RETURN BLOWS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 May 1942, Page 4

RETURN BLOWS

STRUCK BY CHINESE IN BURMA IMPORTANCE NOT YET ASSESSED. ATTACKS ON SEVERAL LINES. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 12.20 p.m.) RUGBY, May 10. Military circles in London believe that it is too early yet to assess the full significance of the Chinese counter-attack in Burma, which has already taken General Stil- . well’s forces to the gates of Mandalay. The Chinese are said to be attacking Mandalay from both east and west with the bayonet. Fighting outside Mandalay’s moat is proceeding. The Chinese apparently are also advancing from Maymo to attack the rear of. the Japanese forces at Lashio, while other Chinese forces, north of Lashio, are attacking a Japanese column advancing into Yunnan. In fact the Chinese predict that this, column, which is in danger of being sandwiched between two Chinese forces, will be annihilated in a few days. While there is no clear indication of the strength in which the Chinese counter-atacks have been launched, and therefore what ultimate effect they will have, the news that they are actually occurring is regarded in London as distinctly heartening, after many weeks in which the Allied, forces have been strictly on the defensive. Military critics incidentally see the virtual loss of Burma as primarily due, firstly to the lack of air support, which has had a profound effect on every operation in the Far East to date, and secondly to the extreme geographical difficulty of reinforcing the Allies in Burma, whereas the Japanese fought from good bases in their rear, which had adequate communications leading to the front. Nevertheless all the correspondents who witnessed the operations in Burma agree that the British, Indian and Chinese forces offered as stubborn a resistance to the enemy as any troops have ever done. FURTHER SUCCESSES GAINED BY THE CHINESE. IN YUNNAN AND BURMA. h (Received This Day, 12.55 p.m.) _ CHUNGKING, May 10. A military spokesman announced that 3000 Japanese were killed last night in a battle in Yunnan Province. The Japanese are fleeing south-west-ward to the Burma frontier. Chinese troops penetrated Mandalay from east and west, despite intense Japanese bombing. WEARY TREK ■ MADE BY REFUGEES FROM BURMA. WORK OF DEMOLITION PARTIES. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 12.10 p.m.) RUGBY, May 10. Some 300,000 Burmese, Indians and Europeans have been safely evacuated to India from Burma. India has done a remarkable job of work in dealing ■with these weary travellers, many of whom struggled hundreds of miles through -dense, leech-infested jungle paths arid through malarial lowlands. Among the last to leave were those who carried out the demolition of oilfields, power stations and railways, working at times within a hundred yards or so of the Japanese.