261670_kohima_cover 1/4/04 11:29 Page 1 SECOND WORLD WAR TH ‘A nation that forgets its past has no future’. These words by Winston Churchill could not be more apt to describe the purpose of this series of booklets, of which this is the first. 60ANNIVERSARY These booklets commemorate various Second World War actions, and aim not only to remember and commemorate those who fought and died, but also to remind future generations of The Battle of Kohima, the debt they owe to their forebears, and the inspiration that North East India can be derived from their stories. 4 April – 22 June 1944 They will help those growing up now to be aware of the veterans’ sacrifices, and of the contributions they made to our security and to the way of life we enjoy today. ‘The turning point in the war with Japan’ 261670_kohima_cover 1/4/04 11:30 Page 3 The Ridge Kohima showing the main landmarks and the location of principal regiments. KOHIMA, THE CAPITAL OF NAGALAND IN THE NORTH EAST OF INDIA PAKISTAN DELHI BURMA INDIA KOLKATA Acknowledgements This booklet has been produced with the help of: BHUTAN Commonwealth War Graves Commission Confederation of British Service and Ex-Service Organisations (COBSEO) INDIA Department for Education and Skills Dimapur• Imperial War Museum •Kohima Major G Graham MC & Bar •Imphal New Opportunities Fund BANGLADESH Royal Military Academy Sandhurst BURMA The Burma Star Association DHAKA• KEY FACTS The Royal British Legion Remembrance Travel • The Victoria Cross and George Cross Association KOLKATA Kohima is: Veterans Agency • 5000 feet above sea level • 40 miles from Dimapur Photography All photography reproduced with the permission of the Imperial War Museum, Commonwealth War Graves • 80 miles from Imphal Commission and HMSO. © Crown copyright 2004. Designed and produced by COI Communications, April 2004, 261670 261670_Kohima_pp01_18 4/1/04 10:32 PM Page 1 THE BATTLE OF KOHIMA | 1 Foreword by the Under Secretary of State for Defence and Minister for Veterans, Ivor Caplin MP ‘A nation that forgets its past has no future.’ These words by Winston Churchill could not be more apt to describe the purpose of this series of booklets, of which this is the first. As Minister for Veterans I believe that we should continue to remember the bravery of our Armed Forces during the Second World War; without their efforts and sacrifices, our lives today would be very different. These booklets will commemorate various Second World War actions, and aim not only to remember and commemorate those who fought and died, but also to inform future generations of the sacrifices made by those who fought. The inspiration that can be derived from their stories will be invaluable for their future. I want to help those growing up now to be aware of the veterans’ sacrifices, and of the important contributions they made to our security and to the way of life we enjoy today. Each booklet is intended to be linked with a specific commemorative event. In April 2004, veterans of Kohima, along with relations of soldiers who died there, will be travelling to North India with Remembrance Travel for a two-week pilgrimage of the region. I hope that this series will have relevance beyond these events, as well as serve as a memento of the 60th anniversary commemorations. It has been very difficult to select specific campaigns for these booklets, and for this first booklet we have chosen Kohima to represent the war in Burma. This is in no way intended to diminish the importance of the other battles fought in that theatre. This is a tribute to all who served there, and I hope that the series will return to this theatre of the war with an issue on the Fourteenth Army and the liberation of Burma. It is hard for us to understand the horrors of these battles. In a message for issue ‘to all ranks on the Manipur road’, Earl Mountbatten wrote after the battle of Kohima that ‘only those who have seen the horrific nature of the country under these conditions will be able to appreciate your achievements’. This sums up a great truth about the battle of Kohima, and emphasises the magnitude of the victory bought at great cost by the combined British and Indian force of the 2nd British Division, the 161st Indian Brigade (which included the 4th Royal West Kents), and the 33rd Indian Brigade. Though its importance was not fully realised at the time, Kohima was a turning point in the war against Japan. This booklet will, I hope, go some way to helping us to understand, and to remember, those who stopped the Japanese advance into Northern India. 261670_Kohima_pp01_18 4/1/04 10:32 PM Page 2 2 | THE BATTLE OF KOHIMA The Background to the Battle of Kohima Kohima, a hill town in North-East India (Assam), the village from three different angles. The 5000 feet above sea level in the middle of the Japanese operation, ‘U-Go’, began in mid- Naga Hills, was from April to June 1944 the March 1944; by the 22nd elements of the location of one of the most bitterly fought battles British IV Corps (17th, 20th and 23rd Indian of the Second World War. Over the course of Divisions) based in and around Imphal, were 18 months, the British and Indian Fourteenth engaging the first of the Japanese troops. Army, under the command of General William Slim, had been building up logistical bases at General Slim understood that a major Japanese Dimapur and Imphal for an eventual offensive offensive was under way. With most of IV Corps into Burma. The Japanese Fifteenth Army, under tied up in Imphal and the Imphal–Kohima road the command of Lt General Renya Mutagachi, cut, he knew that Kohima would need to be received orders in early 1944 to put a stop to reinforced. British military intelligence did not the British preparations in Assam. The fighting in initially realise the threat to Kohima. It was and around Kohima in the spring of 1944 was assumed that no more than a few battalions part of a larger Japanese offensive, known as would be able to traverse the high ridge system ‘U-Go’, in which three Japanese divisions, the that existed between the Chindwin River and 15th, 31st and 33rd, attempted to destroy the Kohima. Before long, however, reports British/Indian forces at Imphal, Naga Hills confirmed that an entire Japanese division was and Kohima. The Japanese, however, were on the move to Kohima. unaware that the British and Indian troops based in Assam in 1944, unlike their In mid-March, the only troops stationed in the predecessors in 1942, were properly trained Kohima area were a few units of Assam Rifles, for the coming battles. 1st Assam Regiment and Line of Communications troops. The 1st Assam Regiment, which was Kohima was an important hill station on the stationed east of Kohima, was forced to only road that led from the major British/Indian withdraw before the Japanese advance after supply depot at Dimapur to Imphal. It was heavy fighting. Realising the state of affairs, Slim nearly 40 miles from Dimapur, and 80 miles acted to move the 5th (and later 7th) Indian from Imphal. The Japanese plan was for the Divisions by air to reinforce both Imphal and 31st Division to split into three columns that Kohima. Both of these units had just completed would cut the Kohima–Imphal Road and envelop an excellent defence and counter-offensive Kohima battlefield showing Jail Hill and DIS Ridge 261670_Kohima_pp01_18 4/1/04 10:32 PM Page 3 THE BATTLE OF KOHIMA | 3 campaign in the Arakan region of Burma, and the clearance of the Japanese 31st Division against the Japanese Operation ‘Ha-Go’. Slim from the area, followed by the opening of the also activated XXXIII Corps; the 2nd British Kohima–Imphal road, from mid-April until Division, 268th Indian Brigade and the 23rd 22 June. This second stage occurred over Infantry Brigade (Chindits) were all earmarked the course of two months and caused more to relieve the garrison at Kohima and open the casualties for both armies. road to Imphal. This battle was ultimately to prove to be the The battle-hardened and well-trained 161st turning point of the Burma Campaign. Earl Indian Brigade, 5th Indian Division was flown to Mountbatten described it as ‘probably one the Dimapur area in late March. The brigade of the greatest battles in history…in effect the moved down the road towards Kohima and by Battle of Burma… naked unparalleled early April was creating defensive positions in heroism…the British/Indian Thermopylae’. and around the village. Defending the area presented significant problems; the key feature, Garrison Hill, and a long wooded spur on a Kohima Ridge and the Defended Localities high ridge west of the village, were the scene of perhaps the bitterest fighting of the whole Burma campaign. The small area of terrain provided by this ridge and the surrounding area permitted the deployment of only one battalion, the 4th Royal West Kent Regiment. The rest of the 161st Indian Brigade – the 1/1st Punjab Regiment, the 4/7th Rajput Regiment and the brigade’s artillery – were placed two miles west of Kohima, in Jotsoma. Over the course of the battle, units from Jotsoma were sent forward to reinforce areas covered by the 4th Royal West Kents. The defenders of the Kohima area, the 161st Indian Brigade, Assam Rifles and 1st Assam Regiment, contained the Japanese advance in the region and forced them into a battle of attrition. The battle included fierce hand-to-hand combat, especially in the garden of the Deputy Commissioner’s (representative of the Government of India, Indian Civil Service) bungalow and around the tennis court.