Evening star., 1943-09-27
October May Herald
Allied Squeeze on
laps Holding Burma
BY KENNETH L. DIXON,

Associated Press Foreign staff.
Always an unpleasant month in
Burma, october may bring some
hrand-new misery to the japanese
there this year.
The monsoon may be followed by
Mountbatten.
And Burma may be caught in a
three-way Allied squeeze.
Selection of Lord Louis Mountbat-
ten, the British royal sea rover, as
supreme Allied commander in South
west Asia was bad news for the Jap
anese.
For the cousin of the King also led
the famed British Commands, and
when the southwest monsoon stops
sweeping the drenching rains in
from the Indian Ocean next month,
Lord Mountbatten and his Allied
marauders may be the next to call
from across the Bay of Bengal
But Nippon can't concentrate all
her Burma power on the coast, for
along the India-Burma battle line
to the north, British and American
troops are drawn upholstered by a
hand-picked crew of veteran Chinese
soldiers, battle-scarred and hungry
for revenge.
Still farther north, up Free China
way, are 1t. Gen. Joseph W.. Still
wells men, who might drive south at
Lord Mountbatten's command in
unison with sea, land and air
sweep from the south and west.
And all over Southeast Asia the
American Air Forces-spawn of the
Flying Tigers-and other Allied air.
men are ready to strike from skies
where the japanese once flew with
almost unchallenged superiority.
ChennauIt Anchored in China.
Leading the American sky fighters
in China is Maj. Gen. Claire Chen
nault, erstwhile topkick of the Tigers,
who terrified the japanese pilots
who outnumbered them, hundreds
to one, and who shot down Jap
planes by ratios sometimes almost
that high.
From India, the American Air
Force and the RAF already have
been ramming their bomb loads
down the Japanese throats from
Rangoon to the Northern Burmese
border.
When President Roosevelt and
Prime Minister Churchill met in
Washington last May, they planned
an Asiatic offensive. When they
met in Quebec in August, they
picked its leader-Lord Mountbat-
ten, the land-sea air leader who
trained the Commands and set the
eventual European invasion pattern.
And when Lord Mountbatten, Gen.
Stilwell and Gen. Chennault landed
in the same war hopper, it spelled
offensive from the sea and skies as
well as on land.
Likely Spot for First Blow.
That Burma is the likely spot for
the first blow of the new supreme
command is borne out by the need
to reopen the Burma road, the
blocked supply route from Chung
king to the sea. And Gen. Stilwell
and Gen. Chennault, who think it
can be opened and want to do the
Job, were on hand in Washington
when the Asiatic strategy was set.
Also, within Free China are the
potential air bases from which Toxic
and all Japan proper could be
bombed again and again. The sup
plies required to do the job could
flow over the Burma road to
Chungking, and on to scores Of
Shangri-Las.
Somewhere north of Burma are
countless fighting men. under
Generalissimo Chang Kai-shek,
who have waged war against the
Axis longer than any other of the
United Nations. Only trickle OF
the supplies they need now reaches
them, by air and roundabout routes.
Over the Burma road it could be-
come a stream.
But the Japanese sit across the
road in Burma.
So, allied military strategists who
say the knockout blow at Japan
must be delivered from China,
always add that the power behind
the punch must first be delivered
to China-via a reopened Burma
road or some other highway.
Chinese Eager to Fight.
Communicates from New Delhi
daily tell of the sky battering Burma
is taking. 1t is no secret to say that
this is a softening-up process-al-
though the blow still might fall
elsewhere.
From Central India has come the
story of thousands of Chinese
soldiers, drawn from a dozen battle
fields of Burma and China, who
have been trained through Ameri-
can ingenuity and patience into a
modern fighting force.
In Commando-like forays, they al
ready have proved they can take on
the japanese, man for man, and
they wait now only for fighting