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By summer of 1943, the British forces were beginning to dominate in the skies with Royal Air (RAF) Force aircraft operating out of India. While Japan had no original plans to invade India, Lieutenant General Renya Mutaguchi of the Japanese 15th Army knew that an offensive into India was the only way he could eliminate the aerial threat. Controlling northeastern India would also create a larger buffer zone between India and Burma. Imphal was the state capital of Manipur in northeastern India and was situated amidst a plain where an invading army from the east must march across. Additionally, a Japanese-controlled northeastern India would also cut off "the Hump" as an aerial supply route into China. As such, it was no surprise that British plans to invade Burma used Imphal as a launch point for ground troops, the same place Mutaguchi also targeted. Mutaguchi's excursion into India was originally rejected by his immediate superiors, but what would eventually become Operation U (U-Go) was approved by Southern Expeditionary Army and the Imperial General Head Quarters (IGHQ) in Tokyo.

Mutaguchi planned to pin-down or destroy the forward-deployed Indian troops with Lieutenant General Motoso Yanagida's 33rd Division, then the 33rd Division will be reinforced by Lieutenant General Masafumi Yamauchi's 15th Division to take Imphal. At the same time, Lieutenant General Kotoku Sato's 31st Division was to attack Kohima, a town on a major road into Imphal and a major administrative center of the state of Nagaland and the location of an important airfield at Dimapur. Mutaguchi did not receive support from his field generals for his plans; most of them believe the attack plan was too risky.

The city of Imphal was defended by the Indian IV Corps under the command of Lieutenant General Geoffrey Scoones, who reported to Lieutenant General William Slim. As the Japanese troops attacked, Slim and Scoones attempted to move this troops from their forward positions back into the plains near Imphal, forcing the Japanese to fight with a longer supply line, but Scoones had reacted too late; while the Japanese offensive began by crossing the Chindwin River on 8 Mar, Scoones did not give the order to fall back near Imphal until 13 Mar. As a result, the Indian 17th Division allowed its supply dumps to become captured by the Japanese and become encircled. However, the 214th Regiment of the 17th Division successfully counterattacked at Tuitum Saddle on 18 Mar, allowing the division to recover part of the captured supplies and safely retreated to Imphal on 4 Apr 1944.

The Japanese followed the withdrawing Indian troops closely. As soon as the Indian 17th Division reached Imphal, the attack began. The Japanese 33rd Division attacked from Bishenpur from the south, though that attack was cautious and slow. From Tamu, Major General Tsunoru Yamamoto, commanding units from both the 15th and 33rd Divisions and two brigades of Indian troops attacked Shenam Saddle near Imphal, and was quickly halted by the Indian troops at this easily-defended junction. From the north, the remainder of the 15th Division attacked and first captured a small supply dump at Kangpokpi then captured Nungshigum Hill which overlooked Imphal's main airfield. The initial attack did not go as well as Mutaguchi originally planned, and the possibly prolonged campaign was now threatened by a long supply line through the Burmese jungles. It was exactly what his field generals warned of. To make matters worse particularly for the Japanese 31st Division, the British 23 LRP Brigade had been seriously disrupting Japanese supply operations behind the lines, making even foraging to the east of Kohima nearly impossible.

While the attack on Imphal commenced, a simultaneous attack on the northern town of Kohima also began. Kohima was weakly defended; the only troops present were men of the 161st Brigade, the Assam Regiment, and some of the paramilitary Assam Rifles. On 3 Apr, the 31st Division attacked Kohima Ridge which overlooked the major supply route between Imphal and Kohima. The siege of Kohima began on 6 Apr. Japanese mortar fire rained down on the Indian troops who were ill supplied, especially drinking water. Nevertheless, the Indian troops held, and combat turned into a stalemate.

On 13 Apr, the Indian 5th Division counterattacked at Nungshigum Hill outside of Imphal with support from artillery and M3 Lee tanks. The Japanese had neither anti-tank weapons nor artillery; these heavier guns had been decided against as Mutaguchi planned for a swift campaign, and these guns were simply too bulky to carry through the dense jungle. As a result, the hill was taken back by the Indian troops after dealing heavy casualties on the Japanese.

On 15 Apr, the British 2nd Division which had been in training in southern India arrived at Dimapur near Kohima. The fresh troops relieved the Indian 161st Brigade, who rested for three days before going on a counterattack toward Kohima.

By 1 May 1944, the Indian troops had a firm hold on the line, and their British commander could entertain the notion of a counter offensive, especially with the arrival of the 33rd Brigade of the Indian 7th Division on 4 May. Although the Japanese line was tough to break, the supply situation had become critical. The Japanese divisions had not been receiving adequate supplies, including food, and the soldiers' health were becoming dangerously poor due to malnutrition. The situation took a worse turn on 12 May when the Indian 114th Brigade arrived near Kohima. Under Montagu Stopford's command as XXXIII Corps, British and Indian forces attacked southward from Kohima toward Imphal. The Japanese troops, despite the difficult conditions they were in, fought back fiercely. Nevertheless, the Japanese troops were drove out of the Kohima region by the end of May; with 38 3.7-inch mountain howitzers, 48 25-pound field guns, and 2 5.5-inch medium guns, the Japanese could hardly hold their line for an extended amount of time. The RAF also stepped up their involvement, bombing and strafing Japanese positions, destroying Japanese morale that had already been faltering.

On 25 May, troops near Kohima reported that unless adequate food supplies had been delivered, the troops there could not last past 1 Jun; in fact, General Sato threatened he would disobey direct orders and withdraw if he did not see supplies flowing in. On 31 May, Japanese troops withdrew from Naga village and fell back southward.

The XXXIII Corps was then joined by IV Corps and attacked the Japanese troops further along the Dimapur-Imphal road on 22 Jun near Milestone 109. When the battle at Milestone 109 was won by the British and Indian troops, the siege of Imphal was lifted.

The Japanese 33rd Division, now under command of Lieutenant General Nobuo Tanaka and freshly reinforced by battalions from 53rd and 54th Divisions, continue to assert pressure on the Indian troops despite the recent setbacks. The 33rd Division nearly broke through the line set by the Indian 17th Division at Bishenpur, but in the end the Japanese suffered such a high casualty that the entire offensive was called off on 3 Jul 1944. In fact, by this time, many Japanese units were so unfit for combat due to various reasons that they had already been disobeying orders to press forward. The defeat at Imphal and Kohima represented the largest defeat in Japanese military history. They had suffered over 55,000 casualties with 13,500 killed; the Allies only suffered 17,500 casualties in comparison.

The Allied victory at Imphal and Kohima allowed the RAF to continue assert pressure from the skies on Japanese troops in Burma. "The Hump" into China was also allowed to continue because of the successful defense. The RAF also contributed greatly to the battle directly as RAF aircraft delivered most of the supplies the British and Indian forces needed; the RAF flew 19,000 tons of supplies and 12,000 men into the Kohima-Imphal region and flew out 13,000 casualties and 43,000 non-combatants.

Louis Mountbatten latter described the Allied victory at Imphal and Kohima as "probably one of the greatest battles in history,... in effect the Battle of Burma.... [It was] the British-Indian Thermopylae."

Source: Wikipedia.

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Visitor Submitted Comments

1. Ian Perkins says:
   18 Oct 2007 06:20:13 PM
   
   My father Walter Perkins fought at the battle for Imphal he was a Corporal in the Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He died in 1995 taking with him all the stories that he had experienced. There is some regret that I only was able to get bits of the story out of him over the years ,I do know that he eventually treked the whole length of Burma, helping push the Japanese back, he was a bit reluctant to talk about it all. As I suspect many men were. If you have any information about this regiment and its record in Burma. I would appreciate it
2. Anonymous says:
   22 Mar 2008 11:33:18 AM
   
   My grandfather RQ Jim Plant fought in this battle. He too was reluctant to say anything about his experience. He latter suffered badly in Burma. I used to meet his mates at the WMClub in fulford, and all they would say, "He was a brave man". I regret that now they have all died and I really know nothing. If anyone does know I'd really like to hear from them.
3. vishal soraisam says:
   7 Aug 2008 08:52:20 AM
   
   I am from Imphal.
   My Grand Father also fought in the same battle. We have a war cemetary for those who died in the war
4. matthew wiggins says:
   23 Mar 2009 03:19:33 PM
   
   my grandfather was william morrell who was a sargent in the 17th indian divison does any body remember him
5. Annette Harrison (Nee Venter) says:
   26 Mar 2009 01:29:02 AM
   
   My father flew with the British 216 Squadron and I do not know very much about his War experiences. I am now using his pilot log books for research. Anyone knowing JP Venter (known as Max or Peter) please contact me.
6. TalaveraTom says:
   1 May 2009 10:29:37 AM
   
   It is sad to note that so many individual units have been forgotten in the battle for Imphal and Kohima. A unit i am interested in, The 10th field Regiment Royal Artillery is one of those units, and has very little reference to it in any of the histories of the battle. If anyone can guide me to good sources of information on this regiment, i would be most appreciative. Thanks Tom.
7. fred lamb says:
   24 Jun 2009 12:11:20 AM
   
   My signals unit was stationed west of the fight at Comilla but we heard parts of the story from casualties travelling back to rest camps.I rarely talk about the campaigne and find that no one I meet has ever heard of the 14 Army.and think that the Americans won the War!Well there was the bomb of course I was convalescing in Lebong the day the bomb fell and we knew that we would soon be on the way homeNearly all my Army buddies have passed on and since I am 91 I expect the roll call at any time!Are there any "M" section blokes left out there,a E mail would be welcome Fred Lamb
8. Anonymous says:
   9 Aug 2009 01:25:54 AM
   
   I am trying to locate anybody who had fought in the Impha-Koima twin battles . Would like to know about Imphal battle in some detail .
9. chingtham says:
   18 Aug 2009 02:26:16 AM
   
   I am from Imphal. Battel of Imphal was 14 largest battle during world war II. Many book has been written.you can check on Google.Plus you can find many stuff in many libaries around world.I do collection as much as I can.
10. Khwairakpam G says:
    7 Jan 2010 06:21:40 AM
    
    To be precise, the Japanese troops surrounding the British armies were positioned at a place called Ningthoukhong, which is about 33 km south of Imphal and 7 km north of Moirang (where Subhash Chandra Bose-INA hoisted the first flag). The British bombarded the Japanese with the heaviest artilleries and aircraft and the fiercest battle was fought here. It is believed that all the grasses and trees were grounded to dust and the ants and rats chased away from place, turning a high rainfall area into semi arid desert. At that time the village of Ningthoukhong was inhabited by about 6000 people, but after the WWII only 2400 people returned back to the village. Hardly 200 houses were build and the small stream from which the name Ningthoukhong (Ningthou King KhongStream) came become straighter due to the impact of the WWII. One hearth throbbing incident was that a parent ran away from their homes unable to carry their last daughter, believing that they will return after couple of days, they locked the child inside the houses. The war took more than 4 months and when the parent return home the house was reduced to cinder and the child body was found dried like a Raisins. Till today this place now municipality with a population of 12000 has the remains of WWII tanks carcasses and other heavy artilleries. The nearby lake (Loktak Lake) is believed to be the burial ground of many allied and Japanese aircraft.

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