The Battles of Imphal & Kohima - Part 2

50 mi to the northeast of the Indian city of Infal, the small Naga land village of Kerasam, is a scene of unimaginable carnage. On the afternoon of the 30th of March, 1944, over 1,000 troops of the 138th Regiment, the vanguard of the 31st Division, are attempting to break into Kerosop, which is defended by 120 men of a company, First Assam Regiment, led by Captain John Young. The outnumbered Asams have stubbornly held their ground for the past 3 days against increasingly desperate enemy assaults. One of a company's officers will later recall it was felt that the attack was coming from all sides. The enemy was charging, shouting and firing as they charged. The double row of barbed wire around the village is choked with the bodies of Japanese soldiers who have launched attack after attack on the Asams. Captain Young leads the defense of Kerous from the front, encouraging his men to stand their ground. When the battle reaches its climax and the Asams are on the verge of defeat, Young stands alongside his men and defiantly shouts, "I won't go. I won't go." His exaltations rally a company, which stiffens its resolve to hold the enemy. As daylight begins to fade, the latest Japanese attack falters and the enemy retreats down the hill surrounding the village, leaving dozens of corpses strewn around the Asam's firing positions. Yet, Young has observed an entire fresh Japanese battalion arriving at the front throughout the day and knows that his men cannot withstand another determined assault. He gathers his officers and NCOs's and informs them that they will withdraw to the town of Kohima, 27 mi to the west. However, he then tells them that he will stay behind to look after the wounded. The retreating Asams observe Young stacking grenades and submachine gun magazines in his command bunker in preparation for the final enemy attack. The Japanese assault comes at dawn on the 31st of March and Young continues to resist alone from his bunker. He is eventually killed where he stands and Carasong falls to the enemy. The Japanese are so impressed by Young's courage that he is buried with full military honors. And back in the UK, he is nominated for the Victoria Cross. 2 days later, 56 of the 120 men of a company which defended Carason enter Kohima with the enemy hot on their heels. Two weeks earlier, the bulk of the Japanese 15th Army under the command of General Rena Mutaguchi launched Operation Yugo, an ambitious invasion of northeastern India which has the potential to turn the tide of the war in this theater. General Bills Slim, commander of the British 14th Army, knew from signals intercepts that an enemy offensive was imminent and made careful preparations to repel Mitiguchi's attack. However, Slim along with four core commander General Jeffrey Scoons misjudged the timing and direction of the enemy assault. When the first phase of operation Yugo began on the 8th of March, the Allied lines were thrown into disarray and the 17th Indian Division was cut off by the Japanese 33rd Division. But the 17th Indian Division fights its way north up the Tidim Road, breaking the encirclement and assuming defensive positions to the south of the key city of Infal. When the main offensive began on the 15th of March, the 20th Indian division in the central part of the front also successfully halted the Japanese 15th division and a strong combined arms unit designated as Yamamoto force. However, the key battleground is to the north of Infal where the Japanese 31st division's assault towards Kohima will make or break Mutaguchi's offensive. The Allies have rushed reserve units from the area to the south to reinforce the 17th Indian Division, leaving only the under strength 50th Indian Parachute Brigade to oppose the 20,000 men of the Japanese 31st Division under the command of General Sato. Despite being outnumbered, the 50th Indian Parachute Brigade make a valiant stand at the village of Shang Shack, 30 mi to the northeast of Infal, holding up the enemy advance for over a week. On the 26th of March, the brigade is finally forced from its position, opening the door to Kohima for the Japanese. If Kohima is lost, the line of communications from Infal to the allies main supply base at Dimapur will be cut. Once Mutaguchi has achieved this, he intends on next capturing Dimapur, which could prove catastrophic to the Allied war effort in India and southwest China. Holding Kohima immediately becomes priority for the 14th Army, especially since the Japanese offensive is already beginning to show signs of strain by the end of March. Most of the men in the Japanese 15th Army have only packed limited rations, and that supply has already run out in many units. The Japanese had relied on capturing British military supplies, nicknamed Churchill Supplies, for this offensive. This is Robert Lyman, a retired British Army officer, historian, and author of Japan's Last Bid for Victory: The Invasion of India 1944 and Kohima 1944, The Battle That Saved India. He is the co-host along with Jack Bowser of the Forgotten War podcast about the Burma campaign of the Second World War. A fundamental feature of Mutaguchi's plan for 1944 for operation Ugo were the use of Churchill supplies. It's very interesting in the number of Japanese veterans accounts that we have. They all talk about their reliance on Churchill supplies. So much so one Japanese soldier Watanabi Ma who got to Kahima on about the 8th of April had already run out of food by the time he got to Kahima right at the start of the battle. And he was angry because he looked around for food and realized that the British and Indians not only had destroyed it or they had either destroyed it or removed it and there was no food outside of what they could take from poor Nagara villages. Naga villages being subsistent farmers didn't have much food of their own. So that was the first and most egregious problem. Following the fall of Karasong, Naga villagers who survived the battle are a gasast at the sight of Japanese soldiers stuffing their faces with animal feed. A sign of how famished the frontline troops have become. Prior to the offensive, Mutiguchi proposed taking herds of buffalo and cattle along with the advancing infantry to act as rations on the move. However, these animals fare poorly in the unforgiving terrain of northeast India and most die miles from the front line from lack of forage. It is imperative that Infal and Kohima be taken quickly or else the Japanese 15th Army will quite literally starve in the jungles of India. To blunt the enemy advance, General Slim is reinforcing the divisions defending Infal and Dimapur with the largest airlift yet attempted in military history. 12,000 men of the fifth Indian division are being flown to this area of the front from the Arachan region of Burma. Most of the fifth Indian division is bound for Infall where the 17th, 20th and 23rd Indian divisions along with the 254th tank brigade have formed an all round defense on the high ground surrounding the critical town and its six airfields. The battle shifts 30 mi to the southeast of Infal where the Japanese 15th division and Yamamoto force begin their assault on the imposing hills of the Shaam Saddle. The Shaam Saddle is the high ground overlooking the Infal Tamu road and the Japanese forces must take this position to open the door to Infal. On the 26th of March, a detachment from Yamamoto force launches an assault on Nippon Hill, the highest peak on the saddle at 4,900 ft above sea level. >> So they are jungle covered hills. They're not just hills, they're precipitous mountains. They are rocky, very hard to dig. And there are often slopes of 90 to 100%. It's really, really hard to explain until you get there and you look at a cliff covered in jungle. You think, "Well, that's what I have to assault up." You have no sense from a map of how complicated and difficult this actually is from a soldiering perspective. >> The defending 80th Indian Brigade from the 20th Indian Division is forced off the hill, which presents a major problem to the rest of the Allied forces on the saddle. Now the Japanese can call down artillery and mortar fire on the rest of the Allied positions either side of the Infal Tamu road which runs from the northwest towards Infal to the southeast towards Tamu. However, an attempt by Yamamoto force to storm the nearby Cypress Hill is defeated and Allied reinforcements are gathered to retake Nippon Hill before the Japanese can dig in. The first Devonshire regiment, the 9th 12th Frontier Force Regiment, and the third first Girka rifles prepare for a long and vicious battle for the Shaam Saddle. On the 28th of March, despite being cut off at the beginning of the enemy offensive, the 17th Indian Division with support from the 23rd breaks through the Japanese roadblocks on the Tiden Road to the south of Infal. By the following week, the 17th division will go into a reserve role while the 49th and 32nd Indian Brigades from the 23rd division set up a strong defensive position around the village of Bishanpool around 20 mi southwest of Infal. Despite this success on the Tidim road, the crisis to the north of Infal deepens on the 29th of March when men of the Japanese 31st Infantry Division cut the Infal Kohima Road. Slim and Sons had assumed that the enemy would only be able to traverse the near impossible terrain north of Infal with a regiment of men at most. Now both men realize an entire Japanese division is heading right for Kohima and Dimapur. Slim will later recall the dire situation after the war, writing, "I knew that all depended on the steadfastness of the troops already meeting the first impetus of the attack. If they could hold until help arrived, all would be well. If not, we were near disaster." Command of the Coheima sector of the front is placed in the hands of General Montigue Stopford. Stockford and Slim initially believe the Japanese will move immediately on Dimapur given that it is the critical supply base to the entire region while leaving a detachment to isolate Kohima. However, it soon becomes clear that the Japanese 31st division's three main columns are converging on Kohima where the battered Asam regiment and a handful of platoon from the third Naga Hills Battalion of the paramilitary Asam rifles are falling back towards the town. The only unit which can provide immediate support is the 161st Indian Brigade which has just arrived in Dimapur via the Arachan airlift. The brigade is ordered to move to Kohima as quickly as possible and defend the town. Stoford also prepares to move General John Grover's British second infantry division from Dimapur to Kohima once it is ready for action. The crisis in the north is not just confined to Kohima. While the Japanese 31st division is marching through Nagaland towards Kohima, the forward elements of the Japanese 51st Infantry Regiment of the Japanese 15th Division advances unopposed all the way to Napa Ridge on the 4th of April. This is less than 10 mi to the northeast from the center of Infal. At the same time, the Japanese 60th regiment is moving down the Infal Kohima road towards the 221 advanced Ordinance depot, one mile north of the village of Kangla Tongbi, which is 11 mi north of Infal. This supply dump is the largest in the entire area and must be denied to the Japanese in order for Slim strategy of outlasting the enemy to work. The depot is defended by troops of a reinforcement camp along with various other administrative and support personnel who form a defensive box around the area known as Lion Box. This is Jack Bowser, historian and author of Thunderrun Metcala 1945 and Forgotten Armor Tank Warfare in Burma. He is the other co-host along with Rob Lyman of the Forgotten War podcast about the Burma campaign of the Second World War. >> Up on the northern part of the Infile plane is you have a couple of the supply boxes. Basically, the northern part of the plan is where most of the major airfields are that are bringing all the supplies forward to Infile. Initially, it was a way of bringing stuff forward to get all the supplies ready for an invasion of Burma. But the Japanese invasion of India has kind of put paid to that. But that means they have this supply infrastructure already built at Infal when the Japanese arrive. And so these couple of boxes that are really supply dumps with buildings near the airfields, they become major fighting points. A big part of the Japanese invasion is basically to capture these supply points. So they don't have to rely on supplies coming over the mountains coming from Burma. The series of these boxes. So there's oyster box, there's lion box. And a lion box being near a village called Kanglatongi that basically becomes the focal point of one of these fights. It also happens to be built on the road from Kahima to Infal. So this road will become vital in reopening the road between these two places because the Japanese have occupied big chunk of that road. >> The Japanese 60th regiment launches an attack on Lion Box on the 4th of April, but the rear echelon men prevent the enemy from seizing the supply depot. Realizing the dangerous situation, Skoons orders the 9inth Indian Brigade 15 mi north towards Lion Box to relieve the defenders and evacuate the critical supply depot before it falls into enemy hands. However, this order sends troops away from Infal as the Japanese 51st Regiment now begins its advance on the key high ground known as Numigum Ridge, located roughly 6 mi northwest of Infal. If the ridge falls, the enemy will be just 4 miles from the nearby Kangler airfield where crucial supplies are being delivered and can control the northern edge of the Infal plane. The battalion of the ninth JS regiment is hurriedly sent towards a steep hill just to the west of Nigan Ridge to plug the gap in the Allied lines and by time for more units to arrive. Time is of the essence all across the northern front of operation Yugo as allied units rush towards threatened sectors. If you climb up Nigum today, which you can do, you know, you just feel as though you can throw a rock down on Infalain, the main airfield, which was sustaining the siege in the infoul pocket. >> It's incredibly important that they keep the Japanese as far away as possible. Now, Nunigum is about 6 or seven miles northnortheast of it. And what the Japanese want to do is they want to occupy Nugam to then use that as the beginning point to then drop down into the valley and clear the valley from the north or at the very least dominate that airfield so that it cuts off the British and Indian troops from their supplies that are flying in every single day particularly to that airfield cuz it's the largest. >> Nowhere is the situation more desperate than at Coima. Chaos reigns as the garrison commander, Colonel Hugh Richards, is feverously preparing a scratch force of men from various units to meet an entire division of Japanese infantry. Richards is beused by his orders, instructing him to deny Kohima as long as possible without being destroyed yourself. On the 3rd of April, 260 exhausted men of the first Asam arrive in Kohima after losing 140 troops while delaying the enemy advance at the villages of Karasam and Jas army 26 mi to the east. Adding to the chaos is the recall of the 161st brigade from Kohima back to Dimapore, then back to Kohima after confused reports about where the Japanese columns are heading. Lieutenant Tom Hog of the fourth battalion, Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment, will later recall that the situation, smacked of confusion in high places. Kohima Ridge, around a mile long and 400 yd wide, overlooks the Infal Dimapur Road, which supplies the 14th Army in Manipur. Kohima Ridge is the location of many British colonial buildings used for administration of the local area. Many of these buildings will become defining locations of the coming battle. >> A tennis court built for the deputy commissioner of the hills in Kahima. And from 1935, the man's name was Charles Psey. So he had a bungalow on a ridge around which the road to Kahima looped. So if you come up from Dimapur, 46 mi from the valley, you come up, the road loops around Kahima Ridge. Kahima Ridge climbs up into a hill. The lower parts are called Summerhouse Hill and the top of it is called Garrison Hill. and the southernmost and the highest most reaches of the hill. There are a couple of depots, daily issue stalls and another area called FSD where soldiers and units could come and get supplies during the day. This is a peace time of course and on summer house hill where the current of wargra cemetery is located was the deputy commissioner's bungalow. >> There is also a general hospital perched at top the ridge line. The highest point, Garrison Hill, sits nearly 5,000 ft above sea level. If the rest of the ridge is overrun, this is where Colonel Richards will make his last stand. Defensive preparations on Kohima Ridge are still underway when the vanguard of the Japanese 31st Infantry Group, one of the columns of the Japanese 31st Division, reaches the southern outskirts of the Allied perimeter and begins probing attacks at 400 p.m. on the 3rd of April. Luckily for Richards and the ad hoc unit digging in on Kohima Ridge, the first main enemy assault is against the Naga village 2 mi east on the 4th of April. From his command post, Richards watches as the enemy sweeps into the village and easily dispatches the handful of sentries. Another probing attack is made against the mixed units defending generalpurpose transport or GPT ridge on the southern shoulder of Kohima Ridge. An entire company of around 160 inexperienced men breaks and flees the battlefield, forcing Richards to commit his reserve early. Although the line holds, the situation already looks hopeless as more Japanese troops pour into the area and prepare to cut the only road out of Kohima, leading to Dimma. At the end of the 4th of April, a Japanese war correspondent sends a triumphant message back to General Mitiguchi exclaiming, "Kohima has fallen." While premature, it looks certain that the Japanese 31st Infantry Division will soon be on its way to Dimma unless Colonel Richards receives reinforcements. Heavy fighting continues across the front on the 5th of April. 50 mi to the south of Cohima, units of the 9inth Indian brigade along with tanks of the third carabinier relieve Lion box and begin evacuating supplies back to Impal. Furthermore, the 63rd Indian Brigade is now moving towards Nigan Ridge to blunt the enemy attack by the Japanese 51st regiment. at his headquarters in Burma. Mutiguchi is increasingly concerned about operation Yugo. The offensive is now far behind schedule and the Japanese 33rd Infantry Division to the south of Infal has failed to dent 14th Army's positions near the village of Bishanpool. The British and Indian forces, which Mutaguchi dismissed as far inferior to the average Japanese soldier, are fighting more tenaciously than expected, while a constant stream of Allied aircraft, continued to deliver supplies and reinforcements to airfields ringing in far. >> That siege would not have been successfully held by the thousand or so men who were defending it against 15,000 Japanese without air supply. Water came down, ammunition came down, food and medical supplies, and a request could be sent in by radio for a piece of equipment for it to be dropped a couple of hours later. There's one wonderful account by a chap called Lieutenant James Ferry who is the Royal Engineers. He needed a prismatic tractor of some kind and he had a very detailed requirement. He said, "I need this." And it came down on the next airlift of engineer supplies. Unless the Japanese 15th Division and Yamamoto force can break through the high ground of the Nunchigan Ridge and the Shaam Saddle, the offensive will soon run out of steam. Mitsuguchi is increasingly focused on Kohima, which offers the best hope for a Japanese breakthrough. Richards finally receives desperately needed reinforcements on the 5th of April when the fourth battalion, Queen's own Royal West Kent Regiment, and a company of the fourth battalion, 7th Rajput Regiment, arrive on Cohima Ridge. The trucks carrying the West Kent come under enemy artillery fire from the Naga village. As they drive onto the ridge, this forces the men to clamber out and run the rest of the way to their waiting defensive positions. This brings the number of men defending the area to around 1,500. But the road west to Dimapur is cut shortly after their arrival. The scratch team of units defending the ridge is composed of the west Kent Rajputs first Assam, a battalion of the Shia regiment of the Royal Nepalese army, the Burma regiment, and various rear echelon troops forced into frontline roles. The men defending the ridge are soon affectionately referred to as the odds and sods. A further 1,000 Naga civilians and other non-combatants such as Depo Star are also trapped in the pocket, which has ample food and ammunition, but only a limited supply of water. With the road to Dimapur now closed, there is no hope of resupply by land and no way to evacuate casualties. The 161st Indian Brigade arrives on the nearby Joosoma Ridge 2 mi to the west of Kohima, but are themselves cut off by the enemy advance. The situation looks grave, but two of the brigade's infantry battalions dig in to block any further enemy advance towards Dimma. Crucially, eight 3.7in howitzers are cited on Jot Ridge where their gunners have clear fields of fire towards Cohima. Their participation in the coming battle will prove decisive. The siege of Kohima begins early on the morning of the 6th of April with a major Japanese assault on GPT Ridge on the southern end of the pocket. The Japanese 58th regiment attacks the inexperienced men of the Shia regiment holding GPT Ridge, which is where the only water supply on Kohima Ridge is located. Despite inflicting casualties on the enemy, the Shia regiment is pushed off their defensive positions by 10:00 a.m. and withdraw to Jail Hill. The next position up the Cohima Ridge and so named because of the colonial jail at top the summit. An Allied fuel dump on the hill is hit by Japanese artillery, sending acrid black smoke billowing into the sky. The enemy launches their attack. Supported by artillery and mortars firing from the Naga village. The mix of British, Indian, Nepalese, and Burmese troops are thrown into disarray and quickly overrun. The first day of the siege of Kohima is extremely costly for the Allies who have lost 200 men and two key positions on the southern flank of the ridge, including the main water supply. This forces the defenders to rely on rainwater and the water from the allied aerial supply drops. The Japanese have suffered 110 men killed and many more wounded. Lieutenant Shoaku Kamayyama bemmoned the losses, writing in disbelief. 110 men killed just to break through one position. 50 mi to the south, the Allies have finished evacuating Lion Box near Infal and the 221 supply dump, successfully denying its priceless rations to the enemy. >> The Third Caribbean's Sea Squadron are sent in to clear it and push the Japanese back out. And this is something that they then repeat multiple times over the next few days. They intend to go into Katangi Lion Box, engage the Japanese, and almost like a sort of body count in Vietnam. They just want to, you know, just attract the enemy, then withdraw back to their defensible position, but never allow them to really occupy it, especially in daylight. They don't really care if they occupy at nighttime. They're confident that their tanks can go in and push them back out. And this really repeats all the way through April. This back and forth battle just to stop the Japanese really digging in deep, but also not wanting to occupy it because it's a little bit out on a limb where it's just, you know, a little bit too far out of the Infile plane on the road north of Lynch. 7 mi to the east, the Japanese 51st Infantry Regiment attacks towards the Nunchigan Ridge and 40 men capture a 3,000 ft tall feature on the northernmost part of the ridge overlooking the road leading north out of Infal. 20 men from the third battalion of the ninth J regiment are ordered to retake the summit, but in order to do so, they must cross a hillside baron of cover right into the teeth of enemy machine guns. Interestingly enough, the third and ninth jets were part of the fifth Indian division that had just been flown into Imal where they'd been fighting in Arachan and they were well-trained, experienced soldiers, and their job is just to make sure the Japanese didn't go any further down the noning ridge. >> 18-year-old platoon commander Jemare Abdul Hafit assembles 20 men and briefs them as 25 pounder shells fly overhead to soften up the enemy position. According to one account, Hafi tells his men that they are invincible and the enemy will either be killed where they stand or put to flight. At 9:30 a.m., Afi gives the order to advance and the JS charge out of the jungle and up the steep slope of the hill. Quite interesting character Abdul Hai. Now, a jamadar is a rank. It's between a senior NCO and an officer was particular rank in the Indian army. But this is a man who was a natural leader was regarded as such. >> The Japanese infantry holding the summit open fire with machine guns and throw grenades at the JS as they advance up the hill. Hafi is hit just above the knee but continues to run towards the enemy position, urging his men forward. The Jarts let out a battle cry as they approach the summit, throwing grenades and firing their Leenfield rifles as they advance. Af reaches an enemy machine gun in one of the forward trenches. He grabs the barrel and points it away from him as the man next to him bayonets the Japanese gunner. The trench is cleared of enemy soldiers and Hafi takes a Bren gun from a wounded comrade and opens fire to signal the charge to continue. He leaves out of the trench and advances on the Japanese soldiers still holding the summit, killing at least six. He takes out another machine gun position and a mortar pit, forcing the rest of the Japanese infantry to flee. As the enemy infantry retreat down the hill, Hafi is hit in the chest and mortally wounded. Despite his wound, he shouts to his men, "Rorganize, I will give you covering fire." But by the time his platoon regroups on the hill, Afi slumps over dead. With this display of outstanding courage, Jamad Abdul Hafi is the first Muslim soldier in the Second World War awarded the Victoria Cross. The hill that the Jarts have just captured will soon be known as Runaway Hill after Hafi keeps his promise of putting the enemy to flight. One of the extraordinary things and I've been onto this ridge. One of the extraordinary things about this battle which was important psychologically for the Indian army is that at the end of the fighting at which he was given a Victoria cross, the Japanese were seen to be running away. Now this is the 6th of April 1944. This is really at the start of their campaign. Japanese soldiers did not run away and they certainly didn't run away from Indian soldiers but they ran away from Abdul Habis and it was an extraordinary moment. The fighting for Runaway Hill will continue for another 2 days until the JS are finally pushed off the massive by superior numbers. But the sacrifice of Hafi and his men are an inspiration for the rest of the men defending the Nunchigan ridge. In Kohima, the surviving defenders of Jail Hill fall back another 250 yd to the north to take position at top Detail Hill. a small oval feature 160 yards long and 40 yards wide. At 11 p.m. on the 6th of April, the Japanese mortars and artillery begin a heavy barrage targeting the West Kents. However, the barrage is ineffective due to high bluffs on Detail Hill which overlook the infal Demapore Road and prevent the enemy artillery from zeroing in on the West Kents. Private Ray Street, a runner in the West Kents, will later describe what happened at midnight. After the barrage stopped, the infantry attacked. They didn't make a secret of it. The moon was out and we could see them forming up on Jail Hill. The Japs made a hell of a racket, blowing bugles, screaming and shouting, psyching themselves up for the charge. There was no doubt about it. We were scared. Then the training kicked in. We saw them come down Jail Hill and start to cross the road approaching the steep climb to our positions. We held our fire till then. They were about 30 yard away when we let them have it. Lieutenant Hiroshi Yamagami will later recall that it felt as if the enemy fire was coming from everywhere as scores of Japanese infantry are cut down by mortars, machine guns, and rifle fire. The Indian howitzers on Jot Ridge join in and blast gaping holes in the ranks of the attackers. The Japanese infantry suffer horrific losses, but still press home their attack. Groups of men infiltrate around the heavily defended southern slope of the hill and storm up the northern slope, surprising the defenders and overrunning their positions. The enemy now has a tenuous foothold on Detail Hill. As dawn breaks over the battlefield, still the West Kents refused to budge. Sergeant Stanley Tackon has an ideal position and fires his Leenfield rifle from his foxhole as the enemy rounds a nearby corner. A later account will credit him with killing 46 Japanese soldiers on the first two days of the battle alone. The enemy attack reaches the summit of the hill, but soon comes under withering sniper fire. An ammunition dump explodes, further shrouding the area in smoke. By the afternoon of the 7th of April, half of the attacking battalion has been cut down and the Japanese are forced to retreat from Detail Hill. The first two days of combat at Kohima have seen some of the most ferocious fighting yet seen in the Pacific War. There are many more days to come as the Allied garrison is squeezed on all sides by the Japanese 31st Infantry Division. The fierce fighting in Kohima continues as the 31st division tries to shrink the perimeter around Garrison Hill. Lieutenant Colonel John Lavity, commanding officer of the fourth west Kent, holds a meeting with his staff where one of his officers bluntly informs him that the odds of holding out are heavy by any standard. Lavity sarcastically replies, "Thank you, Douglas. That puts the position very clearly. Despite being outnumbered almost 10 to1, the Kohima garrison is forcing the Japanese into bloody attritional fighting when they can least afford it. The enemy is slowly starving in the harsh terrain of Nagarand. On the evening of the 8th of April, the Japanese launch a determined attack on Detail Hill with men rushing forward with assault ladders to finally crest the steep bluffs. The defenders beat them back with grenades and machine gun fire at point blank range. The barrels of their Bren guns glowing redot in the darkness. Another assault in the morning of the 9th of April threatens to overrun the West Kents, especially when five Japanese soldiers occupy a trench less than 50 yards from the summit. Having already captured an enemy machine gun nest the previous day, Lance Corporal Jack Harmon charges the group of Japanese infantry by himself. He reaches the trench and kills all five men before running back towards his own lines. However, just before reaching the friendly lines, he is hit by machine gun fire. Lieutenant Donald tries to dress Harmon's wounds and will later record his last words. Don't bother, sir. I got the lot. It was worth it. He isostumously awarded the Victoria Cross. The West Kents on Detail Hill hold their positions for another 24 hours until they voluntarily withdraw to the more defensible supply hill, having inflicted terrible casualties on the Japanese 58th regiment. Operation Yugo is bogging down across the front as Mutaguchi's grandiose plans for toppling the British Raj are unraveling in the face of unexpectedly tenacious Allied resistance. 30 mi southeast of Impal, Yamamoto force is struggling to force the Allies off the Shaam Saddle while clinging to the highest point in the area, Nippon Hill. On the 11th of April, three companies of the First Devincenture Regiment of the 80th Indian Brigade prepare to launch a counterattack to retake the hill. At 10:10 a.m., a tremendous artillery barrage followed by a mass air strike by the Royal Air Force Huracan fighters turned the top of Nippon Hill into something resembling a plowed field. One RAF pilot reports, "The whole bloody top of the hill is blown away. The first Evans attack Nippon Hill expecting little resistance. Instead, Japanese troops have survived the impressive display of firepower and stubbornly defend their positions. The Devons find that the enemy have tunnneled within the hill, allowing them to outlast the barrage and emerged to inflict casualties on the attackers. The ferocious battle lasts for 2 hours until the Devons capture the summit of the hill and raise the Union flag above the Shannanam saddle. However, it will take until the following morning for the rest of the Japanese defenders to be driven off the hill entirely. Yamamoto force launches several attacks over the next 3 days to recapture Nippon Hill, but the Devons repulse every attempt until they are relieved. On the 16th of April, Yamamoto force recaptures Nippon Hill at great cost. The history of the Devincure regiment notes that the crest was by then a stinking homogeneous pile of soil and human remains under which lur still living Japanese surviving for days without food and water. Bitter fighting engulfs the Nunchigan ridge less than 10 mi from the heart of Infal as the third 9inth Jarts regiment grapples with the Japanese 51st infantry regiment. Despite fanatical resistance from the Jarts, the top of Nunchigan Ridge is captured by the enemy on the 11th of April. This represents an unacceptable threat to four core headquarters and the two airfields north of Infal. General Harold Briggs, commander of the fifth Indian division, prepares to throw the enemy off the Nigum Ridge. The first 17th Dograss Regiment along with the armor of the Third Carabiners assemble for an overwhelming counterattack led by Brigadier Jeffrey Evans. Evans successfully commanded the trapped Allied troops at the battle of the admin box over a month ago where armor played a critical role in the battle despite the seemingly impossible to navigate jungle terrain. He orders the third carabiners to provide close support to the infantry as they climb the massive of Nunchigan ridge. >> So the battle at Nunigan on April the 13th 1944 is one of the great epics really of the battle of Imal. Another hellacious artillery barrage begins as the midm morning mist burns away to reveal a scorching hot day in Manipur. The fifth Indian division's entire artillery contingent pounds the ridge line before giving way to huracans and vengeance dive bombers to further saturate enemy positions. Following the merciless bombardment, the infantry of the first 17th Nograss and Lee tanks of the third carabiners begin the long climb up the Nunchigan ridge. >> You're able to get your tanks up the hillsides and things like that, especially with engineer support, but that engineer support will become much much more important once the monsoon begins because then all of a sudden you're trying to use tanks in and around these mountains. And Infall in particular, you use the plane of Infall so that you can send your tanks like a fire brigade to wherever the biggest threat is coming from. But once you get to that place, it tends to be in and around the mountains, foothills of the mountains, around the plain shore, but ultimately still mountains. >> Despite reservations from several officers who were skeptical the armor could navigate the steep terrain, the Lee tanks cope well with the narrow jungle tracks and follow the infantry step for step. After 90 minutes of climbing the massive, the Nograss and the Third Carabinias reach the summit and finally engage the enemy. The Japanese troops are stunned by the appearance of tanks. In order to make traveling through the difficult terrain of northeast India easier, they left much of their heavy artillery behind in Burma and have little else with which to combat the Le. Colonel Kimio Omoto watches the tanks trundle into battle and rages to one of his subordinates. We're done for. That's it. Despite this, his men resist with determination typical of Japanese soldiers. Some charge the tanks, clutching mines, and throw themselves under the treads in brutal suicide attacks. Casualties amongst the attackers are high. Every officer in the Nograss battalion is killed or wounded along with six Carabinia officers. One of the leaves accidentally drives off the massive, plunging 100 ft to the valley below. Miraculously, all six of the men inside the tank clamber out without any serious injuries. After hours of savage and close quarters fighting, the Japanese are finally pushed off Nunchigan Ridge. By late afternoon, the enemy launches three counterattacks after Darkness Falls, but all are defeated. The Japanese lose an entire battalion destroyed in the fighting. More than 250 Japanese bodies are counted on the Massive. The recapture of the Namigan ridge marks a decisive defeat for the Japanese 15th division in their battle to break the Allied defenses north of Infal. >> Even today, every single year on Nunchugum Day, the modern version of the Third Caribbean is the Scots Dragoon Guard, so Scottish regiment. Now, they have their Nunchugum Day parade where all of the officers are stood down and it's run entirely by the NCOs's in commemoration of what happens. However, General Mutaguchi detaches a regiment from the Japanese 31st Division fighting at Kohima to reinforce the Japanese 15th Division and hopefully regain the initiative. Despite two more major attacks over the next week, the Japanese 15th Division is stopped cold. The Japanese attempts to seize Infal from the north has failed. Any hope of salvaging the Japanese invasion of Kohima now rests with the Japanese 31st Division which is still engaged in bloody fighting at Kohima. The fighting is close quarters with each side battling for every inch of ground as the landscape is churned by shellfire. The Kohima garrison continues to cling to their positions despite the loss of their water supply. One of the few sources of water is to wait until the afternoon monsoons when helmets can be filled with rainwater and distributed to the defenders. >> Water is scarce because everyone lives on top of a mountain. Now, they do that for security reasons in order to get water when you're living on top of a mountain. The Nagas you have to climb down into the valleys and until very recently they didn't have mechanisms to store water where they live. Now they do nowadays with huge water containers for houses and so on, they still have to be topped up by trucks that come up from the valleys. So until and as when the naggers manage to find a way of water capture, water is always going to be a problem. So although the places are washed with water, capturing it and using it is another matter entirely. And that's the fundamental problem that we've got with the Naga Hills. Lots of rain but no means of capturing it. Japanese aircraft drop leaflets encouraging the defenders to surrender, but the garrison's commanders remind their men of the massacre of the 7th Indian division's medical staff at the battle of the admin box. Despite the desperate situation, Allied C47 transports drop supplies to the trapped men, which sustains morale. Following the Japanese advances to the south of Kohima Ridge up to supply hill, the bulk of the fighting now shifts to the north where the focal point is Garrison Hill and the area around the bungalow. Although the bungalow is now in Japanese hands, a company of the west Kent is dug in on a series of terraces above. The most prominent of these terraces overlooks the tennis court which becomes the scene of savage fighting. Beginning on the 8th of April, the Japanese 31st Division launches mass infantry attacks every 30 minutes for over 48 hours. The losses on both sides are immense, but the enemy assaults failed to break through. The attackers dig in on the other side of the tennis court, less than 20 yd away from the forward positions of the West Kens. >> This is fighting that's going on at very, very close range. This is within grenade throwing distance. You know, this is, you know, you've got enemy trenches 10 yards away. It's fighting in day and night in the monsoon. Very large numbers of casualties. >> Historians Alan Millet and Williamston Murray will later write of the battle for the tennis court. Nowhere in the Second World War, even on the Eastern Front, did the combatants fight with more mindless savagery. The Japanese bring up their field artillery and fire into the defenders at point blank range. Major Harry Smith will later recall, "On one occasion, a Japanese artillery gun bombarded my positions. So close that the shell arrived before you heard the report of the gun. Very disconcerting." The >> Japanese actually had a doctrine of the integration of light artillery in their infantry units. They had a 45mm and 75 mm mountain guns and they used to use them not as area weapons but as direct sniping weapons and they were hugely effective in that role. They almost used them like a direct fire mortise. >> The garrison's main dressing station soon comes under direct enemy fire and men waiting to be seen by medics are often killed by Japanese snipers. Medical supplies quickly run low and many wounded soldiers keep grenades or revolvers near them to use as a last resort rather than be taken prisoner. After a week, a small pipefed spring is discovered on the northern slope of Garrison Hill, which provides some relief for the parched Allied soldiers defending Kohima. However, the shrinking perimeter also exposes anyone attempting to get water from the spring to Japanese sniper fire, meaning it can only be accessed at night. The garrison is suffering, but help is on the way. The British Second Infantry Division under the command of General John Grover has assembled at Dimmer and is now moving towards Cohima to relieve Colonel Richard's belleaguered men. On the 11th of April, two companies of the Vanguard 7th Worcester Regiment run into a Japanese roadb block near the village of Zubza, 5 mi to the west of Kohima Ridge. The Worers's first encounter with the enemy does not go well and the attack is halted. Meanwhile, the Japanese attackers keep up the pressure in Kohima, but fail to overrun the garrison. The fourth Seventh Rajput and survivors of the Asam Regiment repel multiple assaults on Supply Hill, inflicting hundreds of casualties on the enemy with support from the friendly artillery on Jot Ridge. However, on the 17th of April, the Ranchuts and Assams are teetering in their defense of the hill. The Japanese 58th Regiment overruns their forward positions during a morning assault before the hillside is bombarded for more than 5 hours by enemy artillery in the evening. Having reached the end of their tether, the Rajputs and Asams withdraw to the next defensive position 200 yd to the north. A small hill known as Kuki PK. There are no more than 40 able-bodied Rajputs, Asams, and West Kent to meet the enemy when the Japanese battalion launches their attack at 2:30 a.m. on the 18th of April. The fighting is pitiles as both sides grapple in the darkness lit by explosions. Private Tom Greedley will later recall a horrifying scene. A Japanese soldier led the way and set off a phosphorus bomb and held it to his chest, laughing as he burnt to death. Even with close artillery support from Jots Ridge, the defenders are overrun by the time the sun rises. The last defensive bastion on Coha Ridge is Garrison Hill. Over 1,000 men, including non-combatants, have been squeezed into an area of 350 square yards, meaning that every Japanese mortar or artillery shell is almost guaranteed to maim or kill. The summit is so congested that Allied aerial supply drops cause casualties when heavy canisters strike unsuspecting men. Still, Richard's men continued to resist. Deputy Commissioner of Nagarand, Charles Pauly, had been invited to leave Cohima before the area was encircled, but insisted on remaining with the garrison. A decorated veteran of the Battle of the S from the Great War, Py shrugs off the destruction of his bungalow and visits the defenders to keep their morale up. Private Ray Street later remembered, "He seemed without fear of bullets and shells as he strolled along in the open as if defying the enemy." The defender's morale is further lifted when RAF Huracans and the artillery on Jot Ridge are joined by the heavy guns of the British Second Infantry Division. Rover's men have fought their way down the narrow Dimmapur Infar Road and are finally approaching Kohima. At just before noon on the 18th of April, eight Grant tanks along with at least a dozen ambulances move slowly down the road leading to the ridge and halt less than 700 yd from Garrison Hill. Backed by overwhelming artillery and air power, a fragile corridor is open. Walking wounded and men on stretchers are carried down the steep slopes and loaded onto ambulances while the tanks provide fire support to suppress enemy artillery positions. Once the ambulances are full, the column reverses back towards the British second infantry division's positions. The trapped garrison now know that relief is close at hand. Lieutenant Peter Stain of the First Assam Regiment will later write, "It seemed unbelievable that the nightmare of the past few weeks could be drawing to a close." Tired eyes watched as fighter bombers of the Ariat roared overhead. The Japanese leadership also realizes that Kohima is about to be relieved and the Japanese 31st division launches an all-out attack on Garrison Hill and the tennis court throughout the night of the 18th of April and into the morning of the 19th. The tennis court finally falls to the Japanese after the first Punjabs are forced to withdraw and the forward positions of the Nepalese sheer battalion are overrun. But the perimeter holds. The process of bringing up armor and ambulances to evacuate the wounded is repeated on the 19th as more than 600 men are successfully loaded onto transport and sent to recover in dimmer. The garrison launches counterattacks to try and expand the perimeter, but these efforts are too weak to eject the Japanese from their hard one positions on Kuki Pique and the tennis court. >> The Grand Tanks of the 149th Royal Armored Corps managed to break through to Kahima on the 20th of April. And what they've done over the previous few days after they'd gathered up at Dimapur to the north of Kahima, and that's really what the Japanese should have been going for rather than Kahima. And that's where they've gathered all of the reinforcements that are going to break through to Kahima and then to Infal. And amongst those are the grant tanks of the 149th world armored core. And they've spent the previous sort of 10 days, 2 weeks coming south along this road and destroying the Japanese patrols that have moved north into this area. >> At 9:00 a.m., Grant's tanks once again begin their advance towards Garrison Hill, backed by intense artillery and air bombardment. This time the armor is carrying men of the second Durham light infantry while the first royal barkers follow on foot behind them. By 9:45 a.m. the column reaches the main dressing station and the barkers begin clambering up Garrison Hill. The Barkers cast aside feeble Japanese resistance. The enemy have been pounded into submission by days of constant bombardment. Just before 10:00 a.m., Corporal Roy Wellland is one of the first men to reach the trapped garrison and will later record the greeting he received. One chap with a bloodied bandage around his head said, "It's good to see a corp. Give them bloody hell. Black your faces first, otherwise they will think you are a bloody bunch of virgins." The siege of Kohima has been lifted and defense of the Rgel line is handed off to the British Sixth Brigade. Of the 2,500 strong garrison, 1,375 men have been killed, wounded, or captured. The Royal West Kent have suffered 62% casualties, but the enemy has fared far worse. The Japanese 31st Division has lost at least 2,000 irreplaceable men trying to storm Kohima Ridge and much of the precious artillery supply has been used up. By the end of April, the Japanese offensive has run out of steam. Although bitter fighting rages at the Shaam Saddle and Kohima, the Japanese 15th, 31st, and 33rd divisions are unable to continue major offensive operations without adequate supply. Mutaguchi is forced to concede that his army does not have enough strength to capture Dimapur. The Japanese infantry are now starving on mass in the jungles of Manipur and Nagaland while the British 14th Army is building up its strength for a counteroffensive. Still, the battle is far from over. While his men do not have the strength to fulfill his grandiose plans, Mutiguchi has no intention of giving up territory without bleeding the Allies. Thanks again to Robert Lyman, retired British Army officer, historian, and author of Japan's Last Bid for Victory: The Invasion of India 1944 and Kohima 1944, the battle that saved India. He is the co-host of the Forgotten War podcast about the Burma campaign of the Second World War. also to Jack Baler, historian and author of Thunderrun Metcala 1945 and Forgotten Armor Tank Warfare in Burma. He is the other co-host along with Robert Lyman of the Forgotten War podcast.