The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-09-05

liberated from the JapaneBe--vhe ei where chinese farmers, conscrlpted groups when the defense works wer cRplng and possibly giving lnformatl
 But Che japanese during their more than two pears of occupation have also been calculating and at times far-slkhted in their dealings with the local peoples Of this once one ot the worlds greatest jade markets and largest trade center between china and Burma,
 Tn the chinese, version of . town hall, whereftom groups of cooiies were continually being dis patched to the various Chinese divisions to carry wounded and ammunition, a bearded old magis- trate and his associates told me of their Sufferings under enemy rule, AS they talked they gestured with their long stemmed pipes and sovnetimes Q workman who had paused to listen would interrupt with a few of his experiences.
 When the Japanese forces on" tered Tengchung on May 10, io42, the majority of the villagers fled to the hills. Sometimes at night the men sneaked back down Into the valleys and brought up food.
 Burn Empty Houses
 One day in ell the market places the enemy posted notices: all houses found empty two weeks hence would be burned. A few of the women rec mained behind in the mountains but the rest had to return or lose all. To each village headman the Jap- aneSe authorities sent Q list of the number of workmen and the amounts of rice, pork, beef and veg etables that must be delivered to their depots. None of the villagers was paid for this though some farm. CTS were paid in Japanese military currency, rupee notes printed In English, for other services.
 Several villages failed to pro- duce the demanded quota and Jap. anese soldiers searched the houses and took everything they found.
 When the Japanese army first ar' rived the magistrates said enemy soldiers In groups of three or four up to forty or fifty had come Into their villages at night and taken their women. Tn the small village ot Huang Pc 6 drunken Japanese cor poral one evening killed 6 young woman and her child, They saw him sent under military guard towards Burma.
 After six months of enemy occu- patton Q Japanese political director arrived and the soldiers no longer molested their women though they were required to furnish larger and larger numbers of laborers for the building of enemy Qualifications and roads. Peasants who tried to escape from the labor gangs were shot. After a contingent of the Japanese arTnys Korean prostt' tuteS were shipped ir the soldiers did most of their celebrating il their barracks area.
 Few Turn Traitor
 A Japanese political ofiieer came to each village and called the in. habitants out Into the market place and iectured them on the advantages of cooperation with Japan. A few of the Chinese, they said, turned traitor and worked wholeheartedly with the enemy but nest lived sulleniy in their houses and hid when they saw Japanese approaching,
 within the city of TenSchuns the Japanese published a daily paper h Chinese. It dealt mainly with their continuing successes II, Burma and India and the growing industrial might of Japan, The village elders said that on general principles they didn't believe the stories the Japanese told them though they had only scant other rumors from the outside world.
 The Japanese repeatedly told the peasants that the hundreds of planes they heard and saw flying overhead were theirs.
 Drive Begins
 When the drive by American. trained and supplied Chinese troops began on the Salween river the Japanese laughed and told the local people the Chinese armies would never be able to cross the ii00o. foot Kaoli Mountains, As the Chi. iiese armies pushed closer the japa. S,ese sent soldiers around with new and larger lists of supplies and food to be supplied by the local villagers,
 "Tlle enemy never received the last i2.o00 pounds of rice they de. manded from my village" the stately old magistrate said with . smile as he got to his feet and made a short bow o 1 farewell. "sey. erai ines . day the Japanese sol' diers came to my place with angry notes demanding immediate deliv- cry. Each time there was some req. son why we couldn't deliver until tomorrow. Now we have sold the rice to the Chinese division that . IA a- I A.. ..Aae l