Battle of Kohima
The Japanese plan to invade India, codenamed U-Go, began as a spoiling attack against the British IV Corps at Imphal in Manipur. Lieutenant General Renya Mutaguchi enlarged this plan to invade India itself and perhaps even overthrow the British Raj. If the Japanese were able to gain a strong foothold in India they would demonstrate the weakness of the British Empire. This move would also provide encouragement to Indian nationalists in their decolonization efforts. Moreover, occupation of the area around Imphal would severely impact American efforts to supply Chiang Kai-shek's army in China. The objections of the staffs of various headquarters were eventually overcome. The offensive was approved by Imperial General Headquarters on the 7th of January 1944. Part of the plan involved sending the Japanese 31st Division to capture Kohima and thus cut off Imphal. Mutaguchi wished to exploit the capture of Kohima by pushing the 31st Division on to Dimapur. The 31st Division's commander, Lieutenant General Kōtoku Satō, was unhappy with his role. He had not been involved in the planning of the offensive. He had grave misgivings about its chances. He had already told his staff that they might all starve to death.
The siege began on the 6th of April when the garrison was continually shelled and mortared. Elements of the Assam Regiment fought delaying actions against them commencing on the 1st of April. By the night of the 3rd of April, Miyazaki's troops reached the outskirts of the Naga village and began probing Kohima from the south. Stopford's Corps HQ took over responsibility for the front from Ranking on the 3rd of April. The next day, he ordered the 161st Indian Brigade to move forward to Kohima again. Only one battalion arrived before the Japanese cut the road west of the ridge. The garrison numbered about 2,500 men. Some of the heaviest fighting took place at the north end of Kohima Ridge around the Deputy Commissioner's bungalow and tennis court. The tennis court became a no man's land with grenades thrown between trenches. On the night of 17/the 18th of April, the Japanese finally captured the DC's bungalow area. Other Japanese captured Kuki Picquet cutting the garrison in two. The defenders' situation was desperate but the Japanese did not follow up by attacking Garrison Hill as they were exhausted by hunger and by the fighting.
The British 2nd Division had begun to arrive at Dimapur in early April. By the 11th of April, the Fourteenth Army had about the same number of troops in the area as the Japanese. The British 5th Brigade broke through Japanese roadblocks to relieve 161st Brigade in Jotsoma on the 15th of April. The British 6th Brigade took over 161st Brigade's defensive position allowing them to launch an attack towards Kohima on the 18th of April. After a day's heavy fighting, leading troops broke through and started to relieve the Kohima garrison. Under cover of darkness, wounded men numbering 300 were brought out under fire. It took a further 24 hours to fully secure the road between Jotsoma and Kohima. During the 19th of April and into the early hours of the 20th of April, the British 6th Brigade replaced the original garrison. At 06:00 hours on the 20th of April, Colonel Richards handed over command of the area. One battle hardened officer commented that the defenders looked like aged bloodstained scarecrops dropping with fatigue. Miyazaki continued to try to capture Garrison Hill and there was heavy fighting for this position for several more nights.
The aerial resupply of Kohima delivered around 500 tons of supplies per day at its height. At the sieges of both Kohima and Imphal, the Allies relied entirely on resupply from the air by British and American aircraft flying from India until the road from Dimapur was cleared. Due to narrow ridgelines accuracy in dropping air delivered logistics proved to be a considerable problem. As the fighting intensified and the defended area decreased the task became harder and more dangerous. Dakota pilots were forced to fly dangerously low to improve the accuracy of drops. The increasing dominance of Allied airpower helped turn the tide of the war in this theatre. Allied air supply enabled troops to hold out in positions they might otherwise have had to abandon due to shortages of ammunition food and water. Conversely, the Japanese found their own supply situation harder to resolve. The Japanese 31st Division began the operation with only three weeks' supply of food. Once these supplies were exhausted, they existed on meagre captured stocks and what they could forage.
By the middle of May Satō's troops were starving. He considered that Mutaguchi and the HQ of Japanese Fifteenth Army were taking little notice of his situation. They issued several confusing and contradictory orders during April. Because the main attack on Imphal faltered around the middle of April, Mutaguchi wished 31st Division or parts of it to join in the attack on Imphal from the north. On the 25th of May, Satō notified Fifteenth Army HQ that he would withdraw on the 1st of June unless his division received supplies. Finally on the 31st of May, he abandoned Naga Village and other positions north of the road. For a divisional commander to retreat without orders was unheard-of in the Japanese Army. This allowed XXXIII Corps to outflank Miyazaki's position on Aradura Spur. The remainder of the Japanese division retreated painfully south but found very little to eat. Many of the 31st Division were too enfeebled to drag themselves further south than Ukhrul where hospitals had been set up with no medicines medical staff or food. On the 22nd of June leading troops of British 2nd Division met the main body of 5th Indian Infantry Division advancing north from Imphal at Milestone 109.
Three Victoria Crosses were awarded for actions during the Battle of Kohima. Lance Corporal John Pennington Harman single-handedly took out two Japanese machine gun posts during heavy fighting around Detail Hill. He was killed withdrawing from the second attack and was later awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. Captain John Niel Randle served with the 2nd Battalion Royal Norfolk Regiment. Jemadar Abdul Hafiz became the youngest VC recipient from the British Indian Army at 18 years old. He is buried in Imphal Indian War Cemetery. These acts of bravery occurred while the garrison held against overwhelming odds. The terrain reduced to a fly and rat-infested wilderness made every movement dangerous. Half-buried human remains lay everywhere on the slopes. Conditions under which the Japanese troops lived have been described as unspeakable by several sources including author Frank McLynn.
The War Cemetery in Kohima contains 1,420 Allied war dead maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The cemetery lies on the slopes of Garrison Hill in what was once the Deputy Commissioner's tennis court. The epitaph carved on the memorial has become world-famous as the Kohima Epitaph. It reads: When you go home tell them of us and for our sake let them be ashamed if they fall short of the glory of their fathers. The verse is attributed to John Maxwell Edmonds who lived between 1875 and 1958. In 2024 the Nagaland Government unveiled the Kohima Peace Memorial along with Hiroshi Suzuki the Japanese Ambassador to India. The memorial complex also has a museum stalls restaurants and a Japanese kitchen funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency through its Official Development Assistance programme. The museum exhibits contain personal diary excerpts of Japanese and British soldiers documenting their wartime experiences in the area.
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Common questions
When did the Battle of Kohima begin and end?
The siege began on the 6th of April 1944 when the garrison was continually shelled. The battle concluded with British troops meeting advancing forces from Imphal at Milestone 109 on the 22nd of June 1944.
Who commanded the Japanese 31st Division during the Battle of Kohima?
Lieutenant General Kōtoku Satō commanded the Japanese 31st Division during the operation. He expressed grave misgivings about the offensive chances and eventually withdrew his division without orders on the 31st of May 1944.
How many Victoria Crosses were awarded for actions during the Battle of Kohima?
Three Victoria Crosses were awarded for actions during the Battle of Kohima. Lance Corporal John Pennington Harman, Captain John Niel Randle, and Jemadar Abdul Hafiz received these honors for their bravery against overwhelming odds.
Where is the War Cemetery in Kohima located today?
The War Cemetery lies on the slopes of Garrison Hill in what was once the Deputy Commissioner's tennis court. It contains 1,420 Allied war dead maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
What supplies did the Japanese 31st Division have when they began the operation?
The Japanese 31st Division began the operation with only three weeks supply of food. Once these supplies were exhausted, they existed on meagre captured stocks and what they could forage until starvation set in by the middle of May 1944.