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
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