Native name	Kohima
Type	city
Locator position	left
State name	Nagaland
District	Kohima
Leader title	Chairman
Altitude	1444
Population as of	2001
Population total	78584
Population density	3900
Area magnitude	sq. km
Area magnitude	9
Area total	20
Area telephone	91 (0)370
Postal code	797001
Vehicle code range	NL-01
Website	kohima.nic.in
Footnotes	}}

Kohima () is the hilly capital of India's north eastern border state of Nagaland which shares its borders with Burma. It lies in Kohima District and is also one of the three Nagaland towns with Municipal council status along with Dimapur and Mokokchung.

Kohima is the land of the Angami Naga tribe and is so called because the Britisher could not pronounce "kewhira" (the name of the village). "Kew Hi Ra" means "the land where all travellers are welcome".

History

The British incursions into the Naga territory beginning in the 1840s met with stiff resistance from the independence loving Nagas who had never been conquered by any empire before. The stiffness of the resistance can be gauged by the fact that it took nearly four decades for the British to conquer a territory that is less than 10,000 square kilometres (the eastern region was left free). Kohima was the first seat of modern administration as the Headquarters of Naga Hills District (then under Assam) with the appointment of G.H. Damant as Political Officer in 1879. When Nagaland became a full fledged state on 1 December 1963, Kohima was christened as the state capital.

In 1944 during World War II the Battle of Kohima along with the simultaneous Battle of Imphal was the turning point in the Burma Campaign. For the first time in South-East Asia the Japanese lost the initiative to the Allies which they then retained until the end of the war. This hand-to-hand battle and slaughter prevented the Japanese from gaining a high base from which they might next roll across the extensive flatlands of India like a juggernaut.

Kohima has a large cemetery for the Allied war dead maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The cemetery lies on the slopes of Garrison Hill, in what was once the Deputy Commissioner's tennis court which was the scene of intense fighting, the Battle of the Tennis Court. The epitaph carved on the memorial of the 2nd British Division in the cemetery has become world-famous as the Kohima poem. The verse is attributed to John Maxwell Edmonds (1875–1958), and is thought to have been inspired by the epitaph written by Simonides to honour the Greek who fell at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC.

Demographics

India census, Kohima had a population of 78,584. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Kohima has an average literacy rate of 75%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 79%, and female literacy is 70%. In Kohima, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age.

The main ''indigenous inhabitants'' of Kohima district are the Angami Nagas, and the Rengma.

Today the town's population compose of all the 16 tribes of Nagaland. The population of the Angamis and Aos are the largest in present day Kohima urban area.

Greater Kohima which includes Kohima Village, Jakhama and Jotsoma along with Kohima town is the second largest urban area of Nagaland after Dimapur-Chumukedima. It has a population of about 99,795.

Geography and climate

Due to its elevation, Kohima features a more moderate version of a humid subtropical climate. Kohima has a pleasant and moderate climate - not too cold in winters and pleasant summers. December and January are the coldest months when frost occurs and in the higher altitudes snowfall occurs occasionally. During the height of summers, from July–August, temperature ranges an average of 80-90 Fahrenheit. Heavy rainfall occurs during summer

Kohima is located at . It has an average elevation of 1261 metres (4137 feet).

The town of Kohima is located on the top of a high ridge and the town serpentines all along the top of the surrounding mountain ranges as is typical of most Naga settlements.

'Kohima village' called 'Bara Basti' or 'large village',which is the second largest village in Asia forms the northeastern part of Kohima urban area today. The Bara Basti is divided into 'khels' or localities. There are four of them, namely - Tsütuonuomia, Lhisemia, Dapfütsumia and Pfuchatsumia. They are termed shortly as T, L, D, and P Khel respectively.

The Nagaland State Museum is exhibits gateposts, statues, pillars, and jewelry. A ceremonial drum which looks like a dug-out war canoe is exhibited in a separate shed. The basement of the museum has birds and animals of the North-Eastern hill states.

Localities

Colonies in Kohima (officially recognised as well as non-recognised ones)

Kohima Town

Mission Compound

Pezielietsie(Tinpati)

Krouliezou

Science College

Ministers' Hill (Old and New)

Forest Colony

Jail Colony

Agri Colony

Para Medical

Hospital Colony

New Market

Naga Bazaar

Dak Lane

Kitsubozou

Seikhazou Colony

Bayavü Hill(Upper,Middle & Lower)

Government High School Colony

Rokabozou

Keziekie

Porter Lane

Chandmari Colony (Upper and Lower)

A.G. Colony (Upper and Lower)

Lerie Colony

New Reserve Colony

Aradhura Colony

Mohon Khola

BOC

Dzüvürü

P.R.Hill

Kenuozou Hill Colony (Upper and Lower)

PWD Colony (Upper,Middle & Lower)

Ziekezou

D Block

Keyake

References

Mission Compound Mission Road

External links

http://kohima.nic.in/profile.htm

Category:Cities and towns in Kohima district Category:Hill stations in India Category:Indian capital cities Category:Cities in Northeast India

az:Kohima bn:কোহিমা ca:Kohima de:Kohima eo:Kohima hif:Kohima fr:Kohima hi:कोहिमा bpy:কোহিমা it:Kohima pam:Kohima ml:കൊഹിമ mr:कोहिमा nl:Kohima ne:कोहिमा new:कोहिमा ja:コヒマ no:Kohima or:କୋହିମା pl:Kohima ro:Kohima ru:Кохима sa:कोहिमा simple:Kohima sl:Kohima fi:Kohima sv:Kohima ta:கோகிமா vi:Kohima war:Kohima

conflict	Battle of Kohima
partof	the Burma Campaign of the Second World War
date	4 April – 22 June 1944
place	Kohima, Nagaland, British India
result	Decisive Allied victory
combatant1	United Kingdom British India
combatant2	Japan
commander1	Montagu Stopford
commander2	Kotoku Sato
strength1	''at start:''approx. 1 Infantry Brigade''at end:''2 Infantry Divisions1 "Chindit" Brigade1 Motor Brigade
strength2	1 Infantry Division
casualties1	4,064
casualties2	5,764 }}

The Battle of Kohima was the turning point of the Japanese U Go offensive into India in 1944 in the Second World War. The battle was fought from 4 April to 22 June 1944 around the town of Kohima in northeast India. It is often referred to as the "Stalingrad of the East".

The battle took place in three stages. From 3 April to 16 April, the Japanese attempted to capture Kohima ridge, a feature which dominated the road by which the besieged British and Indian troops of IV Corps at Imphal were supplied. By mid-April, the small British force at Kohima was relieved, and from 18 April to 13 May, British and Indian reinforcements counter-attacked to drive the Japanese from the positions they had captured. The Japanese abandoned the ridge at this point but continued to block the Kohima-Imphal road. From 16 May to 22 June, the British and Indian troops pursued the retreating Japanese and reopened the road. The battle ended on 22 June when British and Indian troops from Kohima and Imphal met at Milestone 109, ending the siege of Imphal.

Background

The Japanese plan to invade India, codenamed U-Go, was originally intended as a spoiling attack against the Indian IV Corps at Imphal, to disrupt the Allied offensive plans for that year. The commander of the Japanese Fifteenth Army, Lieutenant General Renya Mutaguchi, enlarged the plan to invade India itself and perhaps even overthrow the British Raj. The objections of the staffs of various headquarters were eventually overruled by War Minister Hideki Tojo.

Part of the plan involved sending the Japanese 31st Division (which was composed of 58 Regiment, 124 Regiment, 138 Regiment and 31 Mountain Artillery Regiment) to capture Kohima and thus cut off Imphal. Mutaguchi wished to exploit the capture of Kohima by pushing the 31st Division on to Dimapur, the vital railhead and logistic base in the Brahmaputra River valley.

The 31st Division's commander, Lieutenant General Kotoku Sato, was unhappy with his role. He had not been involved in the planning of the offensive, and had grave misgivings about its chances. He had already told his staff that they might all starve to death. In common with many senior Japanese officers, Sato considered Mutaguchi a "blockhead". He and Mutaguchi had also been on opposite sides during the split between the ''Toseiha'' and ''Kodoha'' factions within the Japanese Army during the early 1930s, and Sato believed he had reason to distrust Mutaguchi's motives.

Prelude

Starting on 15 March 1944, the Japanese 31st Division crossed the Chindwin River near Homalin and moved northwest along jungle trails on a front almost wide. Although the march was arduous, good progress was made. The left wing of the division, 58 Regiment, commanded by the division's Infantry Group commander, Major General Shigesaburo Miyazaki, was ahead of the neighbouring formation (Japanese 15th Infantry Division) when they clashed with Indian troops covering the northern approaches to Imphal on 20 March.

The Indian troops were the 50th Indian Parachute Brigade under Brigadier Maxwell Hope-Thompson, at Sangshak. Although they were not Miyazaki's objective, he decided to clear them from his line of advance. The Battle of Sangshak continued for six days. The parachute brigade's troops were desperately short of drinking water, but Miyazaki was handicapped by lack of artillery until near the end of the battle. Eventually, as some of the Japanese 15th Division's troops joined the battle, Hope-Thompson withdrew. The 50th Parachute Brigade lost 600 men, while the Japanese had suffered over 400 casualties. Miyazaki had also captured some of the food and munitions that had been dropped by the Royal Air Force (RAF) to the defenders of Sangshak. However, his troops, who had the shortest and easiest route to Kohima, were delayed by a week.

Meanwhile, the commander of the British Fourteenth Army, Lieutenant General William Slim, belatedly realised (partly from Japanese documents that had been captured at Sangshak) that a whole Japanese division was moving towards Kohima. He and his staff had originally believed that because of the forbidding terrain in the area, the Japanese would only be able to send a regiment to take Kohima.

The Allies were already hastily reinforcing the Imphal front. As part of this move, the infantry and artillery of 5th Indian Infantry Division were flown from the Arakan, where they had just participated in the defeat of a subsidiary Japanese offensive at the Battle of the Admin Box. While the main body of the division went to Imphal (where some units had been isolated and almost all of IV Corps' reserves had already been committed), the 161st Indian Infantry Brigade, with 24th Mountain Artillery Regiment Indian Artillery attached, were flown to Dimapur.

Slim knew that there were few fighting troops (as opposed to soldiers in line-of-communication units and supporting services) in Kohima and none at all at the vital base of Dimapur to the north, which contained an area of supply dumps miles long and wide. As the fall of Dimapur would have been disastrous for the Allies, Slim asked his superior, General George Giffard (commanding Eleventh Army Group), for more troops to protect Dimapur and to prepare to relieve Imphal.

Early in March, the 23rd Long Range Penetration Brigade was removed from Major General Orde Wingate's Chindit force, and was dispatched by rail from around Lalaghat to Jorhat, north of Dimapur, where they could threaten the flank of any Japanese attack on the base. Giffard and General Claude Auchinleck, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Indian Army, also prepared to send the British 2nd Division and Indian XXXIII Corps HQ under Lieutenant General Montagu Stopford from reserve in southern and central India to Dimapur, by road and rail. The 7th Indian Infantry Division was also moved by road and rail from the Arakan to Dimapur.

Until XXXIII Corps headquarters could arrive at Dimapur, the HQ of 202 Line of Communication Area under Major General R.P.L. Ranking took command of the area.

Battle

Geography

Kohima's strategic importance in the wider 1944 Japanese Chindwin offensive lay in that it was the summit of a pass that offered the Japanese the best route from Burma into India. and through which ran the road which was the main supply route between the base at Dimapur in the Brahmaputra River valley, and Imphal, where three divisions of British and Indian troops faced the main Japanese offensive.

Kohima ridge itself runs roughly north and south. The road from Dimapur to Imphal climbs to its northern end and runs along its eastern face. In 1944, Kohima was the administrative centre of Nagaland. The Deputy Commissioner was Charles Pawsey. His bungalow stood on the hillside at a bend in the road, with its gardens and tennis court, and a clubhouse, on terraces above. Although some terraces around the village were cleared for cultivation, the steep slopes of the ridge were densely forested.

North of the ridge lay the densely inhabited area of ''Naga Village'', crowned by ''Treasury Hill'' and ''Church Knoll'' (Baptist and other Christian missionaries had been active in Nagaland over the preceding half century). South and west of Kohima Ridge were ''GPT Ridge'' and the jungle-covered ''Aradura Spur''.

The various British and Indian service troop encampments in the area gave their names to the features which were to be important in the battle e.g. "Field Supply Depot" became ''FSD Hill'' or merely ''FSD''. The Japanese later assigned their own codenames to the features; for example, ''Garrison Hill'' was known as ''Inu'' (dog) and ''Kuki Piquet'' as ''Saru'' (monkey). These were frequently-used names, and not generally as memorable as the British names which are used in most histories.

Siege

Before the 161st Indian Brigade arrived, the only fighting troops in the Kohima area were the newly raised Assam Regiment and a few platoons from the 3rd (Naga Hills) Battalion of the paramilitary Assam Rifles. Late in March, 161st Brigade deployed in Kohima, but Major-General Ranking ordered them back to Dimapur, as it was felt initially that Dimapur had more strategic importance. Kohima was regarded as a roadblock, while Dimapur was the railhead where the majority of Allied supplies were stored. Slim also feared that the Japanese might leave only a detachment to contain the garrison of Kohima while the main body of the 31st Division moved by tracks to the east to attack Dimapur.

As the right wing and centre of the Japanese 31st Division approached Jessami, to the east of Kohima, elements of the Assam Regiment fought delaying actions against them commencing on 1 April. Nevertheless, the men in the forward positions were soon overrun and the Assam regiment was ordered to withdraw. By the night of 3 April, Miyazaki's troops reached the outskirts of the Naga village and began probing Kohima from the south.

Stopford's Corps HQ took over responsibility for the front from Ranking on 3 April. The next day, he ordered the 161st Indian Brigade to move forward to Kohima again, but only one battalion, 4th Bn. The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment (a forebear of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment), arrived in Kohima before the Japanese cut the road west of the ridge. Besides this battalion, the garrison consisted of a raw battalion (the Shere Regiment) from the Royal Nepalese Army, some companies from the Burma Regiment, some of the Assam Regiment which had retired to Kohima and various detachments of convalescents and line-of-communication troops. The garrison numbered about 2,500, of which about 1,000 were non-combatants and was commanded by Colonel Hugh Richards, who had served formerly with the Chindits.

The siege began on 6 April. The garrison was continually shelled and mortared, in many instances by Japanese using weapons and ammunition captured at Sangshak and from other depots, and was slowly driven into a small perimeter on ''Garrison Hill''. They had artillery support from the main body of 161st Brigade, themselves cut off away at Jotsoma, but as at Sangshak, they were very short of drinking water. The water supply point was on ''GPT Ridge'', which was captured on the first day of the siege. Some of its defenders were unable to retreat to other positions on the ridge and instead withdrew towards Dimapur. Canvas water tanks on ''FSD'' and at the Indian General Hospital had neither been filled nor dug in to protect them from fire. A small spring was discovered on the north side of ''Garrison Hill'', but it could be reached only at night. The medical dressing stations were exposed to Japanese fire, and wounded men were hit again as they waited for treatment.

Some of the heaviest fighting took place at the north end of Kohima Ridge around the Deputy Commissioner's bungalow and tennis court, in what became known as the Battle of the Tennis Court. The tennis court became a no man's land, with the Japanese and the defenders of Kohima dug in on opposite sides, so close to each other that grenades were thrown between the trenches. On the night of 17/18 April, the Japanese finally captured the DC's bungalow area. Other Japanese captured ''Kuki Picquet'', cutting the garrison in two. The defenders' situation was desperate, but the Japanese did not follow up by attacking ''Garrison Hill'', and when day broke, troops of 161st Indian Brigade arrived to relieve the garrison.

Relief

The British 2nd Division, commanded by Major General John M. L. Grover, had begun to arrive at Dimapur in early April. By 11 April, Fourteenth Army had about the same number of troops in the area as the Japanese. The British 5th Brigade of the 2nd Division broke through Japanese roadblocks to relieve 161st Brigade in Jotsoma on 15 April. The British 6th Brigade took over 161st Brigade's defensive position (the "Jotsoma Box"), allowing the 161st Brigade with air, artillery and armour support to launch an attack towards Kohima on 18 April. After a day's heavy fighting, the leading troops of the Brigade (1st Bn. 1st Punjab Regiment) broke through and started to relieve the Kohima garrison. By this point, Kohima resembled a battlefield from the First World War, with smashed trees, ruined buildings and the ground covered in craters.

Under cover of darkness the wounded (numbering 300) were brought out under fire. Although contact had been established it took a further 24 hours to fully secure the road between Jotsoma and Kohima. During 19 April and into the early hours of 20 April, the British 6th Brigade replaced the original garrison and at 06:00 hours on 20 April, the garrison commander (Colonel Richards) handed over command of the area.

Miyazaki continued to try to capture ''Garrison Hill'', and there was heavy fighting for this position for several more nights, with high casualties on both sides. The Japanese positions on ''Kuki Picquet'' were only from ''Garrison Hill'', and fighting was often hand-to-hand. On the other flank of ''Garrison Hill'', on the night of 26/27 April, a British attack recaptured the clubhouse above the Deputy Commissioner's bungalow, which overlooked most of the Japanese centre.

Counter-offensive

To support their attack on the ridge, the British had amassed thirty-eight 3.7 Inch Mountain Howitzers, forty-eight 25-pounder field guns and two 5.5 inch medium guns. The RAF also bombed and strafed the Japanese positions. The Japanese could oppose them with only seventeen light mountain guns, with very little ammunition. Nevertheless the progress of the British counter-attack was slow. Tanks could not be used, and the Japanese were very deeply dug in. Their positions were well-concealed and mutually supporting. The Japanese had reorganised their forces for defence. Their Left Force under Miyazaki held Kohima Ridge with four battalions. the divisional HQ under Sato himself and the Centre Force under Colonel Shiraishi held ''Naga Village'' with another four battalions. The much smaller Right Force held villages to the north and east.

While the British 6th Brigade defended ''Garrison Hill'', the other two brigades of 2nd Division tried to outflank both ends of the Japanese position, in ''Naga Village'' to the north and on ''GPT Ridge'' to the south. The monsoon had broken by this time and the steep slopes were covered in mud, making movement and supply very difficult. On 4 May, the British 5th Brigade secured a foothold in the outskirts of ''Naga Village'' but was counter-attacked and driven back. On the same day, the British 4th Brigade, having made a long flank march around Mount Pulebadze to approach Kohima Ridge from the south-west, attacked ''GPT Ridge'' in driving rain and captured part of the ridge by surprise, but were unable to secure the entire ridge. Two successive commanders of British 4th Brigade were killed in the subsequent close-range fighting on the ridge.

Both outflanking moves having failed because of the terrain and the weather, the British 2nd Division concentrated from 4 May on attacking the Japanese positions along Kohima Ridge. Japanese posts on the reverse slope of ''GPT Ridge'' repeatedly caught British troops attacking ''Jail Hill'' in the flank, inflicting heavy casualties, and prevented them capturing the hill for a week. However, the various positions were slowly taken. ''Jail Hill'' was finally captured, together with ''Kuki Picquet'', ''FSD'' and ''DIS'', by 33rd Indian Infantry Brigade on 11 May after a barrage of smoke shells blinded the Japanese machine-gunners and allowed Punjabi troops to secure the hill and dig in.

The last Japanese positions on the ridge to be captured were the tennis court and gardens above the Deputy Commissioner's bungalow. On 13 May, after several failed attempts to outflank or storm the position, the British finally bulldozed a track to the summit above the position, up which a tank could be dragged. A Lee tank crashed down onto the tennis court and destroyed the Japanese trenches and bunkers there. The 2nd Bn, the Dorsetshire Regiment, followed up and captured the hillside where the bungalow formerly stood, thus finally clearing Kohima Ridge. The terrain had been reduced to a fly- and rat-infested wilderness, with half-buried human remains everywhere. The conditions under which the Japanese troops had lived and fought were described by several British sources as "unspeakable".

The situation worsened for the Japanese, as yet more Allied reinforcements arrived. The 7th Indian Infantry Division was arriving piecemeal by road and rail from the Arakan. Its 33rd Indian Brigade had already been released from XXXIII Corps reserve to join the fighting on Kohima Ridge on 4 May. The 114th Indian Infantry Brigade and the Division HQ arrived on 12 May, and (with 161st Brigade under command), the division concentrated on recapturing the ''Naga Village'' from the north. The independent 268th Indian Infantry Brigade was used to relieve the brigades of British 2nd Division and allow them to rest, before they resumed their drive southward along the Imphal Road. Nevertheless when the Allies launched another attack on 16 May, the Japanese continued to defend ''Naga Village'' and ''Aradura Spur'' tenaciously.

Japanese retreat

The decisive factor was the Japanese lack of supplies. The Japanese 31st Division had begun the operation with only three weeks' supply of food. Once these supplies were exhausted, they had had to make do with meagre captured stocks and what they could forage in increasingly hostile local villages. This was partly due to the British 23rd LRP Brigade, which had been operating behind the Japanese division. They had cut the Japanese supply lines and prevented them foraging in the Naga Hills to the east of Kohima. The Japanese had mounted two resupply missions, using captured jeeps to carry supplies forward from the Chindwin, but they brought mainly artillery and anti-tank ammunition rather than food.

By the middle of May, Sato's troops were starving. He considered that Mutaguchi and the HQ of Japanese Fifteenth Army were taking little notice of his situation, as they had issued several confusing and contradictory orders to him during April. Because the main attack on Imphal faltered around the middle of April, Mutaguchi wished 31st Division or parts of it to join in the attack on Imphal from the north, even while the division was struggling to capture and hold Kohima. Sato considered that his division was being "messed around" without proper planning or consideration for the conditions. Nor did Sato believe that Fifteenth Army headquarters were exerting themselves to move supplies to his division. He began pulling his troops back to conserve their strength, thus allowing the British to secure Kohima Ridge.

On 25 May, Sato notified Fifteenth Army HQ that he would withdraw on 1 June unless his division received supplies. Finally on 31 May, he abandoned ''Naga Village'' and other positions north of the road, in spite of orders from Mutaguchi to hang on to his position.

Miyazaki's detachment continued to fight rearguard actions and demolish bridges along the road to Imphal, but was eventually driven off the road and forced to retreat eastwards. The remainder of the Japanese division retreated painfully south, but found very little to eat, as most of what few supplies had been brought forward across the Chindwin had been consumed by other Japanese units, who were as desperately hungry as Sato's men. Many of the 31st Division were too enfeebled to drag themselves further south than Ukhrul (near the Sangshak battlefield), where hospitals had been set up, but with no medicines, medical staff or food, or Humine south of Ukhrul, where Sato vainly hoped to find supplies.

Indian XXXIII Corps followed up the retreating Japanese. The British 2nd Division advanced down the main road while the 7th Indian Division (using mules and jeeps for most of its transport) moved through the rough terrain east of the road. On 22 June, the leading troops of British 2nd Division met the main body of 5th Indian Infantry Division advancing north from Imphal at Milestone 109, south of Kohima. The siege of Imphal was over, and truck convoys quickly carried vital heavy supplies to the troops at Imphal.

During the Battle of Kohima, the British and Indian forces had lost 4,064 men, dead, missing and wounded. Against this the Japanese had lost 5,764 battle casualties in the Kohima area, and many of the 31st Division subsequently died of disease or starvation.

Aftermath

After ignoring army orders for several weeks, Sato was removed from command of Japanese 31st Division early in July. The entire Japanese offensive was broken off at the same time. Slim had always derided Sato as the most unenterprising of his opponents, and even recounted dissuading the RAF from bombing Sato's HQ because he wanted him kept alive, as doing so would help the Allied cause. Japanese sources, however, blame his superior, Mutaguchi, for both the weaknesses of the original plan, and the antipathy between himself and Sato which led to Sato concentrating on saving his division rather than driving on distant objectives. Sato refused an invitation to commit seppuku and demanded a court martial to clear his name and make his complaints about Fifteenth Army HQ public. At the prompting of Mutaguchi's superior, Lieutenant General Masakazu Kawabe, commander of Burma Area Army, doctors declared that Sato had suffered a mental breakdown and was unfit to stand trial. He was replaced as commander of the 31st Division by Lieutenant General Tsutshitaro Kawada. Major General Miyazaki was promoted, and appointed to command the Japanese 54th Division, serving in Arakan.

The huge losses the Japanese suffered in the Battles of Imphal and Kohima (mainly through starvation and disease) crippled their defence of Burma against Allied attacks during the following year.

Aerial resupply

At the sieges of both Kohima and Imphal, the Allies relied entirely on resupply from the air by British and American aircraft flying from India until the road from the railhead at Dimapur was cleared. At Kohima, due to the narrow ridgelines, accuracy in the dropping of air delivered logistics proved to be a considerable problem and as the fighting intensified and the defended area decreased, the task became harder and more dangerous.

The increasing dominance of Allied airpower by this stage of the Burma campaign was a major contributor in helping the Allies turn the tide of the war in this theatre. Allied air supply enabled British and Indian troops to hold out in positions that they might otherwise have had to abandon due to shortages of ammunition, food and water, as reinforcements and supplies could be brought in even when garrisons were surrounded and cut off. Conversely, the Japanese found their own supply situation harder to resolve and in the end it was one of the deciding factors in the battle.

Victoria Cross

Two Victoria Crosses were awarded for actions during the Battle of Kohima: Lance Corporal John Pennington Harman, 4th Battalion, The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment, 161st Indian Infantry Brigade, 5th Indian Division; and Bvt. Captain John Neil Randle, 2nd Battalion, The Royal Norfolk Regiment, 2nd Division.

Memorial

Kohima has a large cemetery for the Allied war dead maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The cemetery lies on the slopes of Garrison Hill, in what was once the Deputy Commissioner's tennis court which was the scene of the Battle of the Tennis Court. The epitaph carved on the memorial of the 2nd British Division in the cemetery has become world-famous as the Kohima Epitaph. It reads:

The verse is attributed to John Maxwell Edmonds (1875–1958), and is thought to have been inspired by the epitaph written by Simonides to honour the Greeks who fell at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC.

Notes

References

External links

War memorial

Royal Engineers Museum Engineers at Imphal and Kohima

Ball of Fire: 5th Indian Division in World War II, by Anthony Brett-James

Battle of Kohima-Imphal animated battle map by Jonathan Webb

Tom Hope(a Wearside man) recalls horrors of the brutal Battle of Kohima

- With the Durham Light Infantry 25 years ago

Category:World War II operations and battles of the Southeast Asia Theatre Category:Military history of Burma during World War II Category:Military history of India during World War II Category:Indian National Army Category:Kohima Category:1944 in India Category:History of Nagaland

fr:Bataille de Kohima hu:Kohimai csata mr:कोहिमाची लढाई ru:Кохимская битва fi:Kohiman taistelu

Name	Harry Patch
Birth date	June 17, 1898
Death date	July 25, 2009(aged )
Birth place	Combe Down, Bath, Somerset
Death place	Wells, Somerset
Placeofburial	St Michael's Church, Monkton Combe
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Rank	Private
Branch
Serviceyears	1916–1918
Unit	7th Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
Battles	First World War Western Front Battle of Passchendaele
Awards	Officer of the Légion d'honneurKnight of the Order of LeopoldBritish War MedalVictory Medal1939–45 Defence MedalNational Service MedalHors de combatFreedom of the City of WellsHonorary Master of Arts, Bristol
Laterwork	PlumberFirefighter }}

Henry John "Harry" Patch (17 June 1898 – 25 July 2009) – known as "the Last Fighting Tommy" – was a British supercentenarian, briefly the oldest man in Europe, and the last surviving soldier to have fought in the trenches of the First World War. Patch was, with Claude Choules and Florence Green, one of the last three surviving British veterans of the First World War and, along with Frank Buckles and John Babcock, one of the last five veterans worldwide.

At the time of his death, aged 111 years, 38 days, Patch was the verified third-oldest man in the world, the oldest man in Europe and the 68th oldest man.

Biography

Patch was born in the village of Combe Down, near Bath, Somerset, England. He appears in the 1901 Census as a two-year-old boy along with his stonemason father William John, mother Elizabeth Ann (née Morris), and older brothers George Frederick and William Thomas at a house called "Fonthill". The family are recorded at the same address "Fonthill Cottage" in the 1911 census. His elder brothers are recorded as a carpenter and banker mason respectively. Patch left school in 1913, and started work as an apprentice plumber in Bath.

In October 1916, he was conscripted as a private into the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, serving as an assistant gunner in a Lewis Gun section. Patch arrived in France in June 1917. During his time in France he fought at the Battle of Passchendaele (also known as the Third Battle of Ypres). Patch was injured in the groin when a shell exploded overhead at 22:30 on 22 September 1917, killing three of his comrades. After this he was removed from the front line and returned to England on 23 December 1917. Patch referred to 22 September as his personal Remembrance Day. He was convalescing on the Isle of Wight when the Armistice was declared.

Of his time in the Great War he said: "When the war ended, I don't know if I was more relieved that we'd won or that I didn't have to go back. Passchendaele was a disastrous battle – thousands and thousands of young lives were lost. It makes me angry. Earlier this year, I went back to Ypres to shake the hand of Herr Kuentz, Germany's only surviving veteran from the war. It was emotional. He is 107. We've had 87 years to think what war is. To me, it's a licence to go out and murder. Why should the British government call me up and take me out to a battlefield to shoot a man I never knew, whose language I couldn't speak? All those lives lost for a war finished over a table. Now what is the sense in that?"

After the war, Patch returned to work as a plumber, during which time he spent four years working on the Wills Memorial Building in Bristol, before becoming manager of the plumbing company's branch in Bristol. A year above the age to be called up for military service at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, he became a part-time fireman in Bath, dealing with the Baedeker raids. Later in the war he moved to Street, Somerset where he ran a plumbing company until his retirement at age 65.

In 1918, Patch married Ada Billington, who died in 1976. They had two sons, both of whom predeceased him: Dennis, who died in 1984, and Roy, who died in 2002. At age 81 he married his second wife, Jean, who died in 1984. His third partner, Doris, who lived in the same nursing home as him, died in 2007.

Last Tommy

Patch had refused to discuss his war experiences, until approached in 1998 for the BBC One documentary ''Veterans'', on reflection of which and the realisation that he was part of a fast dwindling group of veterans of "the war to end all wars", persuaded him to step into the limelight.

Patch was featured in the 2003 television series ''World War 1 in Colour'', and was quoted as saying "...if any man tells you he went over the top and he wasn't scared, he's a damn liar." In the same series, he reflected upon his lost friends and the moment when he came face to face with a German soldier. He recalled the story of Moses descending from Mount Sinai with God's Ten Commandments, including "thou shalt not kill", and could not bring himself to kill the German. Instead, he shot him in the shoulder, which made him drop his rifle. But he carried on running towards Patch's Lewis Gun, so he then shot him above the knee, and in the ankle. Patch said, "I had about five seconds to make the decision. I brought him down, but I didn't kill him."

–Commenting on graves at a Flanders war cemetery, July 2007.}}

In November 2004, at the age of 106, he met Charles Kuentz, a 107-year-old veteran who had fought on the German side at the battlefield of Passchendaele (and on the French side in World War II). Patch was quoted as saying: "I was a bit doubtful before meeting a German soldier. Herr Kuentz is a very nice gentleman however. He is all for a united Europe and peace – and so am I". Kuentz had brought along a tin of Alsatian biscuits and Patch gave him a bottle of Somerset cider in return. The meeting was featured in a 2005 BBC TV programme ''The Last Tommy'', which told the story of six of the World War I veterans alive at the time.

In December 2004, Patch was given a present of 106 bottles of Patch's Pride Cider, which has been named after him and produced by the Gaymer Cider Company. In Spring 2005 he was interviewed by the ''Today'' programme in which he said of the First World war: "Too many died. War isn't worth one life", and said war was the "calculated and condoned slaughter of human beings". This interview was the inspiration for a 2009 song by the band Radiohead, "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)".

In July 2005, Patch voiced his outrage over plans to build a motorway in northern France over cemeteries of the First World War.

On 16 December 2005, Patch was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Bristol, whose buildings he helped construct in the 1920s. The University's newly-restored Wills Memorial Building was reopened by Patch on 20 February 2008. He was chosen for this honour as he was a member of the workforce that originally helped build the tower, which was opened on 9 June 1925 by King George V, an event which Patch also attended.

In July 2007, marking the 90th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of Passchendaele, in which he fought, Patch revisited the site of the battle in Flanders to pay his respects to the fallen on both sides of the conflict. He was accompanied by historian Richard van Emden. On this occasion, Patch described war as the "calculated and condoned slaughter of human beings" and said that "war isn't worth one life."

In August 2007, Patch's autobiography ''The Last Fighting Tommy'' was published, making him one of the oldest authors ever. With the proceeds from this book, Patch decided to fund an Inshore Lifeboat for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and he attended the RNLI's Lifeboat College on 20 July 2007 to officially name the boat ''The Doris and Harry''.

In February 2008, the poet laureate of the United Kingdom Andrew Motion was commissioned by the BBC West television programme ''Inside Out West'' to write a poem in Patch's honour. Entitled "The Five Acts of Harry Patch" it was first read at a special event at the Bishop's Palace in Wells where it was introduced by the Prince of Wales and received by Harry Patch.

In July 2008, Wells City Council conferred the freedom of the city of Wells on Patch.

On 27 September 2008, in a private ceremony attended by just a few people, Patch opened a memorial on the bank of the Steenbeek at the point where he crossed the river in 1917. The memorial reads:- "Here, at dawn, on 16 August 1917, the 7th Battalion, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 20th (Light) division, crossed the Steenbeek prior to their successful assault on the village on Langemarck. This stone is erected to the memory of fallen comrades, and to honour the courage, sacrifice and passing of the Great War generation. It is the gift of former Private and Lewis Gunner Harry Patch, No. 29295, C Company, 7th DCLI, the last surviving veteran to have served in the trenches of the Western Front."

In October 2008, Patch launched the 2008 Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal in Somerset. On 11 November 2008, marking the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I, together with fellow veterans Henry Allingham and Bill Stone, Patch laid a commemorative wreath for the Act of Remembrance at The Cenotaph in London, escorted by Victoria Cross recipient Johnson Beharry.

On 9 November 2008, the Master of the Queen's Music, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies attended the world premiere of his choral work paying tribute to Patch. The piece sets words by the then Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, and was performed at Portsmouth Cathedral by the London Mozart Players, the Portsmouth Grammar School chamber choir and the cathedral's choristers. The creation of the work was featured in ''A poem for Harry'', a BBC West documentary that was subsequently repeated on BBC Four. The programme subsequently won a gold medal at the New York Festivals International Television Programming and Promotion Awards.

On 18 July 2009, on the death of Henry Allingham, Patch became the oldest surviving veteran and also the oldest man in the United Kingdom. Patch was the last trench veteran of World War I. The penultimate Western Front veteran, the 108-year-old Fernand Goux of France, who died on 9 November 2008, fought for 8 days. He came out unscathed, unlike Patch and the last Alpine Front veteran, 110-year-old Delfino Borroni of Italy, who died on 26 October 2008. Patch was also the last surviving Tommy, since the death on 4 April 2009 of Netherwood Hughes, who was still in training when the war ended. The penultimate fighting Tommy, Andrew Rigby, died on 9 June 2006, the week before Patch's 108th birthday. Claude Choules, the last remaining First World War naval veteran, died on 5 May 2011.

–An extract from Patch's book ''The Last Fighting Tommy'' which was read out at his funeral by Marie-France André, the chargé d'affaires of the Belgian embassy, August 2009.}}

Medals

Harry Patch received eight medals.

For his service in the First World War he received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

In 1998, as a surviving veteran of the First World War who had fought for the Allies in France and Flanders, the President of the Republic of France appointed Patch a Knight of the Légion d'honneur. The award was presented to Patch on his 101st birthday. On 9 March 2009, Patch was appointed an Officer of the Légion d'honneur by the French Ambassador at his nursing home in Somerset.

On 7 January 2008, Albert II, King of the Belgians, conferred upon Patch the award of Knight of the Order of Leopold. He received the award from Jean-Michel Veranneman de Watervliet, Belgium's Ambassador to the United Kingdom at a ceremony in the Ambassador's residence in London on 22 September 2008, which coincidentally was the 91st anniversary of the day he was wounded in action, and three of his closest friends killed.

At the end of the Second World War, Patch was awarded the 1939–45 Defence Medal. This medal was subsequently lost and, on 20 September 2008, at a ceremony at Bath Fire Station, Patch was presented with a replacement medal.

Patch also received two commemorative medals: the National Service Medal and the Hors de combat medal, which signifies outstanding bravery of servicemen and women who have sustained wounds or injury in the line of duty.

In accordance with his wishes, Harry Patch's medals are now on display at the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry Museum in Bodmin.

Ribbons

Death

Patch died at 9 am on 25 July 2009, aged 111 years, one month, one week and one day. This was also seven days after the death of fellow veteran Henry Allingham, who was at the time aged 113. The Prince of Wales led the tributes to him, saying: "Today, nothing could give me greater pride than paying tribute to Harry Patch, of Somerset." Patch was the last male First World War veteran living in Europe, and the last verified remaining British male to have been born in the 1890s.

Funeral

Patch's funeral was held in Wells Cathedral on Thursday 6 August 2009. At 11.00 am, the bells of Wells Cathedral were rung 111 times to mark each year of his life. A quarter peal of Grandsire Caters was also rung, half muffled, while quarter-peals were also rung in Bristol and at several other churches around the country. His coffin travelled from his home, Fletcher House, to the cathedral where the service commenced at noon. The theme of the service was "Peace and Reconciliation" and in addition to pallbearers from The Rifles (the successor regiment to the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry), Patch's coffin was accompanied by two private soldiers from each of the armies of Belgium, France and Germany. In accordance with Patch's instructions, no guns were allowed at the funeral and even the officiating soldiers did not have their ceremonial weapons.

Due to the high levels of interest in the funeral, which was broadcast live on TV and radio, a total of 1,050 tickets were made available for the service. Some, wanting to pay their respects, slept overnight on the Cathedral Green in order to get tickets. The funeral was led by the Dean of Wells, The Very Revd John Clarke and the Bishop of Taunton, The Rt Revd Peter David Maurice. Among notables to attend the funeral were The Duchess of Cornwall and The Duchess of Gloucester.

Patch was buried at St Michael's Church, Monkton Combe, near his parents and brother.

Legacy

Race horse trainer and owner Michael Jarvis named a horse after Patch in 2008. Having bought the horse in October 2007, during that year's Poppy Appeal, the Newmarket trainer decided to name him after a First World War veteran. Michael's daughter suggested Patch after reading an article about him. The horse fittingly won the 1.30 at Doncaster racecourse on 8 November 2008, the day before Remembrance Sunday.

A commemorative plaque in Patch's memory is to be placed on the Guildhall in Bath.

The BBC commissioned Carol Ann Duffy, the Poet Laureate, to write a poem to mark the deaths of Patch and Henry Allingham (who died one week before Patch, on 18 July 2009). The result, ''Last Post'', was read by Duffy on the ''Today programme'' on BBC Radio 4 on 30 July 2009, the day of Allingham's funeral.

On 5 August 2009, Radiohead released the song "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)", in tribute to the recently deceased Patch. Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke explained that the song was inspired by "a very emotional interview with him" in 2005, on the ''Today programme'' on BBC Radio 4. The song was sold direct from Radiohead's website for £1, with proceeds donated to the British Legion.

In early summer 2009, Harry recorded some spoken word parts for UK heavy metal band Imperial Vengeance, to be included on the title track to the album ''At the Going Down of the Sun''. The song was about the horrors of the trenches and Patch read part of the poem ''For the Fallen''.

Former UK Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion composed a poem, ''The Death of Harry Patch'', which he read for the first time on ''The World at One'' Radio 4 programme on Armistice Day 2010.

See also

List of British supercentenarians

List of the verified oldest men

List of veterans of World War I who died in 2009

References

Bibliography

Notes

External links

Harry Patch in profile and Obituary (BBC)

Daily Telegraph Obituary

Guardian Obituary

BBC News report of Patch's 108th birthday

BBC News report of Patch's 109th birthday

BBC News report of Patch's 110th birthday

BBC News report of Patch's 111th birthday

Harry Patch WW1 British Light Infantry Website

In Memory of Harry Patch – A poem by former Royal Marine Commando, Michael Browne

Radiohead, words inspired by an interview of Harry Patch's. BBC Radio 4 ''Today'' programme">"Harry Patch (In memory of)" by Radiohead, words inspired by an interview of Harry Patch's. BBC Radio 4 ''Today'' programme

Photos of Harry Patch's grave at Findagrave

Category:British Army personnel of World War I Category:British firefighters Category:Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry soldiers Category:English supercentenarians Category:Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Category:Order of Leopold recipients Category:People from Bath, Somerset Category:Plumbers Category:World War I veterans Category:People from Wells Category:1898 births Category:2009 deaths

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