BROADLY GOOD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 April 1944, Page 3

BROADLY GOOD

SITUATION ON BURMA FRONT JAPANESE ATTACKS BEING REPULSED. BATTLE FOR ROADS & TRACKS. LONDON, April 10. “The situation on the Burma front may be broadly described as good,” said a British spokesman, according to the British United Press correspondent in New Delhi. “Our units which are still cut off are being supplied by air. We are repulsing the Japanese attacks and straddling their communications.” The correspondent adds that the Allies meanwhile are preparing for the decisive battle which is believed to be imminent. The Japanese apparently hope to take the key town of Imphal and Kohima before the monsoon rains prevent large-scale troop movements. They are concentrating their main effort on the central front against these two objectives, which control the roads from the Bengal-Assam railway into Burma.

The whole of the operations in this area have become a battle for roads, tracks and trails. The Japanese now are 10 miles from Imphal, but a strong British force is defending the town. (An earlier message stated that on Sunday the Japanese succeeded in reaching the outskirts of the town of Kohima, but were being driven back by a counter-attack). SECOND LANDING BEHIND ENEMY LINES. MADE THREE WEEKS AGO. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, April 9. A British United Press correspondent with the American air command reveals that the Allies on March 22 made a second landing behind the Japanese lines in Burma. A glider train crossed the rugged hills carrying jeeps and . bulldozers and equipment for building airstrips. It landed between the Chindwin and the Irrawaddy Rivers. By nightfall next day the landing strip had been prepared to reecive heavy transports. Twin-engined Douglasses carrying British and Indian troops came in after dark. Supplies were also brought in, marking a new development in the process of building supply points behind the enemy lines.