CBI Roundup - May 4, 1944 - China-Burma-India Theater of World War II

VOL. II NO. 34 REG NO. L5015 DELHI, THURSDAY MAY 4, 1944.

SHERMAN TANKS HIT JAPS IN BURMA

NEW PLAN OF A TACK

Virginia Mayo curls up comfortably on the tack sent her by a bunch of Army lads who chose her as their favorite pin-up girl. The bulletin board explains why she was named for the honor of "sitting on a tack."

Burma Retreat
Two Years Ago
Stirs Memories

  NORTHERN BURMA - Monday - May Day - was the second anniversary of the start of Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell's final exodus from Burma.
  Two years ago this week, Stilwell looked sardonically at those around him and declared, "I'd like to be leading a Communist parade - down with everything."
  A little later, he said tersely, "Let's get the hell out of here." The final retreat had started.

REACHED IMPHAL
  Twenty-one days later, his weary, ragged, polyglot band of 114 Americans, British, Anglo-Indians, Indians and Burmese nurses walked into Imphal. Stilwell met the press at Manipur Junction and observed wryly: "We got the hell licked out of us. We took a hell of a licking."
  Today the picture is reversed. Stilwell is enjoying the satisfaction of leading Chinese-American forces back into Burma. They are following the old skeleton-lined trail over which some of Stilwell's Chinese retreated in 1942. Their tails are up, they are cocky and they are on the march to re-open land communications with China.

ROAD FOLLOWS
  Hard on their heals is serpenting Brig. Gen. Lewis Pick's Ledo Road, which one day will carry vital tonnage necessary to the Chinese Army and the 14th Air Force in China.
  In addition, the British are advancing on the Arakan, are containing a large force of Japs around Imphal and the Eastern Fleet has struck a stinging blow at Sumatra that suggests that it is ready for major action.
  Times have changed.
  Stilwell's statement was characteristic of his earthy approach:
  "This is just another day to me. We are sawing wood and learning, meanwhile stretching our shoestring as far as it will go. We haven't much to boast about - the Japs ran us out of here a damn sight faster than we're coming back. It's a long road yet, with a lot of hard work. We have gone far enough, though, to know that we are right about some things. We know the Chinese soldier can take the Jap if he has a decent chance, and as for the Americans - you know how you feel about our own people. We're this far along only because of the cheerful hard work of everybody on the team - fliers, truck drivers, radio men, bulldozer men, pontoon men, food packers, and all the rest, plus the guts of the Chinese and our own handful of doughboys.
  "The Japs are putting up a tough fight and we are going to have setbacks, but I can promise you that you will all be in here swinging 'til we get to where we're going."

    NORTHERN BURMA - American and Chinese-manned General Sherman tanks, historically making their first appearance on the Asiatic Continent, cranked purposefully into action against the Japanese in the Mogaung Valley above Inkangahtawng to provide the most sensational news of the week which marks the second anniversary of Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell's exodus from Burma.
  There was other news, too, which could hardly be obscured by the arrival of the 23-ton mechanical giants and the silencing of stubborn, well-emplaced anti-tank positions as they lashed out with the heavyweight punch of their 75mm guns.
  probably the most significant was the bold Chinese push through the jungled mountains along the eastern flank of the valley which enabled them to seize Manpin, only 10 airline miles above Kamaing. This placed the Chinese nine miles behind the fluid main valley front anchored by Inkangahtawng on the east, and it meant, further, that a flat, almost tireless plain and a good road now extend south to Kamaing. The distance from this vital bastion has since been cut by yet another mile.

MANPIN CAPTURED
  Behind Manpin, northward along the twisting mountain trail to Brig. Gen. Frank Merrill's Burma Raiders at Nhpum, other Chinese elements occupied Kauri, two miles below the Yanks. The Chinese are now hammering viciously at Warong, midway between Kauri and Manpin, and have clamped on a stout road block south of the village.
  The General Shermans provided the answer to increasing enemy resistance, supported by well-emplaced, anti-tank guns, which have been partially responsible during recent weeks for slowing down the Chinese-American advance. They gave an impressive display in a sanguinary, hour-long duel. In what the communique described as an "offensive reconnaissance," the mediums smashed their way into the anti-tank positions and knocked out two on the opposite side of the Mogaung River, blew up an ammunition dump and claimed over a score of enemy infantrymen.

THREE ATTACKS
  Supported by artillery and closely followed by infantry, the tanks made three attacks, but the difficult terrain prevented them from making the river crossing. Resistance in the area, however, was considerably weakened.
  Chinese-manned light tanks which have been in action since the Maingkwan-Walawbum pocket was cleared, followed up the Sherman attacks with another assault while foot-soldiers, crawling dangerously close behind, kept Jap suicide squads from moving in from the rear.
  Magnetic mines were used by the enemy in an effort to halt the Shermans. Enemy infantrymen climbed atop one tank, tossed away the sand-bags and laid a mine. Other tanks cut loose with machine guns and the Japs fell, holding their mine which exploded and blew them to bits.
  The tanks returned from the attack bearing shell scars, but only three Chinese were slightly wounded. One light tank was pierced by a shell, touching off the ammunition inside, but the crew leaped out and as soon as the explosions subsided, jumped back in and resumed their attack.
  It is believed the damage done to the Jap anti-tank positions was greater than had at first been estimated. When the tanks turned away from the assault, enemy guns remained silent, failing to take advantage of hitting the tanks in their most vulnerable spot. One disabled tank was towed back within easy range of fire. Salvage crews threw a cable on the damaged vehicle and put it in tow only 300 yards in front of the Jap line without attracting a shot.
  Inkangahtawng continues to hold out, but is outflanked to the west by Chinese infantry who have bulled their way to a position two miles below Inkangahtawng from which they could establish a road block between the

DECORATED

Col. Rothwell H. Brown, commander of the Chinese Tank Corps, wears the Silver Star awarded him "somewhere in Burma" by Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell.

village and Kamaing, 20 miles south. Two prepared Jap positions in this westward by-passing movement fell as the Chinese advanced under cover of a friendly blanket of artillery fire.
  Manpin's fall to the sudden, lightning thrust came as a result of a well-executed move. The Japs fashioned a defense in depth along the trail down from Nhpum, but the Chinese left the road and slashed their way southward over the jungled mountain slope. They swept out of the hills to launch a fierce three-pronged assault that dislodged the enemy, who left 15 dead behind and a considerable amount of equipment.
  On the east flank of the main line, the Chinese this week took Tingrawmyang and Nawngmikawng along the Tingrawn River. But the going was tough because the Japanese pounded continuously at the advancing Chinese with powerful 150 cailibre guns, hidden strategically in the jungle. Both the Chinese 22nd and 38th Divisions are performing excellently in close-in fighting, but it is difficult for them to battle effectively when guns which outrange their own continue lobbing shells in their rear, probing at lines of communication. Adding to the difficulty of locating the 150's, they rarely fire while USAAF planes are in the air seeking them out. However, ground forces are giving bombing aircraft an indication as to where the weapons may be emplaced and these positions are being plastered.
  A Jap fortified position west of the Mogaung River and south of Warazup was captured by a unit of the Chinese 22nd Division. Several pillboxes with connecting trenches were uncovered, yielding a large supply of mortar shells, grenades, rifles and ammunition.
  Twenty-five miles west of the Mogaung Valley, another force of Chinese still is encountering trouble around Mansum. Having tried unsuccessfully to send patrols to the east of Jap postions, a commander sent a patrol to the west which drew 80 rounds of Jap 75mm fire, an indication of the jitteriness of the enemy in this sector.
  Fifty miles to the east of the Mogaung River along the Myitkyina-Sumprabum Road, Kachin Levies beat off a number of Jap attacks at Wara, inflicting approximately 20 casualties.
  Intermittent rain, possibly heralding the opening of the monsoon season, began to drench Chinese and Japanese alike starting in mid-week. The Japs appear to be pinning all their faith upon the monsoon to come to their rescue, explaining their desperate gambling effort to stave off the Chinese-American advance. Meanwhile, Stilwell's forces have forced the enemy to surrender a third of the 70-mile-long Mogaung Valley during a month's bitter fighting.

PRIVATE LOUIE By Somerville

"HE USED TO BE WITH CHENNAULT, LOUIE!"

BRITISH ON OFFENSIVE
IN KOHIMA SECTOR
    NEW DELHI - Richard G. Casey, Australian-born governor of Bengal, while on a visit here this week said the present Japanese invasion of India constitutes no menace to his province and its important base of Calcutta, with the British counter-offensive, already underway, likely to be divided into two parts.
  Casey said British operations would consist of: (1) Defeat of the main invading forces around Kohima and Imphal; and (2) Mopping-up operations to dispose of the remnants of the Jap forces. But he said these operations would take time.

ENEMY CUT OFF
  This week the British around Kohima started to work on Casey's forecast with an offensive, supported by armored units, launched against the Nips around Kohima. Supported by tanks and U.S. dive-bombers, British Infantry smashed against Jap forces dug in around the Dimapur-Kohima Road and cut off large detachments of the enemy.
  According to the Associated Press of India, the Jap offensive around Kohima has spent its forces and the invaders have shifted part of their forces to reinforce troops around Imphal. But the British did not let them get set around Imphal, either, striking out northwards towards Kohima, as other columns hit to within five miles of Ukhrul.
  The British were on the attack all around the Manipur section, with especially stiff fighting going on along the Bishenpur-Silchar track, southwest of Imphal. They were aided by the Chindits of Maj. Gen. Lentaigne, who were busy cutting supply and communication lines of the Japs across the Chindwin.

AIDED BY CHINDITS
  The Chindits, receiving what was described as "unparralled support" by the daredevil airmen of Lt. Col. Phil Cochran's U.S. Air Commando Force, held an area comprising 240 square miles inside the heart of Japanese Burma. The block they held between Indaw and Myitkyina, cutting the main Nip supply line, was vainly assaulted all week by waves of japs, who, after first being greeted by Cochran's airmen, then received a further inhospitable hello on the barbed wire defenses set up by the Chindits.
  With the monsoon less than two weeks away, the Jap invasion of India seemed doomed, and, with the invader's supply lines harrassed by the Chindits and struck daily by Allied airpower, it was no longer a question of conquest with the Japs, but rather survival.

ADVERTISERS FAIL TO FOOL AVG VETERAN
ZIPPO LIGHTER COMPANY MAKES AMENDS WITH CBI-LANDER

    CHINA - T/Sgt. Gerhard Neumann was reading an old magazine in a 14th Air Force alert shack when his eyes fell upon an advertisement for "Zippo" cigarette lighters purporting to show a group of AVG's standing in front of a P-40-B and using the lighters.
  And old AVG, China Air Task Force and 14th Air Force man himself, Neumann immediately spotted an error. The P-40-B shown in the ad had only five exhaust stacks, whereas the plane actually has six such stacks.
  So Neumann wrote a little note to the Zippo people to straighten them out about the number of stacks. He also stated that he and his six buddies didn't have Zippo lighters and offered to hush up about the stacks in consideration for the present of a few of them.
  From G. G. Blaisedell, president of the Zippo Co., came this prompt reply:
  "You really have me over a barrel about those exhaust stacks and you may be sure that our advertising agency will hear about its error. Since you have been kind enough to say that you won't tell anyone, I am sending you some Zippo lighters. Seven of them are being forwarded."

BOMBER UNIT'S GRAVEYARD SHIFT WORKERS
CHINA AIR BASE - When a Jap installation is pounded by the combat crews of the Liberators of China, another unit's work of the organization has only just begun. It is time, then, for the Photo Laboratory boys to swing into action. These are the "graveyard shift workers," developing and printing pictures of the destruction wrought for early-morning inspection by the Liberators' commander, Col. William P. Fisher, veteran of fighting in the Philippines and Java. Capt. Frank J. Dunn is the organization's Photo Officer and the work of his unit is portrayed in the pictures here and in words by T/Sgt. Robert E. Badger in the story that follows.

"Shutter Bug" Photo Lab jeep bounces up alongside a B-24 Liberators of China ship, to take off camera. In jeep, Capt. Frank J. Dunn, right, and M/Sgt. Charles H. Stoopes.

T/Sgt. Edward A. Uebel mixes chemicals in the Photo Lab using scales purchased from a Chinese druggist.

Uebel, Silver Star winner, stands atop a home-made water facility devised from bomb bay tanks.

Stoopes repairs a camera. This is one of the tasks for which the Photo lab is responsible. Watching the work is Sammy San-Ling, adopted Chinese orphan.

The printing team at work in the Photo Lab of the Liberators of China: Left to right, Herbert B. Walden, Jr., William E. Chartowich and Walter A. Simpson.

Cpl. Ted Brunner works at a home-made drying rack made of cheesecloth and scrap lumber.

T/Sgt. Joe Martin, left, and Norman Turner perform a job of work in the Photo Lab.

Col. William P. Fisher, seated, looks over the evidence of his outfit's mission. Left is Dunn, Photo Officer, while right is Capt. Joe Pavesich, Photo Interpreter.

PHOTO LAB TEAM - 'DAWN TO DUSK BOYS'

  By T/Sgt. ROBERT E. BADGER

    CHINA AIR BASE - The mission is over . . another Jap installation in China has been lambasted . . soon the combat crews will relax in their barracks . . mechanics who have been "sweating out" the return of their planes look over the ships before heading for the mess hall and evening chow.
  The mission is over. But work for one all-important unit of the Liberators of China - B-24 outfit which is operating in the Fourteenth Air Force - is just beginning.
  Now, the men of the Photo laboratory swing into action. They are the "graveyard shift" workers. They are the "Dusk to Dawn Boys" - for their work begins usually at sunset when the planes return and keeps them busy until the sun comes up over the eastern mountains.

MUST BE READY
  Pictures of the destruction wrought by the ships on the mission must be ready early in the morning for the Liberators' commander, Col. William P. Fisher, veteran of the fighting in the Philippines and Java. And before that, they must go to Capt. Joseph E. Pavesich, Photo Interpreter for the Liberators, who will submit a report on the situation.
  Capt. Frank J. Dunn, Liberator Photo Officer, and his crew of enlisted men drive "Shutter Bug," their jeep, up to the big 24's, hop inside and carefully remove the cameras they had placed there just before the planes took off on their trip over Jap-held territory. Photographing has been done by members of the combat crews who have received training for the job.
  Back to the laboratory, Dunn and his men go - ready to begin their night-long job of developing and printing. There is nothing elaborate about the lab or its equipment. A mud building, formerly a barracks, serves as the lab.
  A couple of airplane bomb bay tanks on a platform provide the water storage. Twenty or 30 yards of chessecloth and a couple of boards make up a drying rack. When scales were needed to weigh chemicals, the boys went to the nearest Chinese town and bought a pair of aged, crude ones from the local druggist.

STOOPES IN CHARGE
  M/Sgt. Charles H. Stoopes is Dunn's chief assistant and supervises the work of the other enlisted men. T/Sgts. Joe Martin and Norman S. Turner are the first to work on the film, it being their job to do the developing and projection work.
  T/Sgt. Edward A. Uebel, formerly an aerial photographer, who earned the Silver Star for heroism displayed after his plane was shot down, takes care of the chemical mixing.
  Printing is done by a team composed of S/Sgt. William E. Chartowich and Sgts. Walter A. Simpson and Herbert B. Walden, Jr. Cpl. Ted Brunner is in charge of the finishing.
  Confucious, that sage with all the wise sayings, probably is responsible for the adage about one picture being worth more than a thousand words. It's apropos that the photo boys here in China are following his principle.

Fighter Forces Down 243 Nips In Four Months

    HQS., EAC TACTICAL AIR FORCE - The story of an air force which, in its first four months of operation, destroyed or probably destroyed considerably more than its own weight in enemy aircraft, was told this week by Air Marshal Sir John Baldwin, Air Commander of the Third Tactical Air Force, EAC.
  Reviewing the activities of his combined force of British, American and Indian fighters and bombers since its organization last December, Baldwin revealed that, while numbering only 200 to 250 first-line aircraft at its inception, of which approximately one-fourth were bombers, the Third Tactical Air Force has now obliterated 175 enemy fighters and 68 bombers, with another 151 probable.

AID GROUND TROOPS
  In addition, in co-operation with the Strategic Air Force under Maj. Gen. Howard Davidson, it has maintained steadfast control of the Burma air in support of Allied ground troop operations.
  "This is a great achievement," Baldwin said, "an achievement which could be accomplished only by co-operation between all units and sections of this Tactical Air Force. In the air, Americans and British fly side by side and on the ground they work together in complete harmony and unity. I am proud to have the honor to command them."

CAUGHT ON GROUND
  While speaking with equal approval of all the elements of his command, Baldwin was loud in his praise of American Mustang and Lightning squadrons for brilliant work, particularly in catching enemy airplanes on the ground.
  "A squadron of American Lightnings destroyed no fewer than 44 fighters and 20 bombers - a first class piece of work - and Mustangs of the American Air Commandos accounted for an even greater number of enemy aircraft by brilliant air tactics," he revealed.
  In praise of his RAF Hurricane and Sp[itfire fighters, Baldwin paid them the highest compliment possible for British airmen, when he applauded them for maintaining in the skies over Burma "the great tradition our fighters established in the skies over Burma."

CBI ENGINEER'S WIFE NEEDS EDUCATION

By. Cpl. PAUL HAWK

    NORTHERN BURMA - The disheveled Engineer officer wiped the sweat from his brow and grinned as he read the second page of his letter:
  "My wife says that she is glad that I am in the Engineers and not fighting those 'nasty Japs.' She says that she has seen pictures of Engineers and it looks like just what I did in civilian life. I guess I will have to educate her on the Ledo Road after the war."
  For the job that the Engineers have done on the Ledo Road and all through the CBI Thetaer is hardly "like civilian life."
  It was the American Engineers who landed with the Wingate Expedition and constructed the airstrip that enabled the Chindits to carry the war to the Japs in the heart of Burma.
  This was only one example, for throughout the entire Theater the Engineers have paved the way when Allied war push ran up against the steel walls of the men of Tojo. But their outstanding job has been the Ledo Road.
  The Engineer whose outfit has been engaged in the job of pushing this growing lifeline to China is a Joe who believes in himself and the fellow at his side. Working in the most rugged, treacherous, disease-infested country on the Asiatic Continent, he is convinced his outfit can do anything - and has damn well proved he is right.
  To tell all the stories connected with the Ledo Road Engineers would take volumes. But the story of one detachment symbolizes the Ledo Engineer.
  This detachment left its base not long ago on a secret mission. Far to the front, the Chinese and American troops of Uncle Joe Stilwell were driving back the Japs. It had been decided that a landing strip was essential.
  Construction of this strip was the job which confronted the detachment, which was under the command of Capt. Paul A. Bamburger and Lt. D. M. Landry. Carefully, they made their way to the site, ever on the alert for snipers and enemy patrols.
  Early the next morning they began work on the strip. No sooner had they appeared than the Japs let loose with mortar and artillery fire. The Engineers took to their foxholes and went to work on their carefully hoarded ration of cigarettes.
  As soon as the barrage stopped, they piled out of their foxholes and went back to work. Then when fire started again, they returned to their shelters. This went on for days.
  Transport planes dropped supplies. A Jap patrol infiltrated their positions, but the Chinese drove them out . . American planes strafed enemy positions almost within shouting distance and silenced the enemy mortars . . the ring of the axe replaced the whine of the shell.
  The landing strip is in use today, as are other similar hotels offering accomodation to Allied planes throughout the Theater.
  That Engineer officer will have to educate his wife. For - it's a far cry from civilian life.

Jap Document Proves 'Dud' For Captain

    MOGAUNG VALLEY - This, thought Capt. John George, is an important discovery, as off a jungle trail he picked up what he considered to be a Jap version of the Roundup.
  The veteran of the scrap on Guadalcanal tucked the paper securely away. He guarded it fiercely, through battle, river crossings, rain and other troublesome moments.
  Finally arrived the day when George reached an interpreter. With a flair for the dramatic, he flourished the paper for all in the vicinity to behold. The big moment had arrived.
  The interpreter scanned the publication hastily.
  "Nice work," he remarked sarcastically, "this is one of the propaganda leaflets that we've dropped to the Japs."
  George's bubble had burst, but quick.

BRITISH HONOR U.S. LEADERS IN WINGATE PENETRATION

    BURMA FRONT - Two American officers this week received a high military honor from our British allies when Brig. Gen. William D. Old, commanding officer of the Troop Carrier Command of the EAC, and Col. Phillip Cochran, leader of the Air Commando forces, were awarded the British Distinguished Service Order.
  In each case, the crimson and blue ribbon of the order was pinned on the recipient's chest by Air Marshal Sir John Baldwin, Air Commander of the Third Tactical Air Force of the Eastern Air Command.
  Old's distinction was granted him in recognition of his fine work in supplying food, munitions and equipment to the forces of the late Maj. Gen. Orde Wingate's column during its recent landing in the heart of Jap-held Burma. Cochran was honored for his part in leading the Air Commandos in the same operation.
  The award came as a complete surprise to both officers, but particularly to Cochran. His first knowledge of his new honor came at the end of an informal conversation with the Air Marshal in the latter's bungalow when Baldwin took the ribbon from his pocket and said: "By the way, Phil, this is yours - and you damn well deserve it."

CBI MEDICO DESIGNS RAMP FOR PATIENTS

It has been revealed this week that the new airplane loading ramp, now being used in the CBI Theater by air evacuation units, was dreamed up by Capt. Ashley Pond, MC, and built by Sgt. Raymond Detwiler, of the Blank Medical Battalion, APO 689.
The new device, which makes it easier to get stretcher-borne patients into planes, has been of great value recently in the evacuation of wounded from battle areas.

FAMOUS NATIONAL PRO GRID
PERFORMER UNRECOGNIZED
BY AACS MATES IN CHINA
    ADVANCED AIR BASE IN CHINA - All that most G.I.'s know about the big hunk of man who sits behind a desk in the AACS office here is that he's S/Sgt. Johnny McNally and a helluva good Signal Corps man. What they don't know is that this same guy, playing under the name of Johnny Blood, once was the biggest hero in America's professional football and remains an all-time all-National Pro-League choice.
  Nominated by the New York Times as the most colorful gridder in all pro grid history, the flamboyant Mr. Blood hails from New Richmond, Wisc., a son of a mid-western publisher. He peaked his career with the Green Bay Packers, aiding the Wisconsin wonders to win the National title four years and finish second the other three during his seven year stay with the club. he later played and coached at Pittsburgh before retiring from football and going to war.
  His career has always been a source of journalistic pleasure, bordering on the fantastic in so many ways.Even his adoption of the name - Johnny Blood - expresses the strange character of this AACS sergeant. While in college, Johnny was invited to play pro ball on Sundays, but had to use an alias. With a college chum he attended the Rudolph Valentino film, "Blood and Sand," was hit by the idea of using the name Blood for himself and Sand for his buddy. Thus Johnny Blood was "born."
  Johnny tried out several colleges, found none to his liking. First came Notre Dame, but after six

JOHNNY BLOOD

weeks with the Irish, he ran away. Next came a trip to Dartmouth where he hardly got unpacked. It was while enrolled at St. John's College that Blood was doubling as a Saturday simonpure and Sunday pro with the Duluth Eskimos.
  Blood teamed with Don Hutson, when the Alabama All-American first joined Green Bay, and in this duo the Packers had the nation's best pair of pass receivers with Arnier Herber doing the tossing. Fans still talk about Blood's snaring of Herber's 60-yard aerial in the final minute of the Detroit game for the title.
  The 40-year-old Blood was drafted in the Air Corps in June, 1942, and came overseas in March of last year. Speaking of Johnny's service in China, Art Dailey, sportswriter for the New York Times, recently said: "A complete paradox. Johnny Blood has been one of the most incredible and colorful characters sports has ever had. And, if you read of a lone American plane over Tokyo, you'll know who's at the controls . . . Mr. J. Blood."
  From his experience in playing with and against the best pro gridsters since 1924, Blood lists the following as his niminations for All-Time All-America: bronco Nagurski, fullback; Dutch Clark, left-half; Sammy Baugh, right-half; father Lumpkin, blocking back; Bill Hewitt and Brick Weller, ends; Cal Hubbard and Fat Henry, guards; Mike Michalske and Danny Fortmann, tackles; and Mel Hein, center.
  For his ace-in-the-hole, Blood would choose Hutson.
  That's his choice for All-America. Modestly he omits any mention of Johnny Blood - a name that's pretty sure to be on any other expert's listing of the best of the rest.

SCRIBE'S VIGNETTES OF MOGAUNG:
Strange Reading Matter 'Chuted to Yanks

  By GEORGE JOHNSTON Australian War Correspondent

    MOGAUNG VALLEY - The Burma battlefront can't be interpreted by any one man into a connected picture.
  here in the Mogaung Valley there can be no pattern of jungle fighting; only a patchwork made up of a vignette of things seen, conversation heard. Trivial fragments from the lives of men at war.
  The Yank troops laugh at a statement in an Army handbook which says, "Men are strongly advised against eating lettuce in the Burma jungle." The men ask, "What lettuce?"
  The sound effects are diverse enough to cover an astonishing range of tones and subjects.
  There's the nostalgic sound of an American soldier singing Paper Doll, while alongside him sloughs a Chinese infantryman who is chanting a strange, high-pitched thing which I have been assured is now a current hit in Chungking and the rage in Kunming.
  There's the spasmodic firing of small arms at night. On this fron it's unwise to forget the password, or try to explain things to a Chinese sentry. The Chinese aren't exactly trigger happy, but they believe in acting first and asking questions afterwards.
  That's the scene and sound track of this bizarre, isolated battlefront. The rest is made up of vignettes.

READING MATTER
  There's the scene of bronzed American jungle commandos sitting in a hot roadblock up in the mountains, with the Japs attacking on three sides. In a brief respite, a dropping plane sent down supplies which had been requested along with reading matter.
  When the Yanks came to look at the books they found the literature consisted of the following:
  A manual on operating farm ploughs (written in Spanish).
  Three French novels (written in French).
  A symposium of Office Dyncelogy.
  Hints on Social Etiquette.
  (Ed. Note-We would like to have a transcription of the comment by Merrill's Burma Raiders, just to hide in the Roundup files.)
  The next-door-neighbor to my jungle hammock is an Army cook named Sgt. Jules Reynaud, who is better known as Gus. Before his Army career started, he was a chef in the internationally-known Stork Club in New York, and before that catered to the elite at the Waldorf-Astoria. Today he wears a fatigue hat and almost makes bully beef taste like chicken.

TWO GENERALS
  I have met two Chinese generals, one, Lt. Gen. Sun Li-Jen who commands the 38th Division, and the other, Maj. Gen. Liao Yai-Hsiang who commands the 22nd Division. Both speak English, Sun, educated in the United States, has an American accent, whil Liao, educated in France, has a heavy Gailic accent with typical gestures.
  Then there's the picture of the American lieutenant sitting in the dim light of a battered hurricane lamp, thumbing through an old copy of the New Yorker. On one page he was making dates with pretty women in advertisements, while on the other page he was vilifying with, "God damn draft dodgers," clean-cut men who looked out at him from shaving lotion advertisements.
  There is tall, red-headed Yank correspondent Sgt. Dave Richardson, who is still chuckling over the memory of one of Merrill's Raiders trying to get a stubborn mule to move with an angry, "For God's sake, get moving. You volunteered for this job, too."
  There's the scene I recently saw at a primitive motion picture theater, where hunched up Yanks and Chinese watched Jane Eyre, as the roar of planes taking off half drowned out the dialogue.
  These are merely a few of the vignettes of war 200 miles inside Burma, with the Chinese-American forces of Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell.

Pistol Packin' Mama
STARTS CHINESE OFF TO VICTORY

  By GEORGE JOHNSTON Australian War Correspondent

    NORTHERN BURMA - (DELAYED) - When the 22nd Chinese Division left its bivouac area for the Hukawng Valley and victory against the Japanese in northern Burma, the event took on the flavor of a celebration.
  Across a small section of the Ledo Road, newly-constructed by American soldiers, extended a bamboo archway decorated with Chinese drawings and ideographs depicting such slogans as "Good Fortune", "Benevolence" and "The Gods of War Are With You." Beneath this archway, the Chinese troops marched past a reviewing stand to the deafening strains of a couple of Chinese recordings played over an amplifying system.
  As the hours wore on, the recordings, both national marching songs, grew somewhat monotonous even to the divisional commander and his staff, and eventually a courier was dispatched to a nearby American camp to negotiate the loan of a substitute.
  Sgt. Leonard Gonsoski, of Minneapolis, readily obliged. And so, for the remainder of the occasion, company after company, battalion after battalion of Chinese soldiers stepped smartly along, grinning and shouting happily while the loudspeaker blared out Basin Street Blues and Pistol Packin' Mama. - By S/Sgt. J. M. SCHUREMAN.

14th Bombers Hit Nip Bridges To Aid Chinese

    14TH A.F. HQ. - Japanese in Burma and China were thrown into a state of confusion during the week by widespread and devastating attacks by planes of the 14th Air Force.
  Supporting Chinese defensive operations along the Yellow River, Liberators, with fighter escort, attacked two main bridges used by the Japs for the transportation of vital supplies and troops. A total of 33 tons of bombs was dropped and hits scored on both bridges. Buildings at the north approaches to the bridges were set ablaze by the fury of the attacks.

YANGTZE ACTIVITY
  At the same time, Mitchells, on a sea sweep off Hainan Island, scored direct hits on a 1,200-ton freighter, which was badly damaged. The bombers also attacked two 900-ton vessels, one of which was left sinking.
  As this attack was being carried out, Tojo's men were scattered by an offensive reconnassaince by fighter-bombers along the Yangtze River. Over 100 Japs were believed killed and 20 junks were strafed. Other fighter-bombers, supporting Chinese operations in the Western Yunnan Province, strafed a Jap troop column near tengchung.
  Earlier in the week, fighter-bombers, on an offensive reconnaissance between Man Kat and Lashio in Burma, strafed and destroyed two trucks and a water tank. Following this, a bridge at Nam Hsim River was attacked with unobserved results. South of Hsi Paw, the formation destroyed a warehouse and two locomotives in the vicinity.
  The Western Yunnan Province was again attacked by Lightnings and War Hawks, with installations as the objective. At the same time, Chiengne, in Northern Thailand, was bombed. On these missions, Tojo struck back by shooting down nine American planes.

JAP PARADE FALTERS
  On April 24, Mitchells, on a sea sweep over the southeastern coast of Hainan Island, destroyed one 150-foot steamer and left a similar vessel listing badly. Other bombers hit rail bridges in Northern Thailand at Dara Junction and Kenghluang. P-40's strafed barracks and other buildings at Kengtung, in Eastern Burma. In a raid the day before, approximately 200 Jap troops were caught on the parade grounds at Tengchung and heavy casualties were inflicted. One aircraft failed to return.
  On April 28, Mitchells, with fighter escaort, attacked Jap installations along the Yangtze southeast of Wuchang. Meanwhile, fighter-bombers slashed the barracks area at Nanchang. The next day, bombers, with fighter escort, hit the warehouses and barracks at Shayang, on the Hen River, starting fires and destroying a fuel dump. Other Mitchells flew over the East China Coast to strafe light shipping. On April 30, a fuel dump in Northern Burma, near Hsienwi, was damaged by P-40's.

ALL WRAPPED UP IN JOB
Heap Big G.I. Snakewalla

If he were wearing a turban and a beard, Pfc. Berlin L. Sowger might be mistaken for a Hindu snakecharmer. Lovingly entwined around him is a python measuring 14 feet long and 10 inches in circumference. Be assured that the critter's dead. he was shot through the head near a stream less than 100 yards off the Ledo Road.

P-38 Lightnings Feature Work Of EAC Forays

    Twenty-two Japanese aircraft were destroyed by U.S. and RAF fighters of the Eastern Air Command during the week ended April 30, while 10 enemy planes were probably destroyed, 44 damaged.
  Although 15 of these enemy planes were destroyed in sweeps by an American Lightning Squadron of the Third Tactical Air Force when they were surprised either on the ground or just airborne over their bases in Central Burma, a good number were casualties in raids and attempted raids on our airfields in Assam and Manipur.
  Enemy activity over Allied territory was on an increased scale. Their aircraft were seeking out the bases from which our planes are actively supporting troops in the Imphal and Kohima areas and other districts of Manipur. In one such operation, Spitfires intercepted more than 50 enemy aircraft - the biggest Jap effort of the week - and destroyed three, probably destroyed one and damaged 16, without loss.

KEENEST BLOW
  Most successful strike was by a U.S. P-38 (Lightning) squadron against Heho airfield on the 25th when they twice attacked this Jap fighter base in five hours and destroyed nine and damaged five aircraft. Main effort of the Strategic Air Force was at points on the lines of communication in North Burma, vital to the Japanese in their Manipur offensive and their effort against Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell's troops and the Chindits.
  For 24 hours, however, the attacked was switched to the Kalewa stores and dumps area on the Chindwin from which the Japanese on the Imphal plain are being supplied along tenuous lines of communication. RAF medium bombers opened the assault in the morning of the 28th and U.S. B-25's carried on. Big fires were started in the target area. Next day, U.S. heavy and medium bombers were back over the target, while the following night RAF heavies and mediums switched the attack to another vital dump area - Prome in South Burma.

BRIDGES BOPPED
  Relentlessly during the week, U.S. mediums by day and RAF mediums by night struck at communications, bridges being a target in daylight.

On the night of the 26th, RAF heavies successfully bombed Mandalay marshalling yards.
  RAF and IAF fighters, fighter-bombers and dive-bombers of the Tactical Air Force maintained their offensive in strength against Jap positions and communications in Northwest Burma, the Chin Hills, Naga Hills and Manipur. They did great work in softening enemy strong points.
  In North Burma U.S. mediums, dive and fighter bombers and fighters were active supporting Stilwell's troops concentrating on enemy stores areas, particularly at Mogaung, Kamaing and Myitkyina. One day, the 27th, these aircraft flew more than 100 sorties, three times during the day strafing Jap troops.
  A Beaufighter, which got lost in the haze at Sagaing on the 28th, emerged to find itself surrounded by seven Jap fighters. It destroyed one, damaged one, and saw two collide in mid-air and crash in flames.

The C.B.I. Roundup is a weekly newspaper of the United States Army Forces published by and for the men in China, Burma, and India, from news and pictures supplied by staff members, soldier correspondents, the United Press, OWI and Army News Service. The Roundup is published Thursday of each week and is printed by The Statesman in New Delhi, India. Editorial matter should be sent directly to Capt. Floyd Walter, Headquarters, U.S.A.F., C.B.I., New Delhi, and should arrive not later than Sunday in order to make that week's issue. Pictures must arrive by Saturday and must be negatives or enlargements. Stories should contain full name and organization of sender.

MAY 4, 1944

Original issue of C.B.I. Roundup shared by Ruth Canney, widow of CBI veteran John Canney.

Copyright © 2007 Carl Warren Weidenburner

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This page is dedicated in memory of John Canney, USAAF veteran of the CBI Theater.