HITTING HARD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 May 1942, Page 3

HITTING HARD

ISOLATED CHINESE FORCES IN BURMA DRIVE TO THE OUTSKIRTS OF MANDALAY. JAPANESE COMMUNICATIONS SEVERED. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) NEW YORK, May 9. A communique isused in Chungking says that the Chinese forces which were cut off in Burma counter-at-tacked from Tang-gyi and have recaptured Maymyo (the former Burma defence headquarters 25 miles northeast of Mandalay), thus severing the principal communication line for the Japanese column which is driving along the Burma Road to Yunan. Japanese forces which have attempted to counter-attack in the Maymyo region are being bottled up and are facing annihilation, the communique says. Another Japanese unit, numbering 500, is encircled and beleaguered by the Chinese forces on the Burma Road north-east of Chefang. The Chinese spokesman later stated that the Chinese forces which had recaptured Maymyo in an advance of 90 miles, were now fiercely attacking. They had reached the outskirts of Mandalay and also the nearby town of Sagaing and other Burmese cities. A communique issued in Chungking earlier today stated that the Japanese columns which were advancing along the Burma Road north-east of Chefang, in south China, had been routed by Chinese counter-attacks. One Japanese column of 1000 men was wiped out and another suffered a crushing defeat, losing half its original strength. The Tokio radio said yesterday that the Japanese were pursuing the enemy and claimed to have occupied Lashio on April 29 and Bhamo on May 3. The vanguard of the same units, it was said, crossed the Yunnan border and occupied Lungling on May 5. According to the United Press , of America, General Stillwell has remained in Burma directing the Chinese resistance on a line north of Mandalay, and extending north of Lashio. An American Volunteer Group communique stated that “Flying Tigers” supported the Chinese on Thursday, bombing Japanese troops and mobile columns in western Yunnan without a challenge from the Japanese air force. The Japanese aerial offensive in eastern China, aimed at the destruction of the airfields, was stepped up today with bombings in Kiangsi, Chekiang, and Fukien. Forty-three Japanese planes participated in eight flights. The Central China news agency reports that French soldiers from IndoChina who attempted to join the Chinese forces were disarmed by Japanese soldiers. On April 2 more than 100 French soldiers were disarmed on the outskirts of Chennankwang. In Canton the Japanese, enraged by the Chinese guerillas, have been making reprisals in the German style i against Chinese civilians. They rounded up 100 Chinese men and women, paraded them through the streets in trucks, and then executed them, en masse. BRITISH WITHDRAWAL CONTACT WITH ENEMY BROKEN IN NORTH BURMA. LONDON, May 9. “A further withdrawal of the British forces from positions in central Burma to prearranged positions further north has been carried out successfully,” states a communique issued in New Delhi. “No contact was made with the enemy. Japanese planes were very active, specially over the Chindwin River area, where military objectives were dive-bombed and machinegunned. Little if any military damage was sustained, but it is feared that civilian refugees going to India suffered.”