BRITISH PRESSURE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 January 1943, Page 3

BRITISH PRESSURE

MAINTAINED IN NORTHERN BURMA

JAPANESE FIGHTING BITTER DEFENSIVE BATTLE,

SUCCESSFUL ALLIED AIR OPERATIONS.

LONDON, January 12. Heavy fighting i.s reported in north-west Burma. In an area north,’of Hie important town of Akyab the enemy has ventured out into open country and is fighting a bitter defensive battle. British troops are maintaining their pressure.

Villages round Akyab and targets inside Central Burma have again been raided by the R.A.F. The Japanese failed to bring down any aircraft. GROWING STRONGER UNITED STATES AIR FORCE IN INDIA. MANY ATTACKS ON JAPANESE IN BURMA. (Received This Day, 10.40 a.m.) LONDON, January 12.

Lieutenant-General Bissell, at a Press conference in New Delhi, revealed that the United States Air Force had carried out 25 offensives from India and twenty from China on targets in Burma last month, which was a 50 per cent increase over November.

The United States planes over Burma encounteerd heavier ground fire in December, he said. A deterioration in the quality of the Japanese Air Force was indicated by the second-rate biplanes and inexperienced pilots they were now using over China. The ferrying of planes from America was being speeded up and the United States Air Force in India was growing stronger, but “it is still in short pants.”

ENEMY RESISTANCE INCREASING NORTH OF AKYAB. STRATEGIC HILL TAKEN BY INDIANS. (Received This Day, 10.40 a.m.) LONDON, January 12. Japanese resistance on the Mayu Peninsula, north of Akyab, is increasing. Reuter’s correspondent reports that British-Indian patrols which penetrated as far as the tip of the Mayu Peninsula were surprised by Japanese troops, who crept from hideouts in the jungles and hills. The Japanese at one. point, in the Donbaik area, captured two Bren carriers in a surprise attack and used them as a strongpoint until our guns knocked them out. A British United Press correspondent says Indian troops on Sunday charged and captured one of three strategic hills in the front of Rathedaung which are surmounted by Buddhist temples. The Japanese entrenched the remaining hills, putting up a violent mortar and machine-gun fire against the British-Indian troops.