Battle of Kohima

The Battle of Kohima took place during the Burma Campaign, in World War II. It was fought between the Japanese forces, under Kotoku Sato, and British 14th Army's units, led by General Sir Montagu Stopford, between April 4 and June 22, 1944, in and around Kohima, Nagaland, India, on the border with Burma. It was fought simultaneously with the Battle of Imphal as they were both part of the same military campaign. The result of the battle was a decisive Allied victory, which turned the tide of the war in that theater of operations.

Background

The Japanese 15th Army, under Shojiro Iida, had invaded Burma and captured its capital, Rangoon, in March 1942. Although the British-Indian forces, led by Archibald Wavell, had been driven out of the country into India, the Allied 14th Army, together with the Chindits and the Merrill's Marauders, had launched a large scale military offensive to recover Burma in February 1943; it would be called the Burma Campaign. Thus, the Allies had been able to recover only part of the territory they had lost in 1942, with the Chindits, under Orde Charles Wingate, playing an important role.

Summary

In early March 1944, Shojiro Iida designed a plan for a massive counter-offensive to definitely expel all the Allied forces from Burma and invade India. For this mission, the 15th Army got reorganized around three divisions, which were fully accoutered and redeployed. The Japanese counter-offensive began on April 4, 1944, crossing the Burmese border into Indian territory. On the same day, the Japanese 15th Army's 31st Division, led by Kotoku Sato launched an assault on Kohima, which was defended by one Allied infantry brigade.

To prevent Kohima from falling in Japanese hands, General William Slim, commander of the 14th Army, sent the 2nd Division's 5th and 4th Brigade to reinforce the garrison, which was located at the foot of Kohima Ridge and the town of Kohima. The 5th and 4th Brigade carried out a sweeping pincer maneuver, which was designed to trap the Japanese spearhead units. By June 3, after vicious fighting, the encirclement had successfully been achieved and the garrison had been saved.

By June 15, five additional brigades had arrived at Kohima to reinforce and hold the British line at the ridge, including a Chindits brigade. By June 20, the whole British 2nd Division had advanced from Kohima to meet the British IV Corps at Imphal, forcing the Japanese to fall back with heavy losses. Finally, on June 22, the Japanese 15th Army's units began to massively retreat as they had failed to capture Kohima. At the end of the failed Japanese offensive, the 15th Army had suffered around 40,000 casualties.

Map of Southeast Asia, showing the location of Imphal and Kohima, which is marked with a red dot.

Battle of Kohima (historical footage- video)