The Allies gave up the port of Rangoon* last week. They did not give up the city. British Imperials on the city's none-too-distant approaches fought with the greatest fury of the Burmese campaign. But the port died. Its sea entrances were mined, shutting off supplies for the defenders and shipments to China over the Burma Road (see p. 15). Eve Curie, arriving as a war correspondent, recognized in partially evacuated Rangoon "the emptiness, the unforgettable silence of the big cities in danger."
Rangoon was in dire danger. Some 40,000 Japanese in the front lines, 30,000 more in reserve pressed toward the last...