, striking fire everywhere he walked, was a former production manager who had offered his services to the British Government.

Fuel for Fires I did some “ scorching ” myself, says the correspondent. Under the production manager’s direction, I made holes in 100 40-gallon drums, throwing lighted matches into the petrol gushing forth. As the Japanese pressed nearer the oil centre, I helped to pile furniture in deserted bungalows as fuel for fires which soon brought the buildings crashing down. Soon it seemed a waste to strike a match merely to light a cigarette. One bonfire, dynamited first, and then soused with oil, was the Burmah Oil Company’s refining station, which produced 250,000 gallons of petrol a month. A last job, before the grand finale of the blowing up of the power station, was the smashing of a valve on a tank containing 40,000 gallons of petrol, into which, as it gushed out, was thrown a burning piece of wood. At this time, burning best of all was a tank set on fire two days earlier, which had contained 2,000,000 gallons of petrol. Flames from it were now shooting 1500 feet into the sky, and fireballs floated even higher. Power Station Blown Up

" Isn’t it beautiful! Isn’t it beautiful! ” said one worker, as excited as a schoolboy at a fireworks display. The blowing up of the power station, however, was regarded as a master work. In addition to explosives, 150 drums, each containing 42 gallons of oil, were stacked around the turbines. They were ignited, and added to the fierceness of the blaze, which already was fed by hoses spouting crude oil to a depth of Sin on to every floor of the building. , , , When he had finished, the former production 'manager had “scorched” Yenangyaung to the extent of £ 12,250,000. He told me that the fields would never be able to produce more than about half of their output at the time of their destruction.