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Japanese forces driving through Yenangyaung and Mandalay in Burma during April and May found little left of the cities except charred ruins and heaps of blackened debris. Before the fall of Yenangyaung, April 21, 1942, the skies were afire with the blazing skeletons of oil-field derricks. Steel structures were warped by bonfires lighted beneath them; machinery was destroyed and repair shops were razed. Destruction of the city was completed over a three week period of time. All that remained to be burned on the last day were houses kept intact until the last minute for the use of evacuees and troops. The $1,000,000 power plant running the Yenangyaung oil fields was blown to pieces. At Mandalay the story was the same. The pagoda-crowned city which fell to the Japanese on May 2, was deserted and in ruins-mostly caused by Japanese bombings, partly by the scorched earth policy of the evacuating British forces, partly by the work of fifth columnists and looters. (Photo by AP Photo)
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