The Forgotten Stalingrad of Asia (WWII)

World War II the Battle of kohima on March 4th 1944 the Japanese forces in Burma launched operation Hugo against the British forces in India Japan wanted to deal a severe blow to the British in northeastern India which could have instigated an uprising by Indian nationalists it was planned for the Japanese offensive to follow the fastest route from Burma to India the road to dimapur the two main objectives along the operation path were the towns of imphal and kohima the latter was an important Communication Center through which the British forces on the Indian Burmese front line were supplied from April to June 1944 kohima was the scene of one of the most bitterly fought battles in the Asian theater of war due to the ferocity of the battles and the resistance shown by the British troops and defending their positions historians named the battle of kohima the Stalingrad of the East Allied troops had defended their positions from well-dug in trenches for two long weeks before launching a counter-attack probably the most severe fighting went on at the northeastern corner of the ridge there the fighting took place on a rather unusual Battlefield the tennis court the Japanese launched the Hugo offensive on March 6 1944 most of their troops were engaged in surrounding the British forces at imfall the Japanese 31st division under the command of Lieutenant General Kota gosado was sent North to attack the enemy position at kohima Ridge Japanese forces marched through thick jungle and over high mountains after almost a month they appeared on the kahima ridge twelve thousand soldiers had achieved what the British believed to be impossible despite considering the maneuver unfeasible the British had prepared their defensive positions in advance along the entire Ridge in the early days of the Japanese Yugo offensive the only troops stationed at kohima or the Assam rifles in addition to these troops the ridge was also defended by the 4th Battalion Queen's own Royal West Kent regiment the rest of the 161st Brigade was based in jatsoma including artillery support being provided to covered kohima however parts of the 161st Indian Brigade had arrived as reinforcements before the Japanese arrival the problem was that the kohima ridge was a series of steep hills that were a mile long but only a couple of hundred yards deep allowing only one battalion to deploy the men dug in down this narrow line of Hills that were named after local Garrison facilities at the southernmost edge of the ridge was the GPT or general purpose transports Ridge across the road was a jail Ridge further south were dis spur daily issue supplies FSD Ridge field Supply Depot cookie PCAT The Garrison Hill and the igh spur Indian General Hospital West of it along the ridge went the Imp fall to dimapur Road north of Garrison Hill the road bent westwards and climbed upward on the northeast slopes of the Garrison Hill was the deputy commissioner's Bungalow behind it on a Terrace nearly 40 feet higher was an asphalt tennis court with two additional Terraces above that the Japanese force arrived at the kohima ridge on April 6th approaching from infall in a swift attack They seized the GPT Ridge and the jail Ridge from where they had a clear view of the rest of the kohima ridge by the end of the day the Japanese had overrun the entire Road along the ridge next they plan to attack the northeastern tip of the ridge by capturing Garrison Hill the Japanese would have had the British surrounded and virtually isolated the Japanese 58th Regiment of the 31st division launched the Massive Attack on April 8 1944 preceded by a fierce bombardment onto the a company fourth Royal West Kent's position at the northeastern corner of Garrison Hill two waves of Japanese attacks took place one from the North and the other from the West even though they suffered heavy casualties the Japanese didn't back down from securing a stronghold at the bungalow's end of the road with reinforcements pouring in the Japanese kept attacking unable to see the torrent of soldiers coming their way and under constant barrage of mortifier men of the a company withdrew to a higher position under covering fire from Bren machine guns Japanese troops broke through toward the end of The Bungalow Terrace and occupied the area 20 yards away the British dug in on the western side of the tennis court a 2 two-week nightmare had begun the 9th of April was Easter Sunday but there was no time to celebrate other members of a company were sent down to the tennis court to reinforce the defenses the situation was getting desperate for the Defenders at 10 pm a new Japanese attack began the British positions were plastered with artillery shells before the enemy soldiers charged across the tennis court however the British artillery from jatsoma now responded with equal ferocity their shells were falling just 20 yards from a company's lines still the Japanese kept attacking In Waves every half hour throughout the rest of the night located on a steep Terrace above the deputy commission is Bungalow soldiers of a company could not see the Japanese leaving their trenches only their war cries could be heard only once their heads protruded above the Terrace Ridge did the British Open Fire with everything they had the Japanese were coming in such large numbers that there was no time to pick individual targets machine Gunners just kept pouring fire onto the massive men during one of the attacks a Scottish private picked up three automatic weapons from dead comrades and emptied one after another into incoming Japanese then he threw all of his grenades at them before resorting to hand-to-hand fighting with the Enemy soldiers that had jumped into his trench that night and the following two days a company managed tell the Japanese onslaught however any hope of getting out alive was unlikely now as they were getting low on ammo and other supplies because the road from dimaport was closed supplies were delivered to them by RAF Dakota Transport Aircraft the complexity of the terrain and the proximity of Enemy Lines made this task extremely difficult as a result a lot of air drops ended up in Japanese hands on the evening of April 11th men of Bee Company fourth Royal West Kents replaced the exhausted Defenders of the tennis court the newcomers experienced the ferocity of the battle on their very first night of the trenches as usual after a heavy artillery and mortar barrage the Japanese attacked the positions however the men of Bee Company were ready to repel them the British artillery responded with a counter barrage those Japanese soldiers that managed to break through to the British lines were moaned down by fire from the British Bren guns private Leonard Brown was Manning one of these in the forward position controlling the tennis court when he was showered by Japanese grenades disregarding his own safety he stood up to get a better Field of Fire and kept firing on the enemy soldiers while his comrades were dying around him he stood there calling for more ammo and grenades he was the last man standing in the trench in front of him lay several dead Japanese soldiers fortunately he couldn't hold off the waves of incoming Japanese soldiers and was killed defending his position twice more that night the Japanese attacked the British positions they suffered horrendous casualties but did get hold of the Eastern side of the tennis court the Japanese made one more attack Before Dawn this time the attack was not announced by artillery instead a dozen Japanese soldiers wearing plim salts instead of boots to conceal their movement charge the British line across the tennis court the tactic was successful to a certain extent as soldiers in the first line trenches were totally caught by surprise the main attack overran the British front positions but the soldiers from the rear trenches managed to repel them for six more days the Japanese attacked relentlessly both sides were on the verge of exhaustion with a constant lack of water food and ammunition having run out of ammo both sides now began using their grenades in Earnest they were simply tossing them at each other across the tennis court as if a snowball fight was going on a public relations officer of the southeast Asia the man described it as if a grenade match was being played across the Bungalows tennis courts on April 17th the Japanese started a ferocious attack and gained control of FSD Hill and cookie PCAT leaving the British in possession of an area measuring 350 by 350 yards on Garrison Hill and igh spur defeat was imminent but the artillery of jatsoma saved the day British soldiers were told to keep their heads down as the heavy barrage shattered enemy forward positions the sustained fire seemed to have stopped the Japanese who gave up on attacking British slash stronghold the following day April 18th the much-awaited reinforcements arrived the British second infantry division with the help of tanks from the 33 Corps broke through Japanese roadblocks to relieve the exhausted British troops at kohima Ridge at the tennis courts positions were taken over by D company of the first Battalion first Punjab regiment the Japanese gave them a standard welcome a barrage fire from artillery and mortars followed by infantry attack job he's fought bravely and repelled every Japanese attack in four days of bitter fighting they lost 120 men on April 21st fresh troops of sea company first Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment of the sixth Brigade of the British second division took up their positions the following day they broke the Japanese Siege and took the initiative from then on it was the Japanese who were defending their positions the British tanks and the artillery did most of the job in defeating the enemy who were well dug in and capable of holding out finally on May 13th the assault by M3 Grant 75 millimeter tanks firing at the Japanese bunkers from Nyon point-blank range and supported by soldiers from the Dorset regiment resulted in the seizure of the tennis court and the deputy commissioner's Bungalow the battle of the tennis court was over on May 31st the Japanese 31st division Commander Lieutenant General kotoko Sato ordered the withdrawal from the kohima rich this was despite orders from high command to hold positions the Battle of kohima ended on June 2nd 1944 the British position in India was saved the Japanese suffered an utter defeat that changed the tides of the war in Asia after the event Sato was invited to commit seppiku a ritual suicide by his superiors but he declined the offer and demanded the court martial to clear his name and also to expose the incompetence at army HQ it was decided that he had suffered a breakdown and was unfit to stand trial the Battle of kohima is believed to be one of the most significant Allied victories of World War II and also the most decisive action of the Burma campaign with the battle of the tennis court undoubtedly its 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Channel: Simple History

Views: 279,235

Keywords: animated history, battle, british, education, educational, full documentary, heroism, history channel, history documentary, history meme, japanese, meme, meme wars, military heroes, simple history, strange battlefields, tennis, tennis warfare, weird history, world war 2, world war ii, ww2

Id: OxOT6FQCTuE

Length: 11min 50sec (710 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 06 2023