Thread: Kohima: The Furthest Battle

Kohima: The Furthest Battle: The Story of the Japanese Invasion of India in 1944 and the 'British-Indian Thermopylae': Leslie Edwards: Amazon.co.uk: Books

By the end of 1943 the Japanese had occupied most of South-East Asia. On 6 March 1944, the first units of the Japanese 15 Army crossed the inhospitable border of what was then Burma, and invaded India. At the township of Kohima they were met by a small, hastily assembled force of Indian and British troops, later reinforced by 2 Division of Slim's 14 Army, who fought valiantly and forced the Japanese to retreat. Described by Mountbatten as 'the British/Indian Thermopylae', Kohima was a turning point in Japanese fortunes, heralding their continued defeat in battle until their formal surrender on 2 September 1945. Using extensive research in primary sources and many previously unpublished first-hand accounts, Leslie Edwards presents a definitive analysis of this pivotal battle.

480 pages!!!

Thought this might be appropriate;From the "79th News" Cameron Highlanders 6 monthly regimental magazine, issue April 1945.

"When the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders unveiled their memorial at Kohima recently there were present at the ceremony not only the officers and men of the battalion, but also many Naga tribesmen whose homes were near the knoll where the memorial stands, the scene this spring of such bitter fighting.
The service was brief and simple, and just before the bagpipes began the strains of the Cameron's lament, the Adjutant read out the long roll of Officers, NCO's and men of the battalion killed in the kohima fighting. Wreaths were placed on the memorial by the commanding officer, the second in command, and by representatives of each company of the battalion. There was also a wreath from the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada.
As the ceremony drew to its close, the Naga headman stepped forward from his place beside the Commanding Officer and the District Commissioner. He stood for a moment before the memorial, a dignified figure with head bowed. Then, in his own language and on behalf of his people, he promised that they would look after memorial always, in order to do honour to the men who had been killed on these hills. It was a moving gesture from these Highlanders of Asia.
The Camerons designed and built the memorial. Standing on the highest point of the knoll, it consists of a large slab of rough stone set upright on a well proportioned base. On the face of the stone is a plaque beautifully engraved with the Roll of Honour. At its head is the figure of a piper in full dress. Beneath are the words of the Lament with which the Camerons have mourned their dead through the centuries of Scottish history-----"Lochaber no more". (The times, 9/12/44)".