On to Rangoon

The battle for central Burma was won. Lieut. General Sir William Slim's British and Indian troops had a notable victory. Their Mandalay-Meiktila campaign (TIME, March 19) had broken seven Japanese divisions in what was, by official description, "a merry slaughter." Last week the British Fourteenth Army moved ahead for a swift cleanup of all Burma.

A new phase was on: the campaign to capture Rangoon. This week General Slim's men were within 220 miles of that final goal. In twelve days they had pierced 70 miles south of Meiktila along the Mandalay-Rangoon railroad, and had overrun the Chauk oil fields, the Japs' biggest fuel source in Burma. The slaughter continued in a series of long thrusts and ambuscades; in the dozen days more than 3,500 Japs were killed.

On the west coast, from which the Japs had twice launched offensives that reached India's borders, the British had another significant reconquest. They captured Taungup, the port at the end of the Jap supply line. General Slim could sight the end of three years of seesaw campaigns in the Arakan mountains. Of all Burma he could say: "Final victory is near."

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