,A Burma Disappointment
• The Japanese have not distinguished themselves for accuracy in their claims, but, even allowing for the maximum of exaggeration, the campaign in Burma has been disappointing from the Allied point of view. It began well in the second week of December with an advance towards the Kaladan River. Paletwa and Kyauktaw were captured and the traffic on the river was thereby interrupted. With the left flank and forward base covered, the troops then advanced on Riithedaung, on the left bank of the Mayu, and Donbaik, at the tip of the Mayu Peninsula. By the beginning of March they had secured such success that the Japanese brought up reinforcements of experienced troops, and, at the end of the second week, they struck heavily from the north-east against the British flank. Under threat of envelopment they compelled a retirement. When the operation was under way they mo'ed against the other flank and forced the Imperial contingents up the peninsula to the neighbourhood of Indin. It seems likely, therefore, that most, if not all, of the gains of the campaign will be wrested from our hands. The Imperial troops, in fact, appear still to have failed to cope with the terrain and the Japanese infiltration tactics. As Sir Alan Hartley quite rightly said recently, this was a campaign with purely limited objectives, and the troops have at least held the Japanese off the Indian frontier. But the balance-sheet is far from encouraging after the exhibition of so much skill and even heroic fighting.
Previous page
