Evening star., 1942-05-23
WEAK and Wounded
Left 10 Die in Retreat
From Burma 10 India
Horror and Heroism
Mark Trek of Refugees
Over Jungle Trails
BY DOUGLAS WILKIE,
Foreign CORRESPONDENT OF The Star and
North American Newspaper Alliance.

BY DOUGLAS WILkIE,
Foreign Correspondent OF The Star and
North American Newspaper Alliance.
CALCUTTA, May % CBy wire
iess) s).-Thousands of British troops
are still moving toward India along
remote jungle trails in upper Burma
in a trek which is without parallel
in British military annals. The
trek eliminates the series of des-
perate rear-guard actions which in
sured the main body's retreat from
Burma three weeks ago.
Many terrible stories will remain
untold on the Chinese sector at
Bhamo where wounded Chinese who
| were unable to walk were handed
| revolvers by their retreating COM
rades and told to shoot themselves.
From what I have seen of Chinese
troops I believe they obeyed the in
structions.
Indian refugee families were
forced to abandon their children.
Many slumped down along the
jungle tracks to die. Sometimes
mothers refused to leave their chill
dren and were forcibly dragged
away. From the look in the eyes
of those women. I think it would
have been better if they had been
| allowed to stay beside their children.
reached Calcutta with a group
of imperial troops which was among
the last to leave Burma. We walked
230 miles in II days, fording rivers,
crossing three mountain ranges.
Many Of the troops were fresh from
the firing line, equipped only with
rifles, tommy guns and a sock filled
with rice. Coolies are rushing
stores to the frontier posts where
more of the men are expected to
arrive. The bulk of the men will be
Indians but there are hundreds Of
Englishmen, some carrying Jap bull
| lets in their bodies.
Stilwell Troops Abandon Trucks.
Among the troops we overlook,
| apparently making for India, was 1t.
Gen. Joseph w. Stilwell of the
United States Army with a force Of
300 Chinese and those members of
his staff who had not previously pro-
ceeded to China. They had aban-
doned their trucks and jeeps to con-
tinue their retreat on foot.
British soldiers exchanged grim
jests as carrying 40-pound packs they
| sweated along trail scattered with
bodies of Indian refugees too old
or infirm for the ordeal.
My companions on the last stages
0f t,-,,
men. They were led from Jap
anese trap by an Army chaplain, c.
M. johnson, former Himalayan
climber. He guided them from viii
lage to village by compass. playing
hide-and-Seek with the Japs, often
entering villages and persuading the
natives to supply food a few hours
after japanese cavalry units had
| left.
Until the last units are out,
cannot reveal the exact route ira
veled. I left Indaw, 100 miles north
of Shwebo, May S. and reached I'M
| phal, $50 miles away, on foot on
May is. From there I Travelled 600
miles by truck and train to Calcutta.
| The devilJry of the fifth column
was mixed with horror and heroism
in the fantastic epilogue to the bat
tie OF Burma. Burmese traitors de-
layed trains by dispatching fake
telegramS, lnventlng mythical trains,
| supposedly blocking the line; empty
| ing water tanks and immobilizing
locomotives. North of Naba. the rear
carriages Of train became mys-
teriously uncoupled and went rolling
| down steep hill and over an en-
bankment. About 25 men were alive
in the wreckage, but apparently
there was no way of rescuing them.
Those Unable to Walk Abandoned.
A general commanding a Chinese
troop train adopted the realistic way
of forcing his way past raised sig
nails and protesting Burmese rail-
waymen at revolver point. But
even he was unable to surmount
the 1ndaw jam where dozens Of
trains were piled up.
saw civilian hospital patients
from as far away as Lashio and
Bhamo on the railway platforms.
Those able to walk were helped to
their feet to join the stream of
refugees. The others presumably
were left. Those walking to Indaw
included Mai. Segrave, the famous
American missionary doctor, with
Is Chinese nurses.
The Burmese were busy looting
the loaded freight cars. Shooting
| oil
saw many men begin the 250-mile
march who looked as if they couldn't
hobble five miles. There was no
way of helping them. A few were
lucky, like the sick colonel who was
carried $50 miles from Indaw to
1mphal on stretcher by his men.
The march was marked by DAYS
OF walking along river beds in sand
and swamps ankle deep.
We spent three days of suspense
walking and padding UP a river
up which we believed the Japs were
advancing. Then there was the day
when we climbed 5000 feet between
dawn and the meal We called break
last. There were eerie days of
walking in clouds and nights spent
taking shelter in flea infested viii
lagos where frightened inhabitants
were barricaded in their huts, leav-
ing us to seek shelter from the rain
and cold beneath their raised floors.
The final days 40-mile dash to
make Imphal before night was
marred by the drone of 80 Japanese
bombers and the ugly detonation as
bombs hit a tiny Manipur village,
killing a truckload of Indian ref
ugees.
lCnnnress Ia RriaE