The Karen-Burman riots of WWII (4)

This post continues with the translation of chapter 5 of the text ပြည်တွင်းသောင်းကျန်းမှုသမိုင်း (အပိုင်း-၁) (The History of Revolt within the Country - Volume 1), published by the Myanmar Ministry of Information in 1990. The chapter runs 8 pages from page 21 to page 28. The translation below covers the fourth page (page 24) of the chapter. The complete chapter is available in PDF form here.

Vocabulary:

သေနာပတိ ။ (military) general
ဗိုလ်မှူး ။ major; lieutenant commander
ဗိုလ်မှူးကြီး ။ colonel; captain (navy)
ထကြွ ။ to become active; rebel
ဓားပြ ။ robber; bandit; dacoit
သိမ်းဆည်း ။ to put away; pack up; put in safe keeping
ခိုလှုံ ။ to take refuge or shelter; seek protection
ထိပ်တိုက် ။ head on; face to face
စစ်ပြေး ။ war refugees [deserters?]
ဖြည့်တင်း ။ maintain supplies; provide

Translation:

And after the Japanese army units conquered lower Myanmar at about the middle of March 1942 they continued to march to upper Myanmar. And with the BIA Army marching together with the Japanese Army, General Aung San was made military general and Bo Letya (Thakin Hla Pe) was made second military general. The Division #1 division commander was Colonel Zeya and the Division #2 division commander Colonel Ne Win. Bo Kyaw Zaw remaind behind and administered the Burma Independence Army southern regional command in Yangon. When the Burma Independence Army navy was organised with Colonel Min Gaung as its leader, starting from March 18th, 1942 crossed the delta and headed to the southern part of Rakhine Division. Nationalist people from the towns in the delta and the Thakins contacted domestic insurgents groups and established temporary administrative authority in the towns where the English government was no longer present. When BIA units arrived they temporarily established BIA administration.

At that time, armed bad people who had taken the good opportunity of the outbreak of war to revolt emerged and there was no one to organised armed police from under the system of British rule. Therefore, BIA temporary administration members suppressed the bandits and collected the weapons that were being held without regulation.

As Kayin deserters were taking refuge in the Kayin villages in the delta with full ammunition, a head on problem arose with BIA the temporary administration members. Prior to the arrival of the BIA and Japanese Army units, Bo Thein Swe, Ko Maung Maung (who took the name Bo Aung), Ko Ba San (who took the name Bo Win) and Myaung Mya town Thakin members took control of Myaung Mya town. After that they organised the Burma Independence Army and the people in Myin Kaseit village. And they proclaimed the rule of the BIA military over Myaung Mya and Myin Kaseit village. [And they] conducted the suppression of thieves and brigands, and the collection of weapons from the English era village heads. At that time English government officials from Pathein town handed over the town to monks and Kayin - Myanmar ethnic peoples and fled.

While Bo Thein Swe's people were marching down to take control of Pathein they received news that there were weapons amongst the Kayin deserters who arrived at a Shan village and Saw Ba U Gyi and Hsa San C. Po were the leaders of the Kayin. Therefore, Bo Thein Swe asked Bo Aung for military assistance from Myaung Mya. Bo Win went up to BIA headquarters in Yangon and requested military assistance. BIA headquarters supplied the BIA soldiers who were in Wakayma with full ammunition and a ship.

At about the end of February 1942, BIA soldiers conquered Pathein. When the BIA leaders asked the Kayin leaders to submit their weapons San C. Po's people replied in writing for the BIA units to leave Pathein. Bo Thein Swe and Bo Win invited Kayin leaders like Saw Ba U Gyin and Charlie Staw and explained about the conquest in regards to General Aung San's order and took out and shows the Japan Army's request.