ENEMY LANDING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 March 1942, Page 3

ENEMY LANDING

HASTENS WITHDRAWAL FROM RANGOON ONE ENEMY BOAT CAPTURED. BATTLE IN THE PEGU AREA. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. March 10. An account of the fighting in Burma during the past four days and of the conditions which necessitated the withdrawal from Rangoon, has been given in authoritative quarterp in London. The temporary isolation of part of our forces at Pegu and a landing by the enemy on the north shore of the Bakir River west of the Rangoon River, precipitated the withdrawal from Rangoon. It can now be revealed that during this landing H.M.S. Hindustan made contact with an enemy landing party in the mouth of the Rangoon River on March 6, capturing one craft but losing the remainder in the shallows of the Bakir River. These were subsequently found and machine-gunned by R.A.F. fighters, but they had already landed their contents. The captured boat contained one Japanese officer and 55 Burmese. In the Pegu area the enemy infiltrated through near Pegu and Yomas. and, having isolated the Pegu defending force, struck west with a strong force of armoured fighting vehicles. Consequent on the landings, all civil control ceased in the delta, and it was decided to evacuate Rangoon and to

carry on the fight in central Burma alongside our Chinese allies. The latest reports indicate that during the withdrawal of our forces from Rangoon the enemy managed to cut the Rangoon-Prome road in the vicinity of Hmawbi, 25 miles north of Rangoon. Tanks and heavy infantry were put into the attack. The first attack failed to dislodge the enemy, but an attack was made later which, after fierce fighting and heavy casualties on both sides, finally broke through. The Japanese used fighters and dive-bombers with considerable effect to assist their road block. It is believed that the force isolated in the Pegu area is withdrawing westward and. north-westward to join up with the main British forces. A New Delhi dispatch says that during the evacuation of Rangoon the Japanese suffered heavy casualties in the air. Airmen of the American Volunteer Group brought down 43 planes. A communique from New Delhi says that the enemy-occupied aerodrome at Moulmein was heavily bombed yesterday.