Successes in Burma
It is in more ways than one that the British forces in Burma have, in Sir James Grigg's phrase, "established ascendancy" ever the Japanese. They have thrown the enemy back from Manipur to Mandalay ; have defeated them in Arakan ; have cut the southern eicape route from Mandalay at Myingyan ; while in the north- west the Americans and the Chinese have reopened the Burma Road. But what is remarkable in this long series of successes, and has undoubtedly made them possible, is that the Allied troops have equalled and surpassed the Japanese in tactical movements and devices in which the enemy peculiarly excelled. In a recent move on Mong Mit (95 miles north of Mandalay) the 36th British Division surprised the Japanese by taking a route through dense jungle which had been deeMed impassable. The 19th Indian Divi- sion in an advance of 18 miles in 24 hours, which brought them to Mandalay, similarly took the enemy by surprise, having covered country which the Japanese had not considered as a possible line of advance. The soldiers have become adepts in the art of jungle warfare, and have learnt all the secrets of camculage and the im- provisation of roads ; and they have found ways to blast or burn the Japanese out of the holes in which they shelter. The 19th Indian Division was supplied with food dropped by parachute from aeroplanes. Indeed, the Air Force throughout the Burma campaign has played an amazing part, often being the sole means of com- munication for large ground forces. The main Japanese army at Mandalay is now in a difficult position. The direct route to Rangoon southwards is cut. The way eastwards towards Indo- China is long, and without adequate roads. At the moment the Japanese are holding on to one-half of Mandalay, which the attackers may prefer to envelop rather than attack by direct assault. Fort Dufferin, in the centre of the city, is an old fortress with walls of incredible thickness and strength, apparently impervious to even the heaviest artillery. But here, as so often, air-attack may prove the vital factor.
