The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-12-06
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The preliminaries to these opera tions began late in October just prior to the conference at Cairo and Tehran. The Chinese 22nd and 38th Divisions moved from their foreward positions in front of the advancing Ledo Road into the Hukawng Valley These troops had been trained in the center established at Ramgarh, India, through the energy and wisdom of General Stilwell and with the approval of the Generalss.mo.
 In February the Chinese ad- vances down the Hukawng Valley were joined by specially trained American infantry combat team known as the GALAHAD Force commanded by Brig. Gen. Frank D. Merrill. These troops had been gathered in a call for volunteers that went to all United States jungle trained and veteran in- fantry units in the Pacific and in the Western Hemisphere. March ing over the most difficult terrain under intolerable weather condi- tions, the Chinese and American forces virtually destroyed the Japanese 18th Division, which had captured Singapore in the Jap anese advance. In May 1914 they fought their way into the airf1eld at Myitkyina, the key to Northern Burma.
 Wingate's Jungle Troops
 During most Of this campaign the Japanese were effectively blocked from reinforcing North ern Burma through the Irrawaddy Valley by columns of seasoned British and Indian jungle troops, commanded by the late Maj. Gen. Orde c. Wingate. These columns were known as long-range pene- tration groups. Some of them marched from India to establish their strangleholds on Japanese communications; others were taken in by glider in an airborne opration directed by U. s. Col. Philip G. Cochran, who com- manded specially organized composite air group known as Air Commandos. While General Stil- wells forces were advancing on Myitkyina troops of the Genrealis- simo commanded by Marshal Wei Ii Haung crossed the Salween River from the east.
 Patrols of the two forces finally met at Tengchung in the summer of 1914, establishing the first thin hold on Northern Burma.
 During the fall of 1943 the Jap anese, anticipating the attack in Burma, had been building their strength for a counteroffensive to prevent the establishment of surface communications with China. Japanese forces attacked eastward across the Salween in the Lungling area and were met and stopped by the Chinese in time to permit completion of the road from Ledo. Another strong Japanese force struck toward h. dia while the Allied operations were in progress in an effort to seize the large British base at Imphal and sever the Bengal Assam Railroad below the bases on which Hump air transporta- ton and General Stilwell's opera tions were dependent. By April 1914 Imphal was cut off and the Japanese threatened Dimapur on the railroad. British and Indian troops flown to the sector met the attack, turned it back, and re- established contact with the h. dian divisions in the Imphal plain. After heavy and prolonged fight ing, the hostile divisions were dis persed and cut up with heavy losses. At the same time, British and Japanese troops in the Arakan to the south were engaging in see-saw fighting along the coast of the Bay of Bengal.
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