ROAD BLOCK CLEARED

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 196, 17 May 1944, Page 7

ROAD BLOCK CLEARED

Tanks Help Allies In Kohima Area LONDON, May 16. A South-east Asia Command communique reports .that troops of the 14th Army, supported by tanks, cleared t Japanese road block in the Kohima area and pushed on for a mile, linking up with other Allied troops. LONDON. May .15. The enemy strongpoint near Bishenpur, south-west of Imphal, is now almost encircled, states a South-east Asia communique. Our positions on the I’alel Road south of Impbal, were subjected to heavy artillery fire, but no attack developed. Mopping-up continued southwest of Kohima. The Japanese, who are leaving mines aud booby traps, are believed to be regrouping in strength on the Aradura spur, south of Kohima. Our advance north-eastward has forced the enemy to readjust his positions. The R.A.F. destroyed three and probably destroyed three niore of a force of 20 enemy planes making an offensive sweep over Imphal aud Kohima. Close-Range Fighting. The British troops at Kohima dug in near the tenuis court of the Deputy Commissioner’s bungalow are at one point separated from the Japanese by only five yards. Certain death or surrender faces the enemy troops in the grounds of the bungalow, for they are completely cut A three-day lull ended on Thursday when the British mounted attacks in three directions on the high ground west of Naga village, ou the outskirts of Kobima. , , An observer at the front says: -the attack, which began an hour before dawn, had three objectives: Jail Hill, Red Ridge, and Dis Hill, all strongly bunkered aud well-prepared Japanese positions. “After an all-day battle our troops succeeded in taking possession of these vital hill features. A few minor pockets of resistance remained on the flanks of the two hills and the ridge, but they do not seriously affect our occupation. Now they control high ground, our troops are in a strong position. Kohima Ridge holds the tactical key to the whoie of Kohima. We are in part possession of Naga village itself, while the enemy holds a pimple on its eastern outskirts and is entrenched along the fringe of the jungle to the south. Treasury Hill, to the west of Naga village, is strongly held by the Japanese. On the Tanin road sector, south-east of Imphal, the Japanese have again been suffering casualties far heavier than the British. Our position in the Shonan area, a little less than 40 miles from Imphal, is reached after driving up into 5000-foot mountains. Our forward positions are only four yards from ' the Japanese. The latest action here, in which our casualties were not light, was most expensive for the enemy. Gurkhas fought off wave after wave of attackers from midnight till 6.30 a.m. A British north country regiment joined in and helped, to drive the enemy from the top of the hili. The commander of the brigade said: “In just over a month we have killed about 6000 Japanese. If we could say •for certain what our guns and mortars are killing I think the figure might be even higher.”