65 Years Ago

[AllanL]

On June 22nd. 1944 British and Indian forces from Imphal and Kohima met at Milestone 110 to break the siege of Imphal and bring an end to the battle of Kohima. Fighting went on until July round Imphal, but from that point on the Japanese forces in Burma and India were on the retreat.

IV Corps of the Fourteenth army had inflicted the heaviest land defeat on the Japanese Army, with some 17,5000 Allied casualties at Imphal and a further 4,000 at Kohima. The Japanese lost 61,000 between the two battles.

As ever it seems the Fourteenth Army continue to be forgotten.

My father had been hospitalised just before the fighting broke out at Imphal, but refused to be evacuated to a place of safety, as he wanted to get back to his Mountain Artillery Regiment in Imphal, and just made it back before the siege began. The place of safety? Kohima.

One of the reasons for the successful outcome was the huge supply effort carried out by British and American C-46s and C-47s, some of them diverted from the Hump flights to supply the Chinese, keeping the besieged forces supplied and evacuating 13,000 casualties.

At Kohima the 2nd Division Memorial bears the inscription:

"When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,
For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today"

[speedbird591]

I haven't read much about the Far East theatre, Allan. I'm ashamed to say that I hadn't heard of the battle of Kohima. It must have been an unbelievably huge undertaking to turn the advance of the Japanese. I've just finished reading the autobiography of a survivor of Singapore and the Burma Railway so I'm in the mood to learn more of this area of the war.

Can you suggest a suitable website or further reading, please?

Cheers

Ian

[AllanL]

Hi Ian,

Well it was along way from here. One site that obviously is mainly connected to the struggle out of and back into Burma is the http://www.burmastar.org.uk/

There was considerable action round Singapore and Malayia before that, and the Australians were heavily involved in fighting in Papua New Guinea. Most histories are not surprisingly biased towards the American island hopping offensive across the Pacific.

Of course Errol Flynn was single-handedly winning the war in Burma (without any help or mention of the British Forces) in the epic "Objective Burma!". There was such an uproar in the UK when that film was released in '46 that it had to be withdrawn and was not shown for another 6 years or so in the UK.

And now we worry about a dog appearing in a film.............

[forthbridge]

My Grandfather was over there for the duration. Although he told me a very many stories (a lot of which were very amusing) - it was only last year, several years after his death, that I fully understood what he went through. Strangely it may seem, as I am under no illusions about what horrors can be associated with war - but what REALLY hammered it home was a photograph of my Grandfather in 1939 in his uniform, looking bright, smiley and happy. A similar photograph after the war shows a still young face, but with an expression and eyes that look so totally different through seeing goodness knows what during five years away from home. I've no doubt countless other families could tell the same story.

[Filonian]

"When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,
For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today"

Never forgotten at the Bridlington Remembrance


Graham