Road of Bones: The Epic Siege of Kohima 1944

by Fergal Keane

Kohima. In this remote Indian village near the border with Burma, a tiny force of British and Indian troops faced the might of the Imperial Japanese Army. Outnumbered ten to one, the defenders fought the Japanese hand to hand in a battle that was amongst the most savage in modern warfare.

Genres: History, World War II, Nonfiction, War, India, Military Fiction, Military History

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Dipanjan · Rating 4 out of 5]

War is savage, war is madness, war is demon, war is macabre, war is tragedy. Fergal Keane's " Road of Bones: The siege of Kohima " is in general terms yet another tale of brutal madness and utter savagery which was very common all around the world in the turbulent days of World War 2. But in broader sense the book depicts the epic battle of struggle for survival of the two mighty empires from the pre-war world dominated by imperial powers. The sun of the British empire was already about to set in the eastern horizon while on the other hand the megalomaniac dream of imperial Japan to be the imperial master of the Asiatic empire was already turning into a nightmare of defeat,doom and destruction. While the British empire was desperately trying to restore its prestige as the mightiest empire of the world by inflicting a major blow to the invading Japanese army, the empire of the sun was frantically playing one of its last gambles by invading India and crushing the British-Indian army on the way in the hope of turning the tide of the war in their favour. Indeed Kohima Imphal battle, from this perspective was not merely a battle but a struggle for survival for both the empires.

The Battle of Kohima is also quite enigmatic and confusing from the Indian point of view. If an Indian is asked which side would u have taken had u been offered the option to choose a side, i am sure he would be confused to answer the question. The tale of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and his Indian National Army had become a legend in the independent India despite several attempts by the British imperialists to brand him as 'the Quisling of India'. Even Sohevu Angami, the Naga Havilder who devotedly fought for the Britishers in the Battle of Kohima admitted to the author of the book that he respected Subhash Bose as a person ( "I think his ideas were good.Even though we were opponents i came to respect him and what he was fighting for" ). Let alone millions of Indian people both in India and abroad, who regard Bose as one of the most selfless patriots of India ( Even Gandhi referred Bose as " the patriot of patriots" ). The point is the battle of Kohima and Imphal was unique in the sense that apart from the Britishers against the Japanese , the battlefield of Kohima and Imphal witnessed the savage clashes between Indians who were loyal to British and Indians who were loyal to Bose's ideals and to the noble cause of India's independence. Indians fighting along with their British comrades were struggling to save India from Japanese imperialism while on the other hand Indians loyal to Bose were fighting to liberate India from British imperialism. Really such a battle is an exception in itself.

Now come to the point. What impress me most after reading this book are the selfless bravery and sacrifice of John Harman in the battle of Kohima, the guerrilla fight of Ursula Graham Bower along with her Naga subordinates , the personality of Charles Pawsey ( The deputy commissioner of Naga region) who refused to leave the Naga people to the doom and destruction in the hands of the Japanese invaders and instead stayed with and assisted them throughout the war and last but not least the fellow-feeling and sympathy of Japanese commander Kotuku Sato for the ordinary Japanese soldiers who fought under him and were battered and devastated by thirst,hunger and diseases.

In nutshell Fergal keane's account of Kohima battle is an honest attempt by the author to present before the posterity the horrors of war and the selfless sacrifice of thousands and thousands of soldiers from both sides who gave their lives for the causes of the respective empires which they represented.

[JD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before reading this I knew some details about the fighting at Kohima, and now I know not only about the battle, but also the history of the area and of the Burmese campaign during the war. This is a very well researched and written books, that is filled with lots of great details that adds value to the book. The story is written not only to give the broader tactical details of the campaign, but is also a soldiers' story and there are many first-hand accounts in here. The fighting around Kohima was probably some of the most brutal during the war, and the author describes everything vividly and really takes you into the trenches with the men of the 1st Assam and the West Kents. Highly recommended!!

[Campbell Mcaulay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rorke's Drift, Stalingrad, Dien Bien Phu, Khe Sahn. The siege, held by a vastly outnumbered force against a persistent enemy is one of the most moving and enduring of war stories. Most will have heard of at least two of the aforementioned examples, but the battle for Kohima is one that may be new to many. It, along with the concurrent Siege of Imphal turned the tide against the relentless Japanese Imperial Army in Burma and signalled the beginning of the end of the war in the far east.

Much of the war in Burma was fought around a series of towns, villages and junctions on the all-important Lines of Communication - roads - running through the jungle between Burma and India. In 1944, The Japanese Army launched a 15,000 man offensive to take India from the hands of its Imperial masters and one of the battles focussed on Kohima, a tiny town in the Naga hills that was defended by a paltry 1,500 men of the British and Indian Armies. The perimeter was barely a mile in circumference and in places only a hundred yards across. The battle was fought, as are all sieges, with great savagery and persistence on both sides, but the level of that savagery is remarkable. One of the most hotly contested areas in the town was the District Commisioner's tennis court, and it's sobering to read the description of this part of the battle which sounds more like something from The Somme, thirty years before...

"Lance Corporal Dennis Wykes was also dug in with A Company at the tennis court, In old age his heart would quicken as he described the Japanese attack. 'They came howlingand screaming and full of go. It was terrifying but the only good thingwas the screaming let you know where they were coming from and so we got our lines of fire right and mowed them down. Wave after wave, we cut them down with machine guns. I didn't know if I was killing one or a dozen. I just swept the machinegun through 'em and that was it.'"

Keane's account may not be the first and perhaps it says nothing new, but it brings the story of this terrible battle to a new generation of readers. It is very very well written; as good as any other military history I have ever read. It not only provides a clear and comprehensive account of the battle itself but also describes the political situation in the Far East and the wider campaigns leading up to the moment. There are plenty of maps (although they are distributed rather randomly through the paperback version) and a nice mix of tactical description and personal account. There are some fine pen pictures of the leading personalities of the battle, including Slim and Generals Sato and Mutagachi, and also of the humble squaddies. Importantly, Keane has looked to both sides of the line and has gathered accounts from the Japanese, Indian, Gurkha and Naga combatants as well as the British. Indeed, the description of the operations by the Naga hill men (led by the indomitable Ursula Graham Bower) are a fascinating addition to the story.

"An (Assam Regt) officer moving into his position at the tennis court found several (West Kent Regt) men leaning on the parapet in firing positions. He ordered them to move and then he pushed one. There was no response. They were all dead."

Highly recommended

[Michael Burnam-Fink · Rating 5 out of 5]

Road of Bones is a masterpiece of military history, using an single battle to illuminate an entire conflict. Burma is the forgotten front of the Second World War. Relative to most military history buffs, I'm an expert in the theater, because I've read General Slim's memoir Defeat Into Victory, but that doesn't mean that there's plenty more to learn. Kohima was the turning point of the Burma campaign, which Feane uses as a lens to examine the British Empire at it's height, and the Japanese Empire at it's greatest extent.

The larger campaign of which Kohima was the final battle was one of those grand throws of the dice which had served Japan so well at Pearl Harbor and Singapore, and which would turn against them later in the war. The basic plan was to march an army through hundreds of miles of trackless jungle, across rivers and ravines, to conquer India, the diamond in the diadem of Empire. In the optimistic Japanese plans, Indian sepoy soldiers would turn against their white officers, and the difficulties of moving supplies would be obviated by capturing British stockpiles. This bold attack, carried out with stealth and surprise, would catch the British in their soft underbelly and lead to a wave of retreats and surrenders which would see IJA troops in Bombay in short order.

In execution, this attack required conquering the border post of Kohima first, with the 15,000 Japanese soldiers of the 31st Division facing off against roughly 2500 British and Indian defenders. The Allied forces in Kohima were line-of-communication troops, bolstered by the veteran King's Own Royal West Kent Regiment and the Assam Rifles. For two weeks, the Allies faced assaults characterized by the fanatic light infantry tactics that the Japanese army relied on. Then a relief column made it through, Japanese food supplies failed entirely, and they began the long, harrowing retreat.

This is more than a military history. Keane captures the entire feeling of the edge of empire in the twilight days of the Raj. I was particularly taken with Ursula Graham Bower, a British woman who was an anthropologist among the local Naga tribes, and who became a guerrilla commander against the Japanese. For reasons of language and literacy, this account is biased towards the British, who had the majority of survivors and surviving documents, but Keane does justice to the Japanese and the Indians who left records. The acrimony between Japanese commanders is astounding, and Keane's book serves as belated vindication of General Sato of the 31st, who did his best to achieve an impossible mission.

Simply an astounding book.

[Ranjan BAsu · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the very few "GOOD" books depicting WW2 on Indian Soil

[Tarn Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fergal Keane is an incredibly talent writer, an artist with words and the ability to bring the horror and the panic of armed conflict to life in the reader's mind. It details the story of Kohima, and the Burmese conflict where a small force of British and Indian soldiers took on the might of the Japanese army and won. As brilliant as it is horrifying, Keane captures in 500 short pages the magnificence of man and the cruel folly of leaders who will do anything to achieve their dream of power. Without doubt one of the best books of WW2 I have read.

[Brad Trefz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good account as far as it goes. Fergal Keane includes details from his own interviews over the years with many veterans of the campaign that make his book a rich, personal history from a grunts eye level of the battle that includes both British and Japanese viewpoints. The Assam regiment gets short shrift, as do the American aircrews. The Indian National Army only passing reference.

Keane is also infected with a sort of knee jerk anti-Americanism that pops up time to time. The only time he seems to reach out to the grander scope of the battle it is to criticize: Churchill, Stillwell and the Americans, or the Nationalist Chinese, for some thing or another. He never adequately puts his narrative into the broader context of the campaign in Burma and China, only briefly discussing the effort at Kohima and Imphal as a defense of the British Empire doomed to fail. When he attempts to discuss the bigger picture it is usually inadequate and suffers biases.

Still as far as they go, these are episodic diversions from his primary narrative, centered on the West Kents.
In that regard, the book can seem somewhat scattershot. Where he is detailed and focused (at Kohima on the West Kents, and to a lesser degree on their Japanese opponents) he weaves a solid narrative. When he digresses to other aspects of the bigger battle for Burma, the Naga, the V Force, etc, each a topic that could (and should) get their own books, it reads more like he was blessed with a plethora of material he wanted to include, because it is so rich, and when he sticks it in, he loses his focus in the process, before jolting back to his primary narrative, leaving the reader wanting more on the subject he has diverted to.

For students of military history the narrative is more social than battle history, more soldiers than commanders. I recommend the book as an introduction to a rich and relatively unknown side of the battle for Burma, compared to the more famous exploits of others like Wingate and the Chindits or the actions of Merrill's Mauraders, but it needs supplementing with other works and perspectives.

Future authors will find much to mine in Keane's account, and it is my hope his source material (including hours of recordings with veterans) finds its way to a proper archive somewhere. This is a good book about part of the Burma campaign, a bloody and awful part, but it is not the best book about it, which will be up to a future author to weave.

[Aditya Kulkarni · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Battle of Kohima is widely hailed as the Stalingard of the East for the ferocity with which the allied forces and the Japanese forces fought against each other. The combat details are described in depth by the author and you can feel the intensity of the battle as you read it. The Battle of Kohima was picked as the greatest battle in which the British forces participated during the Second World War and the author does full justice in narrating the events of the battle.

I understand the author who happens to be an Irishman would definitely focus more on the British forces. However, the Japanese forces are also covered in great detail but where I was left a little disappointed was in the coverage of the Indian personnel of the allied effort against the Japanese. Being an Indian, I would have loved it if the author had shed some more light on the Indian effort.

The epilogue part is not something that I agree with, especially the author discussing about "human rights" violations of the Indian armed forces which has generally been greatly exaggerated by the Western media particularly those who have a strong bias against India. However, I would recommend this book especially for the way the combative details have been described in the book. I hope that one day, I get to visit Kohima which is located in the state of Nagaland in my native India.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must admit that I tend to focus my ww2 reading on the western and eastern fronts. My knowledge of the Pacific battles is very limited, the soldiers who fought in places like Burma are known as the forgotten army.
This is about the battle for Kohima Ridge with a mixed commonwealth army fighting the Japanese, an intense and brutal battle as horrific as Stalingrad though in different ways. Reading this made me want to learn more about General Slim, who many regard as the British army's finest commander in WW2.

[Danesha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A vivid engaging read

A truly interesting read. Well researched and well presented. It contextualizes the action and different rationale very well. It take you through the hell that is war from a very human perspective.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1944, seeking to recover some prestige following defeats at the hands of the Americans in the Pacific, Japan launched an attack from Burma towards India. In what has become known as a forgotten war, with the world’s attention focussed on Europe, some of the fiercest fighting took place at the hill town of Kohima where British and Indian troops held off a much larger Japanese force.

Keane tells the story of this pivotal battle with journalistic detachment. There are accounts of the fighting from both sides and with the viewpoints of everyone from generals down to the infantrymen in the trenches.

This is a very readable account and makes clear that the hardships of the campaign came – for both sides - from the terrain and the difficulty of keeping troops supplied as much as from fighting the enemy.

There are several maps which don’t really work well in the Kindle edition, but otherwise this is a detailed and vivid portrait and a fitting tribute to those, of all nationalities, that took part.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very detailed book about the siege of Kohima giving the progress of the war in the far east and who the generals were in the British and Japanese armies. The lead up to the battle and the tenacious way the British and Indian troops fought as they had heard how prisoners were treated. The British had had a disasterous campaign and desperately needed a win at all costs. This was eventually acheived in horendous conditions with terrible casualties on both sides but the Japanese suffering greater casualties as they were attacking fixed positions. The aftermath of the fighting is also discussed and how the soldiers found it so difficult to settle in to civilian life. The Nagas local head hunter tribes who helped the British whose way of life was completely changed with Indian independance and were not given the help they deserved. It would be hard to imagine conscrpts fighting in the same way now.

[Chris Mallows]

Max Hastings/Sunday Times April 2010
The men of Britain’s wartime 14th Army in Burma bitterly resented the fact that nobody at home took much notice of what they were doing. By 1944, Churchill knew that the Americans were heading for victory in the Pacific. The British had suffered repeated jungle defeats at Japanese hands, even in 1943 when they enjoyed superiority of numbers.

Only with the utmost reluctance did the prime minister agree to prepare for a new offensive, to meet insistent American demands to open the land route to China through north Burma. But, even as British and Indian forces assembled in northeast India, the Japanese launched three divisions on their own spoiling operation.

The armies collided at two Assamese road junctions, separated by less than 100 miles, which passed into the legend of the British Army. Between April and June 1944, Imphal and Kohima witnessed some of the fiercest fighting of the eastern war. Fergal Keane focuses on the siege of Kohima, telling a brilliant story of human endeavour and suffering from both sides.

The speed of the Japanese advance caught 14th Army’s commander, Bill Slim, by surprise. Until the last moment, the British failed to identify Kohima as the objective of General Kotuku Sato’s 31st Division. When the Japanese advance guard met Imperial army pickets outside the little town, many of the Indian soldiers fled.

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Keane recognises that the Indian army’s legend is overblown. Some of its units did wonderful things, but some were poor soldiers. Though the British cherished romantic delusions about Indian loyalties, it is unsurprising that some changed sides as prisoners, joining the so-called Indian National Army to fight (unimpressively, as the book recounts) for the Japanese.

Colonel Hugh Richards, charged with commanding the defence, had to improvise positions with a ragtag garrison, of which the most coherent element was a battalion of the Royal West Kents. “Chaos and low morale reigned supreme,” in the words of a British officer. Much of Keane’s tale relates how the Kents, initially 444 men, held the low hills of Kohima with a medley of Indian soldiers through days of relentless Japanese mortaring, sniping, shelling and day and night assaults by screaming infantry. The district commissioner’s bungalow and tennis court became scenes of ghastly carnage.

The author paints a host of vivid pen portraits: of Lieutenant Colonel John Laverty, the harsh, unlovable Kents’ commanding officer, who despised Richards and sought to ignore his authority; of district commissioner Charles Pawsey, who insisted on staying through the siege to protect the interests of his beloved Naga tribesmen. Corporal John Harman was a misfit, embittered by growing up with a millionaire father who was eventually jailed for embezzlement. On the battlefield he displayed suicidal courage, seeming to think himself unkillable. When at last he was hit and lay dying in the arms of his company commander, who called for stretcher- bearers, Harman said: “Don’t bother, sir…I got the lot. It was worth it.” He received a posthumous VC.

At the outset, the British held a ridge a mile long. After nine days cut off, the West Kents had lost more than a third of their strength, and the perimeter had shrunk to a 400-yard square. The trees on Garrison Hill, where the British made their final stand, were stripped of foliage by shellfire and grenades, which both sides used in thousands. A mortally wounded Welsh soldier named Williams pleaded pathetically with Lance Corporal Dennis Wykes: “Don’t let me die!” But Wykes murmured grimly to himself: “I can’t stop you dying, mate.” Nobody could, at Kohima. Water was chronically short, and the local Naga people suffered terribly.

Keane has taken immense pains to gather accounts of the Japanese experience. Their general had recklessly overextended his supply lines, and within weeks his soldiers began to starve. Some of their attacks were designed simply to seize “Churchill supplies” (British rations), as they called them. Japanese courage was as great as ever, but the British were bemused by the manner in which Sato continued to batter headlong at Kohima, instead of bypassing it. On April 20, a relief column broke through, enabling the West Kents’ ragged, filthy, bearded survivors to withdraw amid cries from Indian soldiers they passed of “Shabash!” (“Well done!”)

Other British units thereafter endured more weeks of costly fighting to push back the Japanese. Men fought from room to room of Pawsey’s shattered bungalow. But the tide had turned. The Japanese, always short of artillery, were reduced to six rounds a gun a day. Not only were Sato’s men starving, but they were also wracked by every kind of tropical disease.

Their retreat from Kohima, which began on May 13, created the road of bones that gives Keane his title. While British and Indian forces lost about 1,200 dead and 3,000 wounded in the battle, the Japanese suffered 7,315 casualties, mostly dead.

The defence of Kohima, and the larger battle further south at Imphal, decided the campaign. Though hard fighting lay ahead when Slim, in his turn, advanced across the Chindwin river into Burma, the 1944 actions had smashed the best Japanese forces in the region. The British and Indian armies restored their self-respect, after years of failures and humiliations.

Slim won chiefly because he displayed good generalship — after some initial mistakes — and possessed formidable US air supply-dropping resources, command of the skies, armour and much more artillery than the attackers. But British infantry also performed a remarkable feat of arms, and Keane’s masterly narrative does full justice to their achievement.

Road of Bones by Fergal Keane
HarperPress £25 pp576

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A likeable and very readable account of the war in Burma, successfully, imo, portrayed by the author. Covering many sides of the conflict; Japanese, British, American and Indian incorporating the political, military and personal cost of war.

It revisits some of the ground covered by Robert Lyman’s: A War of Empires 2021, obviously using some of the newer released documentation of the conflict.

But what I particularly liked about this account was the human trauma aspect of the war on all the participants. It is not often that an historical novel on warfare can successfully integrate the human cost. Not just for the victors but also for the civilians the natives and the enemy. The author succeeds here.

[Bill V · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic read. The author does a great job of balancing personal anecdotes, even from lower ranked soldiers, with the overall narrative. I had previously known of the Imphal-Kohima campaign but never knew so many of the details, such as the conflicts between the respective commands. I wasn't aware of the extent of the acrimony within the Japanese Army's hierarchy, namely Mutaguchi and his subordinate generals. All was not perfectly well within the British command. I truly felt sorry for the common soldiers on both sides.
My biggest criticism is with the index, which is virtually useless (at least with this copy of the book) as well as the maps, which are not easy to understand. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book tells of one of the most horrendous battles I have read about. It is a very balanced account telling the of the English, Indian, Naga and Japanese experiences. What really makes it a five star read is the writing. Many non-fiction books are interesting but a real slog to read. This was a breeze to read and at times seemed more like a novel. Can't recommend this book enough.

As another book said "Every book is a chance to try another life you could have lived". Not so sure I would want to have lived through Kohima.

[Ananta Pathak · Rating 4 out of 5]

When we talk of Second World War and battles, one need not necessarily think of Kohima, among all places where one of the decisive battle took place. But through this splendid book, Fergal Keane has done a brilliant of informing us with such heart rending tale, some of the utter atrocities and tale of pure horror of war which makes one really think of the futility of it all. There are many stories of courage and kindness also even among the brutality of war. When I will be in Kohima, I will look at the place with a different angle trying to locate the areas or stories after reading the book

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had seen a History Channel special on the battle but one hour of television could nto do it justice.

Excellent detail of the battle. The backgroud prior to and folllowup of the battle was very interesting without getting bogged down in too much detail. I also liked the epilogue detailing the lives of some of the main combatants after the war.

[Mr R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for my research!

For my second murder mystery novel involving famous battles and last stands, Fergal Keane's The Siege of Kohima, has ticked all the boxes, for my research into what has been described as Britain's greatest battle. I am looking forward to reading more from this excellent award winning author.
Will Roberts

[Ian Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anybody wanting to get an insight into the truely ghastly nature of war in the jungles of Burma should look no further than this excellent volume.

My only criticism would be that the book starts off with viewpoints from both the British and Japanese perspectives, but as the battles evolve the storyline is told mostly from the British side.

[Jim Lambert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Little Known Battles, Real Tragedy

The ETO dominates our memory and our reading. Road of Bones reveals the reality of the global war. The images Keane draws for the reader are overwhelming. A must read for all students of WW II.

[Nick Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compelling read for those with little or no knowledge of the siege of Kohima

Thoroughly enjoyed the book. Fast-paced narrative and so much better representing the views of both the British (& allies) and the Japanese fighting men. Thank you.

[Tracy Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is one of courage, bravery and stubbornness and the book is worth a read, but the language is a bit flowery and the story drags a bit to start with. My advice, stick with it and you will be rewarded

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up and thought, hmm, I know not much about the war in Burma. It's a great book for introducing you to the struggle. It pays image to soldiers and their suffering on both sides fo the fighting.

And yet, I didn't love this book.

[Chris Royals · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book worthy of the heroism of the defenders of Kohima. He does justice to the remarkable characters without becoming fantastical. Reads very well.

[Paul Pryce · Rating 5 out of 5]

No quarter given, and none asked for - this is a terrifying story and also a story of tremendous bravery.
An account of land war against the Japanese. Such an important battle in WW2 and yet so unknown.

[Chin Joo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Battle of Kohima is a major victory for the British against the Japanese after the humiliation of Malaya and Burma. To the Japanese, the time had come for a push into India. But to the British, the time had come to fight back. By the Battle of Kohima in March 1944, the Americans had won several engagements against the Japanese in the Pacific, D-Day was only a few months away, not much attention is therefore given to the British possessions in the Far East. Against this backdrop it was all the more remarkable that General Slim’s 14th Army was rebuilt in two years, from a tattered force in the wake of their defeat in Burma, into one that bested the Japanese (although at some points it was really a touch-and-go affair).

This book is one among a number of others on the Battle. However, unlike the few others I’ve read, this one attempted to present the events from both sides of the adversaries, researching and interviewing both British and Japanese participants (or their families). What emerged is an account that portrays the sufferings from both sides. In a battle in which none gave or expected any quarter, and for some two weeks, were separated by a tennis court, it is not hard to imagine that life was enormously difficult and for death to occur at random.

This is not a story of how one side survived against overwhelming odds. Both sides were engaged against each other, but the elements were there to inflict equal sufferings on both and the author told their story. It didn’t stop there. The stories of the frontline combatants while heart breaking, would not be complete without a peek into what was happening “upstairs”, and on this account, both the British and Japanese brasses have their respective conflicts and unfortunate dynamics Lavernty versus Richards on one side, Mutaguchi and Sato on the other. The dysfunctional relationships would carry on after the war, which to the credit of the author, was traced, resulting in a most complete story of the Battle.

I attended a talk by a historian on this Battle at which he said that despite the huge sufferings and death on both sides, the outcome of the Battle was of no strategic consequences. Perhaps the relatively low level of interest in the Battle attests to it. In this book, the author attempted to draw out some consequences of the British victory, including the avoidance of civil unrest in India and a better bargaining position for the British when negotiating the independence of India.

While these are all plausible, it remains a fact that the independence of India is also a precursor to violence and repercussions on a few fronts, at least one of which (the Partition) remains. The biggest loser though, is the Nagas who helped the British tremendously in their confrontation with the Japanese but were left holding the bag. Being too fragmented, few, and distant from the centre of power, made them out of the overall consideration. This, the author gave a very complete account.

Of the books I’ve read on this battle, this one gives the most complete account. There are more intense accounts focusing on the battle, but this one presents the most comprehensive picture from the strategic considerations, the action, the aftermath, and the sufferings laid bare. Best of all, the story is told from both sides of battle. An important book for those wanting to know about the battle.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a WW2 History reader this is a must read - describing the beginning of the end for Japanese expansionism.

It describes the defense of India and parts of what is now Myanmar by the British and Indian soldiery under General Slim. Well written and a relatively unknown part of the Asian warground, it is a great history.

As a complete aside, one of the soldiers was George Macdonald Fraser (unmentioned). If you've read his Highland Regiment series (The General Danced at Dawn etc.) they begin with the end of his Asian war. You'll also understand why Fraser and other soldiers worshipped the ground Slim walked on.

[Paul Gaglio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history of a long forgotten theater of the war in Southeast Asia and India. Extremely detailed and researched this book is only for true World War 2 buffs.

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read a little about the battles around Kohima, but never before a book entirely devoted to it, and quite a long one at that. The detail is incredible, and the supporting references numerous. There is a strong emphasis on the background of a declining British Empire, the end of British influence in India and Burma, and the terrible cost in human misery. The progress of the battle is described often in terms of incompetent leadership by both the British and the Japanese, with victory going to the side making the fewest mistakes. A balanced account is provided of both British and Japanese actions, with bone-crunching detail of sacrifices on both sides. Very gritty, and quite amazing.