Where War Continues
The war in the Far East has now become our supreme military consideration. In spite of the intensity of the struggle in Europe during the last year Allied operations in the East have been steadily mounting in scale, and already the stage has been reached when the Japanese have suffered defeat after defeat and everywhere, except in China, are on the defensive. The victories in Burma will stand comparison with some of the greater achievements in Europe. The whole of the Irrawaddy valley down to the great sea-port of Rangoon is in our hands, and with the capture of Prome the enemy forces in Arakan are cut off. Travelling hundreds of miles over vast moun- tains and pestilential jungle, the varied forces under Lord Louis Mountbatten, strongly supported from the air, and, at the last, by naval forces, have destroyed Japanese power in Burma, and, in taking Rangoon, have opened an adequate route for the supply of China. In the Pacific, Australians are heavily engaged on Tarakan Island, off Borneo—clearly foreshadowing the opening of operations in a new theatre—and the Americans at Okinawa. The main naval strength of Japan has been destroyed, and her air force is no longer able to hold its own. Doubtless it will take some months before the release of forces in Europe can greatly affect the relative strength of the combatants in the Pacific, but when these arrive at their allotted campaigning grounds there will be overwhelming superiority avail- able to the Allies, on land, sea and in the air. The preliminary spade-work has been such that they may soon be well placed for striking at the heart of Japan's military strength. This involves long and heavy fighting on the mainland of China, where the Japanese forces are virtually independent of supplies from home.
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