TRAGIC STORY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24915, 14 May 1942, Page 5

TRAGIC STORY

BURMA RETREAT INADEQUATE FORCES LACK OF EQUIPMENT (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, May 12. The British forces in Burma never totalled 30,000, with one tank brigade equipped with light 12ton American tanks as the sole armoured support. This is revealed by the military correspondent of the Daily Express, who says: “The truth about Burma can now be told. Probably over half of our troops—British, Indian, and Burmese—were killed and many wounded, and large quantities of six and four-wheeled vehicles, field guns and ack-ack guns were lost. The aid sent originally by the Chinese to General Alexander did not exceed 6000 to 8000 men. They were ill-equipped, but fought with the utmost gallantry.” The Calcutta correspondent of the Associated Press, in a delayed despatch, graphically tells the story of the British Army’s retreat in Burma, which he describes as the toughest evacuation of the war. “ Haggard, weary riflemen of half a dozen onetime crack British battalions, armoured car crews, and wiry sepoys are approaching within a few score miles of the mountainous Assam frontier, where the Japanese can and must be held at bay. They are foot-slogging through dust, oozy flooded paths, and dank teak forests, and swimming muddy streams. These dwindling columns of dirt-caked troops are fighting for lives —fighting on and on as they have been doing since January against an enemy more numerous and more skilled in jungle warfare, and continually reinforced by land, air, and sea. What happened in Burma constituted a military tragedy for the United Nations, 'as bitter in its way as Singapore, the Netherlands East Indies, and the Philippines, and perhaps as avoidable. “For the pitiably small handful of Imperial soldiers who lost Lower Burma and the few under-strength Chinese divisions, there can be nothing but praise. They were ordered to do the impossible, and their casualties were appalling. For hundreds of miles it was a case of fight, withdraw, and fight again. The fall of Rangoon doomed Burma. The British ranks knew that as well as the officers, but they kept on fighting. Surrender is not in their vocabulary.” It is officially stated that the British forces in Burma have now been withdrawn to positions to the north of Ye-u. The Calcutta correspondent of the Daily Mail says that fresh troops crossed the frontier from India to Burma to cover General Alexander's withdrawal. The two forces have already made contact. The correspondent adds that the new force will also act as the spearhead of the defence of India. FIGHTING IN YUNNAN PROVINCE JAPANESE 'FORCED BACK (Rec. 11 p.m.) CHUNGKING. May 13. A Chinese spokesman said that while the deepest Japanese penetration into the Yunnan provincet was a point 12 miles north-west of Lungling, a Chinese counter-offensive has since forced the Japanese back 30 miles. Explaining the strategic situation, the spokesman said the Chinese were attacking Lashio thereby attempting to cut off tne entire Japanese column in the Salween Valley. while the Japanese were attempting to ■ encircle and pocket the entire Chinese force between Mandalay and Myitkyina. Mr Wang Shin Chein, Chinese Minister of Information, said the Chinese in Burma and Yunnan were pressing the Japanese relentlessly without giving them time for consolidation.,';.He emphasised the importance of sufficient air support for acnieving their objective. •