In the spring of 1944, Japanese forces launched a major invasion of India, pushing through the mountains from Burma in an attempt to capture the key supply center at Dimapur. Standing in their way was a small Allied force of British and Indian troops holding the ridge above the town of Kohima.
What followed was one of the most brutal and close-quarters battles of the entire Burma campaign. Fighting raged across the narrow ridge line, with trenches sometimes only yards apart. The most famous fighting took place around the Deputy Commissioner’s tennis court, where opposing forces battled across the court itself — grenades, mortars, and sniper fire turning a peaceful colonial lawn into one of the strangest battlefields of the war.
For weeks, the defenders held on while surrounded, low on food, water, and ammunition. When reinforcements finally broke through, the Japanese offensive collapsed. The battles of Kohima and Imphal marked the turning point of the war in Burma and stopped Japan’s advance into India.
Today, Kohima is remembered by a simple inscription at the war cemetery overlooking the ridge:
"When you go home, tell them of us and say,
For your tomorrow, we gave our today."
"Si vis pacem, para bellum." — Vegetius
"Do not hurry to the sound of the guns without knowing why they are firing." — British maxim
"In war, the simplest things are difficult." — Clausewitz
"No plan survives first contact with the enemy." — Moltke
"The side that can most quickly exploit success is the side that will win." — Guderian
Some days you’re the hammer, some days you’re the nail. 🪖🎲
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