JAPANESE STILL WITHDRAWING

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23259, 21 July 1945, Page 5

JAPANESE STILL WITHDRAWING

Sittang Bridgehead (Rec. 7.30 n.m.) LONDON, July 19. The Japanese are still withdraw - ing in their Sittang bridgehead north towards Myltkyo, states a Rangoon correspondent. Gurkhas made two unsuccessful attempts with the aid of an air strike to capture a village, south-east of Myitkyo. "July 18 will be long remembered bj’ our troops in South Burma. It provided the worst deluge of this monsoon. It rained hard for 18 hours," the correspondent added. "In none of the three monsoons have we known such abnormal conditions being experienced. I have just returned from a tour of the war district, where the whole countryside looks as if it has been overwhelmed by the bursting of a giant dam.” There is little activity to report from the Lower Sittang River front, where the Japanese still hold a majority of the villages on the west bank, says a communique. In this area patriot Burmese forces have been assisting our troops. One party of them killed a number of Japanese who were endeavouring to cross the Sittang near Nyaungkashc, 25 miles east-north-east of Pegu Ou a section of the main MandalayRangoon road, between Toungoo and Pegu, our forces daily are taking toll Of Japaiirer- vt.ravgiers alh'mpfing to make their way east toward the .Sittang, on the Toungoo-Mawchi road Gurkhas, following up an air strike on Japanese positions east of Paletwa, 17 miles east of Toungoo, were held up by enemy fire.