Word: burma
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...anybody seen U Saw? What had become of the crafty, witty Premier of Burma who needled the British Empire in its hour of greatest trial? He had dropped from public view in December, 1941. U.S. officials, who could not learn his whereabouts from the British, guessed he was still jailed somewhere in Africa...
...engaged in effective propaganda for Burmese independence. Just before Pearl Harbor Londoners flocked to hear him twit British imperialism. When he was reminded of the Japanese menace, U Saw made a restrained statement of loyalty to the Crown: "The people of Burma are rather inclined to rely on the devil they know than on the devil they don't." Then he suavely added: "It is not for me to decide [between Britons and Japs] the degree of their devilment." On his way home U Saw perhaps got as far as Cairo. Then no more was heard...
That the British Raj could ever forgive U Saw seemed possible only to those who know how devious is the course of empire and how tough the imperial going has been in Burma since it was liberated from the Japs...
Shrewd, burly Governor Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith was having trouble with young (28) Major General Thakin Aung San (commander of the Burma National Army). Aung San went over to the Japs early in the war, switched back to the British with the tide. But once the Japs had surrendered, Aung San demanded immediate Burmese independence. Hoping to mollify him, Sir Reginald asked Aung San to suggest a few names for a new council. When Aung San listed eleven fervent nationalists, Sir Reginald rejected his list. Thereupon Aung San was elevated to a crest of Burmese popularity and excitement dangerous...
...China-Burma-India area was the most confused of all Allied war commands. A U.S. colonel once despairingly explained that the multinational, multiservice commands could not be illustrated on an ordinary service chart, but needed "a three-dimensional organization chart with a wire framework and five shades of colored ribbon, which ought to indicate at least the simpler relationships...