Ludu U Hla - Wartime Kyipwa Yay

Wartime Kyipwa Yay

During the Japanese Occupation (1942–1945), the Kyipwa Yay continued to come out even though the whole extended family had fled the war to the countryside north of Mandalay. It featured as before cultural essays, literary reviews, and articles on travel, rural development and health education. U Hla and Daw Amar translated into Burmese and published all three best-selling wartime novels of the Japanese soldier writer Hino Ashihei:

1. Soil and Soldiers - Shun hnint sittha (ရွှံ့နှင့်စစ်သား) and
2. Flowers and Soldiers - Paan hnint sittha (ပန်းနှင့်စစ်သား) by U Hla
3. Wheat and Soldiers - Gyon hnint sittha (ဂျုံနှင့်စစ်သား) by Daw Amar who also translated "The Rainbow" (Thettant yaung) by the Polish Communist writer Wanda Wasilewska in 1945.

Both U Hla and Daw Amar became involved in the Resistance movement; they formed the Asha Lu Nge (Asia Youth) in Mandalay, ostensibly to collaborate with the Japanese, and engaged mainly in rescue and sanitation operations, but it became a ready source of young Resistance fighters for Bohmu Ba Htoo in Upper Burma. U Hla was aware that his young members were in contact with both the Communist Party and the People's Revolutionary Party (later the Socialist Party) and tried to protect them by advising the inclusion of an interpreter, who worked for the Japanese, on the executive committee of the organisation as a safeguard against the Kempeitai. When the Allies returned U Hla wasted no time in co-founding the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL) in Mandalay with Rakhine U Kyaw Yin, who parachuted into Burma with the help of the Allies, and Thakin Tun Yin,while Rangoon was still under the Japanese. A popular wartime song titled Ludu sit (People's War) by A-1 Saya Hnya was co-written by U Hla and U Kyaw Yin. U Hla was arrested and interrogated by the British after they had recaptured Mandalay.