STRIKING BACK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24913, 12 May 1942, Page 3

STRIKING BACK

CHINESE IN BURMA ATTACKS ON MANDALAY (Rec. 9 p.m.) LONDON, May 10. A Chungking message states that a Chinese military spokesman announced that 3000 Japanese were killed last night in a battle In the Yunnan Province. The Japanese are fleeing to the south-west to the Burma frontier. Chinese troops penetrated Mandalay from the east and the west, in spite of intense Japanese bombing. Military circles In London believe it is too early yet to assess the full significance of the Chinese counterattack in Burma, which has already taken them to the gates of Mandalay. The Chinese are said to be attacking Mandalay from both the east and the west with the bayonet. Fighting outside Mandalay’s moat is proceeding. They are apparently also advancing from Maymyo to attack the rear of the Japanese forces at Lashio, while other Chinese troops north of Lashio are attacking the Japanese column advancing into Yunnan. While there is no clear indication of the strength in which the Chinese counter-attacks have been launched, and therefore as to what ultimate effect they will have, the news that they are actually occurring is regarded in London as distinctly heartening after many weeks in which the Allied forces have been strictly on the defensive Military circles, incidentally, see the Virtual loss of Burma as primarily due, first, to lack of air support, which has had a profound effect on every operation in the Far East to date; and, secondly, to extreme geographical difficulty in reinforcing the Allies in Burma, whereas the Japanese fought from good bases, in the rear of which they had adequate communications. Nevertheless, all the correspondents who witnessed the operations in Burma agree that the British, Indian and Chinese forces offered as stubborn a resistance to the enemy as any troops have ever done. BURMA ROAD FIGHTING JAPANESE TRAPPED (Rec. 1 a.m.) LONDON, May 1. According to the Chungking correspondent of the United Press of America, Chinese troops and American volunteer flyers killed 4500 of the Japanese invading forces on the Burma road near Chefang. A military spokesman declared that the whole invading column was liquidated. Japanese remnants in the long retreat from Burma to the border are now threatened by the Chinese Army moving north from Mandalay. The invaders were ambushed by Chinese artillery established alongside the Burma road, and trapped in the deep gorges and difficult mountain sides. The American flyers swooped to within 50 feet of the Japanese motorised columns, machine-gunning and bombing them. GOVERNOR OF BURMA ARRIVAL IN INDIA (Rec. 10 p.m.) NEW DELHI, May 10. Under orders of his Majesty’s Government, the' Governor of Burma, Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith. has moved to India.

Three hundred thousand Burmese, Indians and Europeans have been safely evacuated to India from Burma. India has done a remarkable job of work dealing with these weary travellers, many of whom struggled hundreds of miles through dense, leech - infested jungle paths and through malarial lowlands. Among the last to leave were those who carried out the demolition of oilfields, power stations and railways within 100 yards or so of the Japanese.