THE BATTLE OF KOHIMA

 

While in the military training academy in the early 80s, I had been assigned to Kohima Company, which was to later emerge as the Champion Company at the time of culmination of the course. I had little or no knowledge of military history then and hardly knew what the word Kohima actually meant. Gradually I learned from my batch mates that it was the name of a place which is important from the viewpoint of military history. In any case, there was never enough time at our disposal in the academy to delve further into the subject matter. Also, those were the days when there were just a few landline telephones around, leave alone mobiles and internet, hence the times were much different than the info age of today when virtually all info is available on a single touch, and that too, while on the move.

In 2014 my work took me to the North East and I made a plan to visit Kohima in the North Eastern Nagaland state, which had been on my wish list for decades now. I had been reading about the place, especially about the World War II Cemetery. My desire to go visit the place grew stronger by the day and ultimately I set out from Guwahati on 10 May 2015 and made my first halt in Dimapur, a town in Nagaland, which I would remember more for shabby state of roads within the city than any other reason. Kohima lies 75 km South East of Dimapur and the NH 39 leaves plains of Dimapur soon after you exit the city and takes a serpentine shape into the hills of Kohima, passing through lush green jungles.

WW II Cemetery lies on a small hill, called Garrison Hill, which slopes down towards the city entrance. If you look to your right through your car window, as you enter the city, you would a sand coloured plaque mounted on a memorial to the men of the British 2^nd Division, asking the visitor:

“When you go home,

Tell them of us and say,

For your tomorrow,

We gave our today.”

I was moved and could not wait to visit the Cemetery but by the time I rolled into the city, the darkness had fallen. In the east, day closes rather soon. The next day I visited the site, spending about four hours inside the Cemetery which is maintained so well by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, London. Here is a brief on the Battle of Kohima for the reader.

In early 1942 Japanese Forces swept through South East Asia, reaching the border between Burma and India. While the Japanese consolidated their positions, a new British Indian 14 Army was formed to defend India’s Eastern Frontier. The Allies were preparing to take the offensive themselves in early 1944. The Indian XV Corps was advancing in the coastal Arakan Province, while the British IV Corps had pushed two Indian infantry divisions almost to the Chindwin River at Tamu and Tiddim (both small towns in Burma). These two divisions were widely separated and vulnerable to being isolated.

The Japanese planned to pre-empt them: a division from the 28 Army would launch a diversionary attack in the Arakan, in the first week of Feb. This would attract Allied reserves from Assam, a large province in the plains of North East India, and also create the impression that the Japanese intended to attack the Bengal Region of India through Chittagong (a town in present day Bangladesh). In the centre, Lt Gen Renya Mutaguchi's 15 Army would launch the main attack into Manipur (a border state in India) in the first week of Mar, aiming to capture towns of Imphal and Kohima, scattering British forces and forestalling any offensive movements against Burma. The success would also ensure Japanese would break into India itself. The die was cast. The operation was code named U Go by the Japanese.

Lt Gen William Slim was the Commander of the 14 Army. Uncle Bill, as he was fondly called by his troops, initially misjudged the Japanese strength and intentions, but soon bounced back and succeeded in retaking Burma. 

The strategic Indian town of Kohima stood between two formidable mountain ranges on the road which connected Imphal with Dimapur, a key supply base. This was the Gateway to the North East India. The Japanese penetrated through seemingly impassable jungles, covering as much as 60 km through virtual hell, led by Lieutenant General Kotoku Sato. The road Kohima-Imphal, a 130 km stretch, was severed on 30 Mar 1944. The first attack on Kohima came shortly after dark on 04 Apr 1944. The town was soon besieged by Japanese and the defenders were pushed back. British 2^nd Division was the backbone of the resistance at Kohima and it contained such regiments as the 1^st Royal Scots, the 1^st Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, the 2^nd Royal Norfolk and the 2^nd Durham Light Infantry. Some of the heaviest fighting took place around the then Deputy Commissioner’s bungalow and his private tennis court, in what became known as the Battle of the Tennis Court. The tennis court is today marked on ground amidst the Cemetery and the silent spur is now the final resting place of 1420 Commonwealth soldiers, most of them British. Over the subsequent weeks, the Commonwealth Forces began to drive the Japanese Forces from Kohima Ridge. The onset of monsoon brought with it disease, and the altitude, punishing terrain and stern Japanese resistance made the battle particularly gruelling. Increasingly isolated and with dwindling supplies, Japanese Forces began to retreat from Kohima at the end of May 1944.

DC’s tennis court today marks an important spot in the history of the Battle of Kohima

Imphal was a critical stronghold during the WW II, located on an important road between Burma and India and served by road, rail and river routes and several airfields. Imphal also witnessed one of the fiercest battles of the WW II. By May 1944, Japanese offensive petered out. CWGC today maintains two War Cemeteries in Imphal, the first one having 1600 graves of mostly British soldiers, and the second, a little distance away, 820 of African and Indian soldiers.

A headstone of one of the thousands soldiers who died far away from their homes

Commonwealth Forces advanced along Kohima-Imphal Road from both directions, meeting at Milestone 109 on 22 Jun 1944. It marked a turning point in the campaign, and was the beginning of the end of Japanese resistance in the region. Of the 85,000 Japanese soldiers who fought here, some 30,000 were killed. Outnumbered 10 to 1, the defenders fought the Japanese hand to hand in a battle that was amongst the most savage in modern warfare.

The severity of these two battles can be gauged from the fact that by the end of fighting, these two places, once green, beautiful villages/semi-urban centres, just turned into barren patches, devoid of any structures, vegetation or life in any form. The green forest carpet having been scraped, tree stumps were all a pair of eyes could see for miles and miles all around.

Pursuing the Japanese through Burma, Commonwealth Forces entered Mandalay in Mar 1945 and captured Rangoon (now Yangon, the capital of Burma) in May 1945, three days after the fall of Berlin.

In Apr 2013, a contest conducted by the National Army Museum in England voted the Battle of Kohima, along with the Battle of Imphal, the Greatest Battle ever fought by the Great Britain. Both these towns are in the North Eastern Region of India, bordering Burma. The terrain is mountainous and thickly forested and hence extremely difficult and unforgiving. In pouring rain, under continual bombardment, the tiny garrison of 706 (initially, including many non combatants and those convalescing) held the assaults of 15,000 Japanese troops in hand to hand combat for 16 days, an action described by Mountbatten as 'probably one of the greatest battles in history ...in effect the Battle of Burma, naked, unparalleled heroism'. Japanese Army that had invaded India on a mission of imperial conquest had suffered the worst defeat in its history. Thousands of men lay dead on a devastated landscape, while tens of thousands more Japanese starved in a catastrophic retreat eastwards. They called the journey back to Burma the ‘Road of Bones’, as friends and comrades committed suicide or dropped dead from hunger along the jungle paths.

Thousands of our servicemen lie in this remote corner of the world, sleeping peacefully, never to wake up again. I feel we need to tell their true story and the sacrifices they made, to the world in general. I have been trying to contact producers/directors in the UK, the US and Japan to make a war movie on the subject matter but haven’t made any headway so far. If a reader can help me in this mission, I will remain indebted.