The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-03-09

To assure delivery or military dispatches, soldiers letters, news papers, magazines and mail for families separated for years by thousands of miles and by the fir- ing lines of war, the Chinese army poStmen have been waging tire less and virtually unnoticed battle for maintenance of postal routes, recovery Of old mail channels and creation of new.
 Their rugged and often danger ous assignment requires that they live and move with the army, work with the vanguard of troops and cooperate with Ruerrillas. Immed- lately on the recapture of town, they set up temporary offices, open new routes and penetrate enemy lines to empty their mail pouches. They eat, dress and live like Sol- diers. but go about their tasks unarmed.
 Follow Jungle Trail
 When the Japanese invaded Bur- ma. in l942, two military post of- fees were compelled to evacuate to India. They followed a little- known track across the Savage Mountains. Travelling on foot, they were threatened by starvation, were beset by poisonous insects and jun gle animals. They survived in cir cumstances where many refugees fell dead at the wayside. But they reached India with pouches of im- portant dispatches and some essen- tial office gear. Many have made equally hazardous trips. walking hundreds of miles afoot through remote and often enemy held ter- ritory.
 Tn addition to the regular army postmen. there are so-called guer- rilla postmen who work in guerilla areas rather than at the front. When Chinese towns and cities are occupied, the regular post offices move into isolated, nearby regions from where they can handle the transmission of military dispatch es, spread war news, circulate legal currency and attempt 10 keep up the flow of letter mail across the enemy lines.
 Operating always under the nose of the enemy, guerilla postmen are prepared to move their offices at the first threat of the approach of the enemy. All equipment and supplies, including the safe, are kept in canvas bags, ready for quick transportation. They work at night. The crack of rifle shot in the dark has told of the fate of many such postmen who attempt- ed to sneak through the enemy lines under the cover Of darkness,
 Post Offices Move Last
 According to Chinese postal rec ords, regular post offices usually wait until the last possible moment before evacuating an invaded town, During last summers battles of Changsha and Hengyang only a part of the postal workers and their families escaped in time. Chinese | postal authorities say that those who Jagged behind were captured, killed or starved to death. The Hengshan postal commissioner was reported captured by the Japanese and forced to labor as a coolie under threat of being tortured to death if he failed to shoulder the load assigned to him. Three months after the fall of Shihtang Q mail carrier reached free territory with $l00,OO0 in banknotes and 40 pouch es of important mail and files.
 Two thousand years ago the Chi nese poet Tu Flu wrote:
 At the time when the war is three
 months old
 A letter from home is worth ten
 thousand gold"
 Chinas postal service has recog- nized the truth of that ancient saying and is employing courage and resourcefulness to keep the mail 
 )ners in the battle in the Ardenneg. II