THE BURMA ROAD

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 180, 14 November 1941, Page 3

THE BURMA ROAD

CHINA'S LIFE-LINE

WILL JAPAN TRY-TO CUT IT?

No important change in the military situation in Russia is reported to-day, but there is a good deal of speculation on possible Japanese military moves to settle the "China incident" before turning elsewhere

to promote Japanese expansion in the Far East. Chinese anticipations, reported from Chungking, arc of two Japanese drives, one in the north to cut the road to* Russia, and the other in the south to cut the Burma Road, Free China's life-ilinc to the outer world four military supplies and exports to paj r for them. The Burma Road is by far the more important of the two to China just now, when Russia is in no position to furnish military supplies, but rather wants as many and as much as she can get herself. Since the Burma Road was reopened a- year ago, after being closed for three months by Britain as a temporary concession to Japan the traffic over it has grcatty increased in spite of repeated Japanese attempts to destroy strategic bridges by air attack. Recently a delegation of American transport experts, leading men in their line in the United States, visited China and examined the construction and working of the famous road. Before they left, quite recentljr, it was stated that they had suggested improvements in the organisation of traffic and in the road itself that would double its capacity. Fleets of trucks now work the road day and night, and Chungking has already derived great benefit in the equipment of new armies.

The route taken by supplies from overseas to Free China oveiland starts at Rangoon, the, great port of Burma. From Rangoon they are car* riccl by rail to Lasliio, where they are transferred to trucks for the passage over the Burma Road, which begins at Lashio, 120 miles from the frontier of Burma and China. The section is not difficult going, but in China the road crosses the upper waters of the great rivers Salween and Mekong, which run in gorges with high ridges between. The difference in elevation between river and ridge is often 5000 feet, climbed by the road with steep grades and sharp bends. The ridges are over 7000 feet above sea level, and the highest point of the road is 8500 feet, about 60 miles from Sliakwan, the end of the difficult section from Anting, the border village, a distanco of 345 miles. The remaining section oif the Burma Road proper, from Sliakwan to Kunming (Yannan) runs 2GO miles over high, but easier country. From Kunming to Chungking the road follows an ancient Chinese railway over a lofty plateau. The total distance between Chungking and Lashio is about 1700 miles.