Evening star., 1942-12-02
Cant Be Long Now,
Say British, Eager
To Fight in Burma
Soldiers Expect to Push
Advance on Every Route
That Can Be Opened
BY HARRY A. STANDISH,

American Newspaper Alliance.
SOMEWHERE IN ASSAM, Nov.
% Delayed With British troops
and political officers I have just
returned from a short patrol into
Burma. We travelled on one Of
several routes along which it is
reasonable to expect that Gen. Ar
chibald P. Wavells troops will push
before long to squeeze out the Jap
from strategic centers he has been
holding in the interior.
No one knows just when or how
am attack will be made but they
all say, 1T can't be long now" No
! soldier here enviSageS a single vast
assault column marching into Bur-
ma. They think that when we
start our troops will pour in on as
many routes as are available
The troops are saying, The Jap
is getting hammered in New Guinea
and the SolomonS and he knows the
time is near to crack him here.
We've got a big bone to pick with
INN oNCI bul Lld
Country is Rugged.
This country can be bracketed
with New Guinea as perhaps the
most difficult campaigning area in
the world Where our maps show
one apparently clear mountain
range, it is a tangle Of ranges
spaced over fever ridden valleys and
rivers that overnight become un-
bridgable torrents more than thou
sand yards wide A trip that, ac-
cording to the distance, should take
only a few days will take weeks
Most roads are only mountainside
/ tracks fit for only pack mules. In
the wet seasons the motor roads
| are liable to be washed away in doz-
ems of places in every mile. We
travelled eastward across the border
on hair raising sequence of con-
veyances. We'll lay it on for you,
old man" they said at headquarters
They did.
First we travelled in a Doodle Bug;
then in its little brother, the Jeep;
then on pony, and lastly, on foot.
Had there been time we could have
gone on into deepest Burma by ele-
phant.
The Doodle-Bug carried us while
there was practicable road Then
the Jeep, a powerful little miracle
of a car, Scuttled for miles over a
path that was an old trade mark
across the mountain tops. We
| rOllnIoS hoiry,io ho,oJc L,y tho c;po
pie process of driving on two wheels.
This requires steel nerves and skillful
driving when the whole maneuver
takes place on grades so steep that
the car is practically standing on
its side and an extra yard or side
slip would mean 1000-foot drop.
Drivers Skill Praised.
Our drivers. British and Indian
officers, knew their job and proudly
"Jeeped' us further eastward than
any other motor vehicles that have
travelled from Assam since the mon
soon ended
Where military post perches on
mountain top in an inconspicuous
collection of grass huts, I found a
well-known Burma political officer
whom I am fated apparently to
meet on borders. Eleven months
ago when I escaped from Thailand
and the Shan States he was the
first European I met. In the eerie
light from burning bridge at mid
night he waded a flooded river to
guide me safely past the British
mine fields which had made the
road a death trap.
Now he is on the western border
of Burma instead of the eastern
but he is still working in Burma
despite the japanese occupation
With him we went forward on ponies
in torrential rain-the dry season
is only a relatively short term-to
the political administrative base
which is eastward of the advanced
military post.
Thence we travelled by foot
through miles of teak forest, wading
rivers and visiting Burmese villages
While officers with us collected and
distributed information I talked
with the men who administered
justice.
Thousands Lay Down and Died.
For some distance we travelled or
one of the many roads used by hun
dreds of thousands of refugees who
,, streamed from Burma in the first
half of this year. 1t shows pitiful
evidence of thousands of indians
; who failed to get within a few miles
of safety. Worn out by starvation
and thirst and disease, they just lay
down beside the road and died.
, Hundreds of bodies were buried OF
/, burned, but hundreds of skeletons
= still line the track. Every sprine
!. and water course has its quota OF
scrambled heaps Of human bones
pitiful evidence Of men, women and