BY LAND AND SEA
11111E outstanding characteristic of Japanese operations in the Far East is their swiftness.' The enemy have secured bases in Borneo, the Celebes, and more recently ,,in Sumatra with a view to the supreme attack on Java, and to their concentrations in Burma they are preparing to add forces recently landed in Indo- China. In Sumatra they have occupied the vital oil-centre of Palembang, and are endeavouring to push southwards to the tip of the island opposite Java. Dutch and American aircraft have sunk or damaged enemy transports and barges, but in Java, as formerly in Malaya, everything depends on the speed with which Allied troops and aeroplanes can reach the danger zone. The loss of Java would mean the collapse of the Dutch East Indies and the occupation by the enemy of all bases east of the Indian Ocean. Not less vital' is the Burmese front, on which rests the defence of the approaches to the Burma Road and, indeed, to Rangoon and India itself. The capture of Singapore opens the Malacca Straits to the enemy, and may make it possible for him to attempt landings by sea in the rear of our Burmese front. At the moment of.writing our forces are holding a line on the Bilin river with the railway to the Burma Road some forty or fifty miles behind them. Chinese troops in large masses are coming in from the north. These formidable Japanese operations in the Far East are made to synchronise with Rommel's in the Middle East. But Rommel has drdwn in his horns lately, and his. communications have been severely and constantly damaged by the R.A.F. If he n receiving reinforcements across a dangerous sea, so, it appears, are our armies. While we are lamenting the successful voyage of the German warships through the Channel we should not neglect to rejoice in the more successful escort of a convoy through the Mediterranean. It got through with the loss of two ships (the personnel were saved), while two enemy cruisers and a destroyer were damaged by the R.A.F., and one of our submarines scored two hits on an 8-inch gun cruiser. Meantime the Russians have maintained their heavy battering of the German armies, with special success in the Leningrad area.
