Evening star., 1942-04-30
Near the End in Burmo


ence to the endangered Burma Road
In his f1reside talk to the Nation
Tuesday evening emphasized the
virtually hopeless situation in which
the Anglo-Chinese defenders find
themselves. Current press dis
patches vividly describe the battle
zone in Northern Burma as "a des-
perate melee of demolition, evacua-
tion, last-stand defense and reckless
counter-attack" wherein thin lines
of tired infantrymen and she'll
Scared tanks" doggedly strive
against overwhelming odds. Manda-
lay is a blazing ruin from japanese
mass bombings. So is Lashio the
railhead whence the Burma Road
winds northward into the Chinese
hills. Against this vital communica-
tions link, at least three armored
japanese spearheads are converging
up parallel valleys of the Shan
country. japanese advance units al
ready have entered Lashio's suburbs.
Since the hill ranges In that region
run north and south, the invaders
have several avenues Of approach to
the Chinese border, while flankinp
thrusts by the Anglo-Chinese main
body around Mandalay across those
ranges are correspondingly difficult.
Mandalay has been held, not only
because it is the capital and the rail-
way junction for several lines into
Upper Burma, but also because it
guarded the last oilfields, some forty
miles to the southwest, on which the
motor transportation of Upper Burma
and the Burma Road into China
alike depend. Those defending
forces now must make good their
escape along the heavily bombed
railway to Lashio or due northward
into the tip Of territory which juts
up between the mountains of China
and Assam. the rugged march of
India. That would be a dead-end
road for anything except infantry
travelling light over mountain trails.
Only the troops reaching Lashio and
retiring on China would retain mill
tary value.
One of the gravest handicaps to
the retreating Anglo-Chinese de-
tenders is their harassment by the
inhabitants. Here, as elsewhere, the
Burmese population has shown its
latent hostility to British rule and
has assisted the Japanese in every
way. Nearly 10000 Burmese in
surgents are operating with the
japanese forces, while behind the
Anglo-Chinese front, bands of guer-
rillas burn, loot and murder isolated
whites. This assures the japanese
that they will have no difficulty oc-
cupying Burma, once 1t is In their
hands.
To be sure, rising winds and scat
tered showers indicate the approach
of the monsoon season, only a fort
night away. II the japanese in
vasion could have been held to Lower
Burma, the drenching rains would
have begged them down in a sea of
mud. But Upper Burma, shielded by
surrounding mountains which cut off
much of the monsoon, has a rela-
lively light rainfall: so the japanese
could campaign there in any event.
However. 1t is unlikely that organ
lied Anglo-Chinese resistance can be
maintained for another fortnight.
Thus, the monsoon season probably
will find the japanese on the noun
famous Chinese border, with the
Burma Road sealed tight and Free
China effectively isolated. That is a
sad prospect, but it must be faced
realistically, President Roosevelt
was frank in his freside address, yet
he coupled his admission of prevail
ing misfortune with a heartening
promise that Free China would be