Kohima: The Furthest Battle


Book Description

By the end of 1943 the Japanese had occupied most of South-East Asia. On 6 March 1944, the first units of the Japanese 15 Army crossed the inhospitable border of what was then Burma, and invaded India. At the township of Kohima they were met by a small, hastily assembled force of Indian and British troops, later reinforced by 2 Division of Slim's 14 Army, who fought valiantly and forced the Japanese to retreat. Described by Mountbatten as 'the British/Indian Thermopylae', Kohima was a turning point in Japanese fortunes, heralding their continued defeat in battle until their formal surrender on 2 September 1945. Using extensive research in primary sources and many previously unpublished first-hand accounts, Leslie Edwards presents a definitive analysis of this pivotal battle.




Kohima


Book Description

The most comprehensive insight into this major turning point in the Second World War ever written.




Kohima 1944


Book Description

Osprey's Campaign title for the Battle of Kohima during World War II (1939-1945), which saved India from Japanese attacks. In March 1944 the Japanese Army launched Operation U-Go, an attack on Assam in India intended to inspire a rising by the Indian populace against British rule. The Japanese plan would rely on mobility, infiltration and captured supplies to maintain the momentum of the attack. A month earlier the Japanese had launched Operation Ha-Go, which was intended as a feint to draw British attention away from the Imphal area where the brunt of the U-Go attacks would take place. But British forces employed new defensive techniques to counter the Japanese infiltration tactics; forming defensive boxes, supplied by air, they held out against determined Japanese assaults until the Japanese were forced to withdraw, short of supplies. These tactics were again employed on a larger scale when Imphal and Kohima were surrounded during Operation U-Go. Kohima (the 'Stalingrad of the East') was the crucial key point to the successful defence of Imphal, and took place in two stages. From 3 to 16 April the Japanese attempted to capture Kohima Ridge, which dominated the road along which the British and Indian troops centred on the Imphal plain were supplied. As the small garrison held out against fierce and repeatedly desperate attempts by the Japanese 31st Division to destroy them, so the British 2nd Division fought to break through and relieve them. Then for over two months from 18 April, British and Indian troops counter-attacked in an effort to drive the Japanese from the positions they had already captured that blocked the road to Imphal. The battle ended on June 22 when British and Indian troops from Kohima and Imphal met at Milestone 109, thus ending the siege.




Battle Story: Kohima 1944


Book Description

Kohima was the turning point in the Japanese invasion of India, witnessing the end of their attempt to overthrow the British Raj. It was a bitter battle fought in three stages, spanning three months and ending with the siege of Imphal. Losses on both sides were heavy, with the Japanese suffering their greatest land defeat thus far in the war. Against the odds and an enemy who nearly refused to give in, the British Army resisted the Japanese and their victory paved the way for the reconquest of Burma. Battle Story: Kohima explores the historical context of this critical point in the war in Asia, the personalities of the opposing armies and offers a blow-by-blow account of the battle.




We Fought at Kohima


Book Description

The Japanese advance through Thailand, Malaya and Burma appeared unstoppable and the fate of India looked utterly precarious.The garrison of the Kohima outpost numbering some 1500 British and Indian Army soldiers faced over 13,000 fanatical and previously victorious Japanese troops. The following sixteen days marked the turning point of the war in the Far East thanks to men like Raymond Street who fought with legendary courage and tireless persistence.Raymond was a member of the 4th Battalion The Queen's West Kent and as a company runner he was uniquely placed to witness the dreadful and dramatic events as they unfolded. Not only did he miraculously survive but he made a superb record of the battle as fortunes ebbed and flowed. His memories have been transcribed into this first-hand account of one of the most decisive and hardest fought battles of the Second World War. We Fought at Kohima will surely be judged as a fighting man's memoir of the highest quality to rank alongside such legendary works as Men at Arnhem and Quartered Safe Out Here.




Springboard to Victory


Book Description

A clear and compelling account of the brutal battle of Kohima that swung the balance of the Burma Campaign in World War Two. An ideal book for readers of Max Hastings, Anthony Beevor and Jonathan Dimbleby. 'Sieges have been longer but few have been more intense and in none have the defenders deserved greater honour than the garrison of Kohima.' Field Marshal the Viscount Slim 'The valiant defence of Kohima against enormous odds was a fine episode.' Winston Churchill For a fortnight in April 1944 Lieutenant-General Sato threw nearly the whole force of his division towards the Kohima Ridge. Against them stood a tiny force of one thousand five hundred British and Indian troops. How were these Allied forces able to hold back the attack from over ten thousand Japanese soldiers? And what happened over the course of these long and bloody weeks? C. E. Lucas Phillip's book uncovers not only the personal experiences of the men who fought in this battle but also the political, geographical and military position of the Burma campaign, leading up to and following the siege. 'A beau geste story of staggering courage and fortitude - of a scratch force facing and defeating a whole Japanese division in a battle for a narrow strip of mountainous ground barely a mile long. When the Siege of Kohima was raised the gaunt and ragged garrison of 1,500 had suffered 600 casualties... a vivid, thrilling account of a battle that was truly a springboard to victory.' Yorkshire Post 'C. E. Lucas Phillips has a thrilling story to tell, and no one could fail to respond to it.' Punch 'A lucid, exciting account, blow-by-blow, agony by agony; illuminated by shining courage.' Irish Times Springboard to Victory: The Burma Campaign and the Battle for Kohima is a thorough study of one of the most brutal conflicts of the Burma campaign during World War Two. It should be essential reading for anyone interested in history of the war in the Pacific.




Not Ordinary Men


Book Description

Having driven the British and Indian Forces out of Burma in 1942, General Mutaguchi, Commanding the 15th Japanese Army, was obsessed by the conquest of India. In 1944 the British 14th Army, under its commander General Slim, drew back to the Imphal Plain, before Mutaguchis impending offensive. To the north, however, the entire Japanese 31 Division had crossed the Chindwin and, on April 5, arrived at the hill-station and road junction of Kohima, cutting off Imphal except by air, from the supply point at Dimpapur.Kohima was initially manned by only 266 men of the Assam Regiment and a few hundred convalescents and administrative troops. They were joined, on April 5, by 440 men of the Fourth Battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment, straight from the Battle of Arakan.In pouring rain, under continual bombardment, this tiny garrison held the assaults of thirteen thousand Japanese troops in hand-to-hand combat for sixteen days, an action described by Mountbatten as probably one of the greatest battles in history ... in effect the Battle of Burma, naked, unparalleled heroism, the British/Indian Thermopylae.




Battle Story: Kohima 1944


Book Description

The Battle of Kohima was the turning point in the Japanese invasion of India and known as 'the Stalingrad of the East'. It was a bitter battle fought in three stages, spanning three months and ending with the siege of Imphal. Against the odds, the Commonwealth troops conducted a brilliant defence and counter-attack to pave the way for the re-conquest of Burma. If you want to understand what happened and why - read Battle Story.




Kohima 1944


Book Description

The Battle of Kohima was the turning point in the Japanese invasion of India and known as 'the Stalingrad of the East'. It was a bitter battle fought in three stages, spanning three months and ending with the siege of Imphal. Against the odds, the Commonwealth troops conducted a brilliant defence and counter-attack to pave the way for the re-conquest of Burma. If you want to understand what happened and why - read Battle Story.




Life Writing, Representation and Identity


Book Description

This book focuses on varied forms of self-referential storytelling or life writing and its emergence as a democratic and inclusive genre, both globally and in India, and its intersections with history, fiction, memory, truth and identity. The book examines the practice of life writing and its scope for accommodating diverse voices, distinct identities, collaborations and non-hierarchical connections as it gives voice to oral, silenced and marginalized communities. It explores forms like auto/biographical fiction, digital storytelling, graphic memoirs, and testimonies of migration and exile, among others. The eclectic collection of essays in this volume draws attention towards the transformative possibilities of life writing as it engages with issues of resistance, recuperation, re-inscribing individual and collective memories, histories, and promotes an understanding of multicultural others. Focusing on the multiple ways in which the production, circulation, and consumption of life writing has helped to reimagine and redefine individual and collective identities in different cultural and geopolitical contexts, the collection breaks new ground by initiating a cross-cultural perspective in life writing studies. The book aims to encourage critical engagement with a vastly growing body of literature that has seen a publishing and translation boom in contemporary times, both globally and in India. With life writing emerging as a robust area of research, this edited collection provides a much-needed impetus to critically engage with issues of self-representation, memory and identity in recent times. This volume will serve as a significant and rich resource for university students, researchers, and academics of literature, comparative studies, cultural studies, history, indigenous studies and digital and media studies.