DEFENCE OF BURMA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 March 1942, Page 3

DEFENCE OF BURMA

STUBBORN RESISTANCE FROM COAST TO THAI BORDER. . STRATEGIC VALUE OF SHAN STATES. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, March 25. In order to protect the Burma Road and communications with Upper Burma, the Japanese pressure is being stubbornly resisted in Burma along a front which now runs roughly, but not continuously, from the coast west of Prome to Toungoo and the Thai border, says the Delhi correspondent of “The Times.” “With Chinese reinforcements coming into this area from the north-east, the strategic value of the Shan States (east of Mandalay) becomes apparent in the plans of the Allies to prevent the isolation of China from India,” the correspondent continues. “Political boundaries between India and Burma have virtually ceased to exist, and north-eastern India and Upper Burma are being integrated as the most important unitary zone of General Wavell’s Indian command.

“The elaborate preparations for the defence of the Indian area include cooperation by an American air force. The present fluid line in. Burma faces any penetration by the enemy into the Shan States from northern Thailand and also confronts the Japanese with a line of defence to counteract northward movements from Rangoon; but further Japanese advances into Upper Burma cannot be discounted nor can the possibility of the Japanese reinforcing their troops by sea through Rangoon be ruled out till the Allied sea power asserts itself in the Bay of Bengal. “Thus,” says the correspondent, “the development of new lines of communication between Burma and India is imperatively important, and is receiving attention.” A message from Chungking says that supplies of all kinds are now moving over the tortuous overland route between Sinkiang Province and the Soviet Union, which is at present China’s main highway connection with the outside world. The road formerly carried only minor freight, but has assumed major importance since the Japanese cut the Burma Road. SITUATION SERIOUS ON THE TOUNGuG FRONT. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.45 a.m.) RUGBY, March 25. A communique relating to the Chinese forces operating in Burma, received in London, states that the situation on the Toungoo front is serious today. About a thousand ’'Japanese infantry outflanked the Chinese forces late yesterday afternoon and captured an aerodrome north of Toungoo. Chinese forces were dispatched early this morning to dislodge them and a heavy battle is reported to be in progress. Yesterday a combined Japanese cavalry and • plain-clothes force cut the Toungoo-Mandalay Road at Yedashe, about 20 miles north of Toungoo. Chinese forces drove the cavalry out and mopped up the plain-clothes men.

The main force of the enemy, however, is still 20 miles south of Toungoo and the Chinese continue to hold their outpost line—from Oktwin to Tantabin, south-east of Toungoo—despite fierce fighting, now in its third day. There were four air raids on the Chinese forces yesterday, with no report on casualties.