Gunboats prowled along the Arakan coast and up the muddy Irrawaddy. Mechanized units rumbled over Burma's uneven dirt roads. At key airdromes R.A.F. transports stood ready to fly crack combat units where they were needed. Burma's garrison of about 50,000 British and Indian troops was three times prewar size and growing.
The troops, many of whom had fought Japs at Myitkyina and Akyab, were taking on a new kind of enemy—organized brigands called dacoits who held Burma's hinterlands in a reign of terror. In a single recent month Burma has reported 1,350 dacoities.* Because frightened paddy field workers cowered in...
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