Burma Campaign: Seizing Imphal and Kohima In World War II

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The preliminaries were now over. The chosen battleground for the Japanese invaders was the city of Imphal, capital of the small state of Manipur, which covered some 700 square miles. The Imphal Plain was the site of some of the bloodiest fighting of World War II. Entrance to the plain from the north was along a winding road through the village of Kohima. The distance between the two towns was about 140 miles. The most vulnerable point on the road was where it crossed the summit of a 4,700-foot pass at Kohima. If the Japanese could seize the pass, Imphal would be completely cut off. If they could capture Dimapur to the north as well, they then could cut Stilwell’s supply line to Ledo and beyond.

On March 15, the second phase of the Japanese offensive began as Maj. Gen. Masafumi Yamauchi’s 15th Division and Lt. Gen. Kotoku Sato’s 31st Division poured across the Chindwin by raft, ferry and boat. For Sato, the target was Kohima. He was expected to advance at least 20 miles a day, with 5,000 oxen following and some of his soldiers acting as porters. On his left flank, Yamauchi had been ordered to bulldoze a way through the IV Corps’ positions to the east of the Imphal-Dimapur road, and then to strike at Imphal itself. General Mutaguchi, their commander, expected to capture the state capital within a month.

As this was transpiring, Slim realized he would need reinforcements and turned to Mountbatten to provide air transport for his troops currently positioned in the Arakan. Permission was given, and by the end of March the entire British 5th Division had been landed on the Imphal battlefield. They arrived in the nick of time—the Japanese were only nine miles from the airfield as they were landing.

Although the early situation around Imphal was critical, an even more dangerous threat was being aimed at Kohima. For some unknown reason, the Japanese did not mount a major attack against Dimapur to the north. The struggle for Kohima has been designated one of the major battles of World War II, yet the defenders were few in number, and the disputed area was measured in yards. But when victory had been won, many described it as the crucial turning point in the Burma campaign.

While conducting their offensive on Imphal, the Japanese simultaneously drove toward Kohima. General Slim had foreseen this, and had reinforced the garrison and established new defensive positions in the northern village. However, once again the British were not prepared for the Japanese offensive to develop so quickly. In the town itself, there were mixed units of the Assam Rifles, a Burmese regiment, Gurkhas, Punjabis and Mahrattas, together with pioneer, sapper, ordnance, transport, ambulance and medical units. The covering positions at Phek, Kharasom and Jessami, which lay to the east and southeast of Kohima, were held by the Assam Regiment. A full Japanese division came up against them.

The British forward troops resisted the enemy’s advance, inflicting more than 1,000 casualties. But as the strength of the Japanese thrust became evident, Slim decided to draw back all outposts and concentrate the troops in Kohima proper. General Slim wrote: “Within a week of the start of the Japanese offensive, while 17 Division was still fighting its way out [in the south], it became clear that the situation in the Kohima area was likely to be even more dangerous than that at Imphal. Not only were enemy columns closing in at much greater speed than I had expected, but they were obviously in much greater strength.” The Japanese cut all roads into the town and effectively isolated it, for there was no airstrip. The small garrison of 3,500 was pitted against 15,000 Japanese, who laid down a murderous barrage from the heights. The siege lasted 16 days. In the end, the Allies held on to this vital bridgehead to India.

To meet the powerful Japanese thrust, Mountbatten had summoned the XXXIII Indian Corps, commanded by Lt. Gen. Montagu Stopford, from the far side of India. Stopford arrived in the area and was told by Fourteenth Army commanders that he was to stop Japanese penetration into the Assam valleys, keep open the road from Dimapur to Kohima and prepare to drive south beyond Kohima and link with the IV Corps on the Imphal Plain. In addition, by April 1944 the 5th Brigade had reached Dimapur from Arakan by plane, and had been immediately ordered to Kohima by the local area commander. The 4th Royal West Kents headed its march. As reinforcements arrived, Stopford resolved to use them to force open the road to Kohima. Slim remembered: “As I shuttled between Dimapur, Imphal, and my headquarters at Comilla, I was beginning to see light. We had hard days ahead of us, but everywhere our troops, unperturbed by events, were steady and full of fight. We had lost nothing vital.”

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Tags: 20th - 21st Century, Historical Conflicts, World War II