Burma Road in the Sky?

End of Burma's Oil The Japanese threw fresh thousands upon already outnumbering thousands into the Burma front. Even the Chinese, who preach and practice an end to brave retreats, had to fall back. So did the British to the west of them.

The oilfield at Yenangyaung, chief of the Burmese wells, which could produce 7,979,000 barrels a year, had to be blasted and wrecked by the retreating British, is now a ruin, useless to friend and foe alike. Gone is the chief and nearest supply of oil for China. Gone, apparently, was any hope of holding a line in Burma until the summer rains come to help the defenders.

For two years the world has predicted dire things for China if the Burma Road were cut. Now it was cut; the Burma oilfields from which China got most of her oil were all but gone. What were the results?

China was paralyzed by lack of fuel. All trucks rolling into Kweiyang, the main transport center in southwest China, were ordered to stop moving until converted to charcoal burning. Since charcoal burners are scarce in China, this meant that only a few military and Government trucks got quick conversion.

Chungking fell back to horse & buggy days. High officials began riding rickshas to set a good example; Finance Minister Dr. H. H. Kung and War Minister Ho Ying-chin apologized publicly for the extravagant motoring of subordinates. The Minister of Communications set up a "bus" line of brightly painted two-wheel carts drawn by stubborn little Szechwan ponies. Most commercial trucks and private cars were withdrawn from the road.

In a world fighting a war of speed, a paralyzed nation, no matter how brave, cannot win victories. China knows this, the Allies know it-and the Allies also know that the easiest way to beat Japan may eventually be an attack through China. And so the Allies are doing all they can to help China keep herself alive.

One thing the U.S. hopes to do is give China a substitute for the Burma Road, in the form of 100 transport planes. Then supplies landed on India's west coast can be carried across India by rail and flown about 500 miles to China from airfields in Assam, India's northeasternmost province.

Depending on the bulk of the freight, each such plane could carry a pay load of between three and four tons. Daily round trips by 100 planes could carry 9,000-12,000 tons a month -- as much as the Burma Road carried. The planes could carry most of the things trucks did -- pack mortars, field mortars, Bren guns, small machines, engine parts, medical supplies and radio equipment. Four tons per plane of high-octane gasoline would make the planes a small but perhaps life-saving pipeline for fuel.

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