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Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 February 1942, Page 4

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Air and Land Fighting Along Salween River JAPANESE STILL TRYING TO EFFECT CROSSING BRITISH BOMBERS AND FIGHTERS IN ACTION (By Telegraph.—Press Association.— Copyright.) (Received This Day, 1.20 p.m.) RANGOON, February 3. The battle for Burma is joined over a fifty-mile front, from the mouth of the Salween to Paan, which is 40 miles due north of Moulmein. The Japanese are still trying to bridge the Salween, over numerous small islands and mudflats dotting e estuary. The Japanese are attempting to land on Bilugyun Island, from small craft, but so far without success. British bombers and fighters are harassing the Japanese along tne fc>a - ween and on the islands. , A gun emplacement, from which Martaban was shelled, was knocked out. The British are guarding against landings al round the southern and south-western coasts. Burmese troops for the first time in half a century are participating in war. They went into action in the withdrawal from Henasserim, winning the highest praise from their British officers.