Kohima 1944

The battle that saved India

Kohima 1944 cover

Kohima 1944

The battle that saved India

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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.

Table of Contents

The origins of the campaign

Chronology
Opposing commanders
Opposing forces
Opposing plans
The Japanese invasion
The siege of Kohima
The battle of Kohima
Aftermath
The battlefield today

Further reading
Index

Product details

Published Nov 23 2010
Format Paperback
Edition 1st
Extent 96
ISBN 9781846039393
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Illustrations 40 b/w; 43 col
Dimensions 248 x 184 mm
Series Campaign
Short code CAM 229
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Robert Lyman

Robert Lyman is regarded as one of Britain’s most…

Illustrator

Peter Dennis

Peter Dennis was inspired by contemporary magazine…

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