Burma: The Forgotten War by Latimer Jon

Author:Latimer, Jon [Latimer, Jon]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Thistle Publishing
Published: 2018-07-14T21:00:00+00:00

18

KOHIMA: THE BATTLE

When the light comes down over Burma

And the velvet shadows unfold

The depths of the pillared forest

And the air grows still and cold;

Lay you down to slumber,

And ere you fall asleep,

Hark to the sigh of the treetops

And the myriad crickets’ cheep.

Softly dream, young soldier,

Of life and its sweeter fruits . . .

But always hang on to your rifle

And never get out of your boots.

Anon, Nocturne1

‘It became necessary to double while moving from one place to another and one instinctively adopted a crouching attitude’, noted Lieutenant-Colonel Wilbur Bickford of 1st Royal Berkshires soon after their arrival. This became known to the troops as the ‘Kohima crouch’.2 Lifting the siege of Kohima was an important success, yet who made a ‘desperate bid’ for Kohima – Japanese or British – was a moot point. The British never admitted losing it while barely retaining a quarter of the area and the road to Imphal was well and truly cut; but reporters were forbidden from using such terms.3

Now lifting the siege of Imphal was critical and Slim sent 23rd LRP Brigade, withheld from Thursday, from Dimapur to harass Japanese communications through the Naga Hills. Starting on 10 April, it gradually worked its way towards Phek on a broad front over the next three months. The enemy was less of a danger than the climate. Although racked by malaria, dysentery, heatstroke and jaundice, its effect on Japanese communications in what they considered ‘friendly’ country was considerable.4 Not that the Nagas were friendly to the Japanese, who talked politics rather than deliver rice, salt and silver like the British.5 At Phek, W. A. Wilcox was alarmed by Nagas carrying something from a bamboo pole, hanging ‘like a trussed pig, jolting and swaying . . . a Japanese, dead, his head cloven – a member of a party that had robbed the village of rice and pigs, found alone sick with dysentery and malaria.’ The British paid (in salt) for Japanese equipment: 1 lb. for a rifle, 7 lb. for a machine-gun, and 14 lb. for an officer’s head.6

Meanwhile Miyazaki’s efforts to take Garrison Hill were now directed against 2nd Durhams. As Lieutenant Pat Rome discussed Teesdale with his friend Roger Stock – soon to be killed – their opponents were cutting hair and nails to make memorial packages and writing final letters home: ‘Dear father and mother, what is life like in Japan now? Soon I shall be going to a faraway place. For some time I’ll not be able to send any news, but don’t worry, there’s no need!’ Captain Yoshifuku looked at the photograph of his eldest son proudly showing off a ‘top of the class badge’ after his first year in school. ‘So you’re top of the class,’ he wrote in reply, ‘you’ve done well. Even when Daddy’s not there, keep it up!’ How else does one say: ‘I am going to die now’?7 Early on 22 April Grover ordered 6th Brigade to attack the DC’s Bungalow, occupy FSD Hill and clear the high ground to the right of the road forward of Jotsoma, known as ‘Shrewsbury’.

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