Hi, I’m the History Guy. I have a degree in history and I love history,
and if you love history too, this is the channel for you.
Seventy-three years ago, in June of 1944, a battle was raging around the city of Imphal,
the capital of the princely state of Manipur on the northeast of British India. The battle
is a turning point in the Southeast Asia campaign of the Second World War,
but it is largely forgotten. The news in Great Britain and America in June of 1944 was all
focused on northern France. And the battle has even been largely forgotten in India,
where decades of conflicts over independence have left little energy to remember the time when
Indian troops were fighting under the flag of the British Commonwealth. And that is though, too bad,
because the battles of Imphal and Kohima were so important, such a turning point in the war,
that they've been compared to El Alamein and Stalingrad. And the brave stand, the four core
of the British 14th army, composed largely of native Indian troops, deserves to be remembered.
The Japanese conquest of British Burma in 1942 occurred with surprising speed. While they were
outnumbered, the Japanese forces were more veteran and better equipped than the British Commonwealth
and Chinese nationalist forces that were opposing them. They made better use of the jungle terrain,
and they were actively supported by a Burmese population that was weary of British rule. By
the time that the British Commonwealth forces managed to straggle back into India they were
a defeated force, they had lost most of their equipment, their morale was shattered. The only
thing that stopped the Japanese offensive was the rainy season, which made supply nearly impossible.
If Japan had been able to continue the offensive in 1942, all of British India might have fallen.
Manipur, which is a princely state, meaning that it had nominal autonomy,
was on the northeast side of British India and the border with Burma, and was now the front line. But
in 1943 the Japanese decided not to continue the offensive. The terrain was too inhospitable and
the supply problems insurmountable they thought, and so they moved onto the defensive in Burma.
While the Allies faced their own challenges, they did manage some small operations in Burma
in 1943. They didn't achieve much, but one behind the lines raid that briefly cut the north-south
railroad in Burma might have impacted Japanese decision-making for the much more active 1944.
But the situation was much changed by 1944, the war was turning against the Japanese
in the Pacific and Allied armies in India had made significant strides in training equipment,
morale and supply. The Allies had built several airfields in Manipur
and that was not only allowing them to supply the nationalist armies in China,
but had given the Allies air superiority in the Burma theater. And in 1944,
allied armies were actively massing in Manipur in preparation for the offensive to retake Burma.
In the face of that the Japanese came up with a daring plan, one of the last great land offensives
of the Japanese army, of the Second World War. The Japanese reasoned that they might be able to
catch the divisions in Manipur while they were dispersed in the field preparing for an attack
rather than in a defensive position. If they could defeat those divisions in the field and
take northern India, they would deny the Allies the airfields which had given the Allies air
superiority and cut off the allied supply route to China. Not only that, but by taking northern
India they would forestall any attack on Burma. But maybe even more than that, it was an attempt
to regain the initiative that the Japanese had had in 1941 and 1942. They hoped that once again
an audacious Japanese attack could cause Allied armies to crumble, and reinforce that feeling
of invincibility that they had had just two years previously. But the offensive, which would include
more than a hundred thousand Japanese troops, was risky and opposed by many field commanders.
The problems of terrain and supply that they had seen in 1942 had not gone away, and the Japanese
knew that once the rainy season started there would be no way that they could move supplies
to armies in Manipur. Rather, the Japanese army would go into the field with three weeks of
rations in their packs, and after that, feeding the Japanese army depended upon them capturing
allied supply depots. It was an offensive with a very tight timeline and little room
for error. Any delay could literally mean that the Japanese armies would starve in the field.
The area around Imphal was defended by four core of the British 14th army,
and included three infantry divisions, a paratrooper brigade and a tank brigade.
The infantry divisions included both British and Indian troops, but were composed mostly of Indian
troops. At the beginning of the offensive they were dispersed in the field, but the
Japanese were not able to, as they had hoped, destroyed the infantry divisions in the field.
That they were able to fight their way through and form a defensive perimeter around Imphal.
An important part of the Japanese plan was to take the town of Kohima in the Indian state
of Nagaland to the north of Manipur. This would cut off the only road of supply to
the defenders of Imphal. But the 50th Indian Parachute Brigade was in the area undergoing
advanced jungle training. They occupied a hill outside of Kohima and the Japanese had
to attack. It was a difficult position for the paratroops, they had no access to fresh water,
and yet they held out under sustained Japanese attack for more than six days
before they had to finally withdraw, due to the lack of water. It was a brutal fight that
cost many casualties for the paratroopers, but their brave stand delayed the Japanese attack,
which had little room for error, by more than six days. And that gave the Allies time to reinforce
the garrison in Kohima, and to consolidate their defensive positions around Imphal.
But when the paratroopers pulled back, the Japanese were able to isolate the garrison's
both in Kohima and Imphal, but the Allies were able to keep the garrison supplied by
airdrop. The Japanese were able to overrun some supply depots, but for the most part,
the Allies managed to strip those Depot's of ammunition and food before they could be
overrun. The conditions in the jungle fighting were particularly brutal, and left the troops
subject to dehydration and tropical disease. And while both sides suffered, the Allies because they
were receiving supply, suffered much less than the Japanese. The surrounded garrison at Kohima
was able to survive nearly constant attacks for weeks in what has been described as the
“Stalingrad of the East’. But as Allied forces were able to come and reinforce that garrison,
the Japanese were eventually pushed back, their armies increasingly disabled by lack of supply.
Retaking Kohima meant that the Allies could then fight south and break the siege of
Imphal. Although the Japanese managed to keep up attacks clear until mid-July, their army was
virtually useless at that point. Their troops were literally starving to death, for lack of supply.
The Japanese casualties in their attempt to invade India were devastating. They lost as many as
55,000 dead. Most of those died due to disease and starvation. And while Allied casualties were high,
some 17,000, it was hardly comparable. The Japanese depended upon strategies that had
worked in 1941 and 1942, but in 1944 they were running into Allied armies that were significantly
better trained, equipped and motivated, than they had been just two years previously. Allied
air superiority was critical, and it not only allowed them to supply their besieged Garrison,
but meant that the Japanese army was subject to constant air attack, with very little defense. The
battle secured the critical supply route to China. It ended Japanese initiative in the Burma theater,
and it allowed the Allies to concentrate their forces for the offensive that would eventually
retake Burma. And had the Japanese succeeded, cutting off the supply routes might not only
have changed the course of the war in China, but would have been a devastating blow to the Allies.
In brief, it was a critical battle, a turning point that Lord Mountbatten, the commander of
all troops in India, compared to the Battle of Thermopylae. And it was a decisive victory,
one largely by Indian troops defending their homeland, and they deserve to be remembered.
I’m the History Guy and I hope you enjoyed this edition of my series, five minutes of history,
short snippets have forgotten history five to ten minutes long. And if you did enjoy it then please
go ahead and click that thumbs up button that is on your left. If you have any questions or
comments, or would like to suggest another topic for the History Guy then put those in the comment
section and I will be happy to respond. And if you'd like five minutes more of forgotten history,
all you need to do is click the subscribe button which is there on your right.