Evening star., 1942-05-02
Mondo|oy Token, Toxic Claims;
7onk-Led Jap Column |mperi|s
Sti|we||'s Chinese Above Loshio
Chang Speeds Men
South to Strengthen
His Burmu Armies

Hy the Associated Press.
The storied City of Mandalay,
blackened by fire and it's golden
temples smashed by Japanese
bombs, was reported today to
have fallen to Japan's invasion
armies as the battle Of Burma
verged on another major disaster
for the Allies.
Imperial headquarters in Toxic
said Japanese troops occupied the
city yesterday, climaxing a 4l0-mile
advance from Rangoon since
March 9.
Official Allied confirmation of the
Toxic claim was lacking, but dis
patches from the Burma front in
dicated the city was seriously
threatened and that the British
were falling back rapidly.
Usually well posted military Oh
servers in London expressed the
belief that British forces still held
the city where British defense lines
had been hinged, but said it was
likely that the invaders already we're
smashing at its outskirts.
British headquarters at New Delhi
acknowledged that retreating Brit
ish troops had blown up a series
of bridges below the city, including
two spans of the famous Ava Bridge,
10 miles southwest of Mandalay.
ON the Mandalay front, all Brit
1sh troops are being withdrawn from
the position north of the IRA
waddy," a communique said.
Chinese Situation Serious.
The 1rrawaddy River forms big
north-south bend Immediately be-
low the city, once the glittering cap
ital of Burmese kings.
The British officially accused
Japanese warplanes of systematic
and indiscriminate bombing" in
their northward sweep through
Burma, setting towns afire and in
f1lcting terrible toll of civilian cas-
ualties.
Even more critical than the loss
of Mandalay, which had already
been cut off as a link on the Burma
road, was the situation confronting
the American 1t. Gen. Joseph w.
Stilwell's Chinese army on the
Lashio front, $50 miles northeast of
Mandalay.
In that sector, tank-led Japanese
columns in great force were re-
ported to have pushed within IS
miles of the Chinese frontier, and it
now seemed evident that Japan was
bent on invading China through her
back door" instead of driving west
ward toward India.
Goal of Drive Uncertain.
Dispatches from Chungking said
Generalissimo Chang Kai-shek was
rushing heavy Chinese reinforce
ments to bolster Gen. Stilwells out
numbered defenders, who were re-
ported battling fercely around
Hsenwi, % miles northeast OF
Lashio.
Once tranquil little farming
community capital of North Hsenwi
State, the town was made lmpor-
tant by the building of the Burma
road and development of nearby
lead and silver mines.
Once in japanese hands, Hsenwi
would provide a springboard for
wide encircling movement to cut
the railroad north of Mandalay and
thus prevent any British retreat by
that route to far northern Burma
and Assam.
Just where the japanese would
aim in their drive northward still
was uncertain. One Axis report
even put Chungking, Free China's
capital, at the top of Japan's list.
More likely, however, was the
theory that the Japanese, having
closed the main gate to China by
choking off the Burma Road, would
try 20 sever the remote Assam Road,
another 400 miles north in Burma
now more lifeline for China
TRAN ever before.
Three Routes Left.
With the Burma Road lost and
the japanese blockading Chinas
coast. Chungking has only three
possible overland avenues left for
receiving essential supplies from
abroad The Assam road is the
lkcliest of these
The others are the Red Route"
between Siberia and northwest
China, which has provided only a
trickle in recent years, and the new
See BURMA. Page A-2D