BURMA STAGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25801, 23 March 1945, Page 5

BURMA STAGE

SET FOR GREAT BATTLE THRUST INTO ENEMY POCKET (Rec. 7 p.m.) RUGBY, Mar. >2l.' “Manaaiay is now behind us, ano the stage is set for the great cattle which must take place Detween Mandalay and Meiktila, where the Fourth Crops is astride tne Japanese escape iiignways to the south,” states a Burma correspondent. Armoured columns of the Thirtythird Corps are already thrusting mto the heart of th.s large pocket containing many thousands of Japanese. The enemy is being hammered and threatened from several points.

The South-east Asia Command announces that since November 11 the Fourth Corps of the Fourteenth Army has killed 6000 Japanese, 4000 since the capture of Meiktila. The Japanese are still spasmodically shelling the main airfield at Meiktila. The recapture of Mandalay has been followed by further advances in several parts of the Burmese front, states South-east Asia, headquarters. An armoured column, operating from Meiktila, in three days killed more than 300 Japanese. Elsewhere our troops made satisfactory progress. Troops of the British Thirty-sixth Division consolidated in the Magok area and made further progress. Chinese troops cleared the road from Hsipaw to Namhsin, eight miles south-west of Hsipaw. West African troops captured Letmauk, 66 ffiiles south-east of Akyab, in the face of opposition. Reconquered Mandalay is a dismal sight. It is a city from which all semblance of organisation has been withdrawn, says the Australian. Associated Press correspondent in Burma. It has no commerce with the outside world, and there is no one who can speak on the city’s behalf. Those human beings who remain have reverted to the primitive order of society, with less cohesion than a gipsy encampment. The largest social unit is the family. There are no trams, electric light, municipal services, or police force. The central part of the city, where the churches, official buildings, and commerce houses stood, is a deserted ruin, partly as the result of Japanese burning in 1942 and partly through our bombing later. Groves of trees which formerly gave shade to the residents are polluted by Japanese smells and rubbish. The river is littered with sunken boats.

Beyond one or two primitive Chinese tea shops, there is not a sign of business left. • Civil affairs officers trying to establish order and recruit police are working with an insufficient staff and on a shoe-string basis. For example, incoming police are armed with shotguns, while dacoits use pillaged rifles.