-48- #669, Eighteenth from London              
 
                                                            
 
 
I had always dreaded the beginning of this new campaign in 
      Burma, which nevertheless it was necessary to achieve, in order 
      that having rid Burma of the invader the large forces there might 
      acquire their mobility to act in the final stages Of the war. 
      Moreover the obstinate prolongation of the war in Europe necessarily 
      delayed the movement to the East of many reinformcements of all 
      kinds. Soldiers aircraft vessels of many different kinds used 
      in amphibious operations were all delayed although Admiral Mountibatten 
      had been led to count on them. First things have to come first. 
      But in spite of these disappointments he and his dauntless army 
      have made greater advances than were required or expected of 
      them up to the present by the directives of the high command 
      and they may well be described as on the road to Mandalay though 
      I think from a different direction. This reference to the 14th 
      Army, moreover, takes no account of the important capture of 
      Akyab on the coast with its airfield a place for which alone 
      a considerable expedition at one time seemed necessary. It has 
  now been picked up out of hand by the troops of the 14th A
 
                                                            
 
 
I have covered as far as I propose to do today the different 
      military theatres of the war in which His Majesty's Forces with 
      all their elements drawn from every part of the British