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Pegu (96.499E
17.33N) is an important city
and communications center in southern Burma. It is noted for its large
number of pagodas and for a giant reclining statue of the Buddha some 200' (60m) long.
The town straddles the Pegu River,
which in 1941 was crossed by two railroad bridges just north
of the town and a single
highway bridge in the center of
the town.
The city was stoutly defended by the Japanese in April 1945 in an
effort to hold southern Burma and prevent the British from trapping
Japanese forces to the west. British armor arrived at the edge of town
late on 29 April 1945, but Cowan
ordered 255
Indian Tank Brigade to hook around to the southeast and meet
63
Indian Brigade, coming down the east bank of the Pegu, at
the highway bridge, while 48
Indian Brigade crossed to the west bank of the Pegu and
seized the railway station. The defending 105
Independent Mixed Brigade, a scratch formation under Matsui Hideji, demolished
the railway bridges, but enough of the northern bridge was still
standing to allow a platoon
to cross and seize a bridgehead. The Japanese counterattacked fiercely
during the night of 30 April, but were gone the next morning.
References
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