A KIPLING EPIC

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25802, 24 March 1945, Page 8

A KIPLING EPIC

“ THE ROAD TO MANDALAY ” VITAL TO ALLIED CAUSE By F. A. S. While the attention of the world is focused on the final act in the European war drama, a vital element in the Allied cause, the expulsion of the Japanese from Burma, is nearing its crucial stage with the liberation of Mandalay, second city of Burma. Immortalised in the rollicking lilt of the Kipling poem, Mandalay stands today indifferent to its romantic background in the midst of a grim reality which, coupled with the Battle of the Rhine and the air attacks on Tokio, Nagoya and Osaka, are this week’s principal acts in the theatre of the World War. A city of pagodas, monastic buildings, and bazaars, Mandalay has only a comparatively small population of 150,000, but it has a geographic importance which has been greatly intensified in recent years by the construction of the Burma road from Lashio to Chungking. Connected by road and rail to Rangoon, Mandalay was, even before the advent of the European, a key inland centre. The interests of the West have made the city even more vital and the reconquest of the town is as essential to further Allied advance as is the crossing of the Rhine and the re-taking of the northern Philippines. i Abode of Monks

Mandalay was formerly the capital of Independent Burma and up to the time of the Japanese occupation it was the headquarters of a division and a district, as well as the chief town of Upper Burma. The city as it now stands was built in 1856 by King Mindon and it holds the status of a municipality. The area inside the old city walls has since been called Fort Dufferin, though before the present war it was a fort in name only. Built on the Irrawaddy River, Mandalay is the stopping place for countless steamers plying up and down the waterway. Whoever controls Mandalay controls a key river and an important centre leading by .railway to the western terminus of the Burma road.

Of Mandalay’s comparatively small population, 77 per cent, are Burmese Buddists, and in this respect the city is even more Burmese than coastal Rangoon. Mandalay is indeed a great Buddhist religious stronghold. The abode of many monks its buildings alone testify to its religious fervour. Besides the Burmese there are also Zerbadis, Mohammedans, Hindus, Jews, Chinese, Shans, and Manipuns, Kachins and Palaungs—indeed, a remarkable collection of creeds!

The district of Mandalay covers 2115 square miles, and the total population is 400,000. To the north and east lie 1500 square miles of hills and tablelands, all well wooded and watered, rising to heights of 5000 feet. Of the three large rivers, the Irrawaddy is the most important. Extremes of temperature have been a burden to Europeans throughout the Mandalay district. Japanese Thrusts Along with the general defensive policy adopted by Burma at the outbreak of the present war, preparations were hastened at inland Mandalay. On May 6, 1941, the Governor of Burma, Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith. announced that a state of “ general preparedness” existed. New battalions and .technical units had been raised and many young Burmans had joined empire air forces. The importance of Burma’s products was fully realised by the Allied Command, and the onset of war with Japan brought the province into great significance for purely strategic reasons. Japan's unprovoked aggression caused Britain to declare war on December 8, 1941. In spite of the "state of preparedness ” in Rangoon and Mandalay, the whole territory was paralysed by the rapidity of the Japanese thrusts. By May, 1942, the Japanese controlled almost the whole of Burma, and the Governor, the Prime Minister (Sir Paw Tun), the Minister of Finance, and the judges of the High Court thereupon set up an Exile Government in India.

On August 1, 1942, the Japanese commander -in - chief introduced a system of joint Japanese-Burmese administration, apparently acting on the assumption that Burma was willing to co-operate in Japan’s propagandised dream of dominating the Asiatic “sphere of influence.” The key portfolios were, as might be expected, reserved for Japanese officials.