EFFECTIVE BLOWS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 May 1944, Page 4

EFFECTIVE BLOWS

STRUCK BY ALLIED FORCE BEHIND JAPANESE LINES ' IN BURMA. HEAVY DAMAGE TO ROADS & MAIN RAILWAY. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 10.40 a.m.) LONDON, May 9. Airborne Chindits are tightening their stranglehold on Japanese lines of communication in the In-daw-Myitkyina-Bhamo triangle in .North Burma, and preparing the way for General Stilwell’s thrust on Myitkyina, says Reuter’s correspondent at South-East Asia Com- - mand Headquarters. A front line' account of the Chindits’ operations to May 1 states that the Japanese are showing signs of lacking the offensive spirit, while drunkenness is reported among the rank and file. Officers are powerless to control the men, whose uniforms are tattered and shabby. The Chindits, among other blows dealt against the enemy, have blown up the main railway line to Mandalay in several places in the vicinity of Indaw. They have also destroyed 5.000 gallons of petrol and carried out major demolitions on the Bhamo-Myitkyina Road.' It is considered that the Japanese will be unable to make the road serviceable before the monsoons. Japanese deaths in the whole operation now total 3,000. MANY SUCCESSES GAINED BY ALLIED LAND & AIR FORCES. (British Official Wireless.] (Received This Day, 10.15 a.m.) RUGBY, May 9. “Following on recent unsuccessful enemy counter-attacks, our operations to clear the enemy from the vicinity of Kohima were continued during May 8,” states a South-East Asia communique. “In the period from May 4 to May 6, 750 Japanese dead were counted and further heavy casualties have been inflicted since that date. In all sectors around the Imphal plain we have obtained local successes. East of Kanglatongbi, several important hill positions have been occupied. It has now been established that in an engagement when a patrol of the Fourteenth Punjab Regiment surprised a Japanese artillery detachment near Bishenpur, four enemy guns were captured and 35 Japanese killed. Two miles south of Bishenpur, following on heavy and accurate bombing by Allied aircraft, our infantry, supported by tanks, drove the enemy from a village. Both north-east and south of Palel, advances were made in the hills and villages captured. On the Palel Road, despite their failure of the previous day, the Japanese made further , successful x attacks and again suffered heavy losses, including the destruction of two medium tanks by tank-busters of the R.A.F.

“In Arakan, south of Maungdaw, our artillery dispersed a Japanese party forming up for attack. In the Fort Hertz Valley, the Japanese are attacking north-west of Nsopzup, on the Mali River. East of the Mogaung Valley, patrols are active south-west of Inkangahtawng. Chinese troops in this area made a small advance. In daylight on May 8, long-range American fighters struck at Kanguang Airfield, destroying three out of six enemy fighters in the air and destroying one twin-engin-ed bomber and damaging two fighters on the ground. “In support of our ground troops, a large force of R.A.F. medium, and American medium and heavy bombers, escorted by fighters, in daylight on May 8, made concentrated attacks on an enemy village in the Moirang area, 25 miles south-south-west of Imphal, causing a fire and explosions. Other air operations were carried out against the Japanese. Two Allied aircraft are missing.”