War & Conflict:- The Battle of Kohima

The battle of Kohima is dubbed one of the bloodiest battles of the second world war, and it would be fair to say that it was the bloodiest battle fought by British soldiers in the war.

In March 1944 in order to stop the allies from refurbishing the Chinese Nationalists Army that was fighting the Japanese in China, and in order to replenish their own dwindling supplies and boost the morale among Japanese troops stationed in Burma, the 15th Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) under the command of Lieutenant-General Renya Mutaguchi, crossed the Indo-Burmese border, to take Imphal, secure Manipur, and from there push on to the rest of India.

The plan was twofold, the bulk of the troops were to push on to Imphal, and encircle the British and Indian soldiers that’d formed a defensive perimeter around the town, while the 31st division of the 15th IJA was to push on to Kohima, and cut the supply route to Imphal. Supplies to Imphal at that stage were being transported by road to Imphal from Dimapur.

The Japanese plan however hit a snag. En route to Kohima, the advance detachment of the 15th IJA realized that there was a group of paratroopers stationed on a hill in Sangshak; two divisions of the 50th Indian Parachute Division that were sent to replace the 49th infantry brigade in Sangshak that was on its way to reinforce the lines in Imphal, and the advance detachment of the IJA hastily decided to take them on, without waiting for the main party to arrive, and what followed was a fierce and bloody battle.

One of the Japanese officers killed on the first day of battle, was carrying vital maps and documents containing plans to encircle Imphal, and to attack Kohima, and the commander of the 50th Indian Parachute Division, Brigadier Hope-Thomson sent the maps and documents off as soon as they were retrieved to the commander of the 14th British Army, Lieutenant-General William Slim.

The units that were stationed in Dimapur at the time were the 1st Assam Regiment, the 3rd Assam Rifles, and various other smaller detachments.

Troops from the 31st IJA were spotted on the 1st of April, and as soon as they were spotted, the Assam Rifles moved to intercept, to try and delay them, but it soon became evident that they’d be overrun and the Assam Rifles were ordered to withdraw. By the 3rd of April 1944 the twelve thousand men from the 31st division had reached Kohima and Japanese troops started probing British and Indian defensive lines.

On the 4th of April two regiments from the 161st Indian Brigade reached Kohima to help bolster its defenses.  All in all, they numbered 2,500 men in total, and approximately 1,000 of the men were non-combatants.

The attack on Kohima began in earnest on the 6th of April, and the British and Indian troops in Kohima were subjected to repeated artillery fire. While the troops from the 31st IJA were under orders to travel light, without much support artillery, they managed to retrieve what was left behind from the battle of Sangshak, and take hold of the arms and ammunitions from the depots that were abandoned, and used the artillery to their advantage in Kohima.

On the 15th of April, the British 5th Brigade of the 2nd Division broke through Japanese lines to relieve the 161st Indian Infantry Brigade that had been bogged down in Jotsoma, some 2 miles away from the main body, and allowed them to push on to Kohima.

Some of the heaviest fighting took place at Kohima Ridge, and the battle that ensued was nothing short of savage. Both sides were running short of ammunition, and a lot of the fighting was done hand to hand.

On the 18th of April, the Japanese finally captured the district commissioner’s bungalow. The area around the bungalow and the tennis court witnessed some of the heaviest fighting.

On the same day soldiers from the 1st Punjab Regiment broke through the Japanese lines and pushed on to Kohima, and on the 20th of April the British 6th Brigade replaced the garrison in Kohima. What they witnessed took even the battle hardy men of the 6th Brigade by surprise, i.e. bloodied soldiers fighting with knives and bayonets with rotting and decomposing bodies all around them.

On the 26th and the 27th of April, a British attack recaptured the clubhouse above the Deputy Commissioner’s bungalow.

The British started pounding the Japanese lines with long range artillery, and repeated air-raids, forcing the Japanese troops to reorganize their defenses. The Japanese however, dug into well concealed bunkers and hence despite the intensity of the attacks the immediate outcome was not what the British and Indians had hoped for.

On the 4th of May, the British 5th Brigade secured a foothold in the outskirts of Naga village but lost it to a counter-attack. The monsoon had set in by then and this made fighting all the more difficult. On the 4th of May, the British also advanced towards GPT ridge but were unable to capture it.   

On the 12th of May the 114th Indian Infantry Brigade arrived and directed its efforts at recapturing Naga village.

On the 13th of May, after several unsuccessful attempts the British Army managed to clear the path for British tanks to move forward, and on the same day more reinforcements arrived.

On the 16th of May another attack was launched but the Japanese continued to defend Naga village and Aradura Spur tenaciously, and an attack on Naga Hill on the night of the 24th and the 25th of May gained no ground.

Further attacks at both ends of Aradura Spur on the night of the 28th and the early hours of the 29th of May was repulsed. 

By then the Japanese had run short of food and supplies, and they had to survive on what they could salvage from the battlefields, and what they could gather from local villagers. By the 25th of May it became clear that the Japanese troops had no option but to withdraw.

Without food and medical supplies, it was inevitable that they would succumb and on the 31st of May the Japanese started their withdrawal.

Copyright © 2025 by Kathiresan Ramachanderam