On this day, with the Second World War affecting this part of the world in various ways, this report from Kolkata appeared in Amrita Bazar Patrika, published from the city. The Allies, of which Britain, then ruling India, was a part of, were fighting Japan in the East.
The report read:
NIGHT RAIDS ON BURMA
KOLKATA, Mar. 14. The tempo of night bomber raid upon Burma is steadily increasing. Playing a prominent part in this attack upon Japanese aerodromes and positions are giant four engined liberators of the R.A.F. — one of the most successful heavy bombers of the war, and capable of carrying a substantial a tonnage of bombs.
Typical of those operations was a recent night raid in February when Akyab island was attacked… Here is the graphic description of one of the pilots, a flight lieutenant from Nairobi: “When I arrived there was plenty going on down in below. Two large fires with red perimeters were burning with increasing intensity. They had been started an hour earlier. I saw a one thousand pound bomb strike. There was a brilliant white flash, followed by a number of violent explosions. It shook our aircraft at over five thousand feet.
“Bombs were landing in the middle of fires. One good shot dropped plumb in the centre of a white fire which changed to yellow and took on a new lease of life. Believe me, the island was a pretty unhealthy spot.” (A.P.)
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