Welcome to our very first digital exhibition. The Forgotten Battle was The Story’s first on-site temporary exhibition when we opened in June 2024. Last year, 2025, commemorated the 80th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day, and now you can explore The Forgotten Battle online. The Battle of Kohima, a crucial and often unrecognised conflict towards the end of the Second World War, involved the Durham Light Infantry and Japanese forces. We examine some of the art produced by soldiers during that time, share a range of incredible archive photographs, and post videos exploring remarkable objects. Each day we will share a poem inspired by The Forgotten Battle, some written by soldiers during service, giving a glimpse into both the horrors and courage of those involved.
A Tribute to Those of Kohima
In the heat and through monsoon
They could pay the pipers tune
For their courage was unequalled – even there
Where the Chindits went before
These men added to their score
And they won a battle honour with great flair-
Kohima was its name, and they earned undying fame
In the jungles and the deserts, as of yore.
Now, as years roll by, our pride
In those who fought and died
In their efforts to stem the tides of war
The FAITHFULS paid the price
In the land of teak and rice
They made their mark, for all to see
In the glory of their dead
The battled on ahead
Played a part out east, to set all Nations free
John Allen, 2nd Battalion DLI, 2nd British Infantry Division
Where is Kohima?
To understand the Battle of Kohima it is important to understand its landscape and geography.
Kohima is the capital of the Nagaland region of north-east India and is situated at 5,000 feet within the Manipur mountains in dense forest and jungle.
In 1944, India was part of the British Empire. During the War, Kohima was a significant strategic location due to its position on the only supply route between nearby Imphal and a base at Dimapur. Military stores and depots could be found throughout the area.
Kohima’s mountainous terrain meant that there was no easy way to move people, food, or ammunition.
Reflections from Kohima 1944
Don’t stand and weep for me
I am the wind
I’m wild and free
I am the mist in the cold night air
I am the summertime warm and fair
I am the gentle autumn rain
I am the sun on the ripened grain
I’ll be there when you lie in your bed
I am the pillow where you lay your head
In a raging storm, I am the eye
I am a thousand birds that fly
Don’t stand and weep for me
I am the wind
I’m wild and free
Remember every word of love that I said
I am the vision at the foot of your bed
I am the stars that shine in the night
A beautiful eagle in the morning light
Don’t stand and weep for me
I am the wind
I’m wild and free
Fusilier John Done, 1st/8th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, 2nd British Infantry Division
Destination X
The 2nd Battalion Durham Light Infantry [2 DLI] were sent from Glasgow on 12 April 1942. Labels attached to their bags told them only that they were heading to ‘Destination X’. Rumours spread of where they might be travelling to.
It was the first active service experience for many of the men in the Battalion, as its ranks were recently rebuilt after heavy losses in the earlier stages of the War.
Destination X
2 DLI arrived in Cape Town, South Africa and began to acclimatise and train in the heat before Destination X was revealed – they were being sent to India.
They arrived in Mumbai (then known as Bombay) in early June 1942 and began intensive periods of gruelling jungle training.
Destination X
2 DLI were sent to several locations throughout India as the Arakan Campaign attempted to push back the advancing Japanese forces.
Myanmar (then known as Burma) had already been taken by the Japanese from 1942 as they gained ground in their attempts to move into India.
Destination X
Throughout their extensive training, 2 DLI practised amphibious landings from water, ambushes, and river crossings. Disease, animals and pests, combined with the heat, monsoon rains and terrain made this extremely difficult.
DLI involvement
Operation U-Go was launched by the Japanese Army in March 1944.
Moving over 85,000 of their soldiers, it rapidly accelerated their advance into India. It was concentrated on the Manipur and Naga Hills region which included Kohima, Imphal and Dimapur. Their speed was much faster than expected, Imphal was quickly taken and the 1,500 Allied forces at Kohima were surrounded by 6,000 Japanese soldiers.
The Evening Vigil
“Ten minutes to seven” – the word goes around
The sun starts to redden, alights on a mound
Of black cloud intruding on blue
In mud smothered clothes, men emerge from the ground
Stretch weary limbs with barely a sound
Then – quiet – for they’re “Standing to”
With dusk, the sounds of the jungle abound
Cicadas and crickets – and some distant hound
Then – quiet – are they listening too?
Maurice J Franses – Kohima 1944, Officer in the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Norfolk Regiment, 2nd British Infantry Division
DLI involvement
The men of 2 DLI were ordered to help relieve the siege, arriving in Kohima via Dimapur on 12 April 1944. Days later, B-company were tasked to recapture Terrace Hill, which had a strategic overlook onto the Dimapur road. In the ensuing conflict, six Durhams were killed and 23 injured, whilst 50 Japanese soldiers were killed.
DLI involvement
By 22 April, all four companies of 2 DLI were located on the hill where the District Commissioner’s house had previously stood, it became known as Garrison Hill throughout the conflict. Fighting had come as close as opposing sides of the tennis court located there. The whole area was devasted and bore the physical scars of the continuing conflict.
DLI involvement
During that night Japanese forces attacked from surrounding positions on the nearby Kuki’s Picquet hill. Phosphorous incendiary grenades and bayonets were used to break through the Durhams’ positions and intense fighting and horrendous close-range combat ensued. By the morning of 23 April, 2 DLI had lost 29 men, four were missing, and 77 injured. Over 100 Japanese men had been killed and they failed to take Garrison Hill.
Garrison Hill #2
Lazily sailing in the breeze
The ‘chutes came drifting down
To drape with silk the battered trees
The clothe the mountains crown
With anxious eyes, we watch their fate
How blows the wind today
God grant their course is true and straight –
We pray they drift our way
WO2 Kenneth Norman Marwood, 6 Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 2nd British Infantry Division
Fifty Years
Fifty years have come and gone
The Burma Lads still carry on
With eyes now dim and legs so weak
With creaking bones and aching feet
We still get there with sticks or chair
Proud to say that ‘We’re still there’
We came home, they had to stay
And lie forever where they lay
No more they’ll see the light to fade
Or smell the flowers in the jungle shade
Nor hear the birds sing on their grave
Suffer no more from the life they gave
We’re proud to say that “we were there”
But they forever will be there!
Anonymous
Continuing conflict
Another attack was expected and on 28 April 1944 Japanese forces used mortars and grenades against the 2 DLI positions holding out on Garrison Hill. The Durhams continued to push back and managed to completely halt the Japanese advance, removing them from the hill. Thankfully the next day, after eight days of intense and brutal fighting, 2 DLI were relieved by the Royal Welch Fusiliers.
Continuing conflict
Amongst periods of rest and recovery, 2 DLI were involved in efforts to recapture another of the Kohima hills, FSD Ridge. They also later cleared the Aradura Spur area after the Japanese forces had been pushed out of Kohima to its surrounding areas.
The Battle Ends
The Japanese Army withdrew from 31 May and when British and Indian troops travelling from both Kohima and Imphal met on 22 June at Milestone 109 on the Dimapur Road, the Battle was officially ended.
2 DLI moved into a camp on the road in July, where they stayed until December.
No other Division of the Commonwealth troops of the British 14th Army suffered as many losses of men during the Second World War than the 2nd Infantry Division in which 2 DLI served.
Naga people
The Nagaland region had a large influx of refugees from surrounding areas, who had been caught up in the conflict. As the fighting between the Allies and the Japanese came to north-east India, Nagaland became a battleground. The land, its resources, and its people were placed in the middle of a brutal conflict. Areas of land were requisitioned, crops and livestock were taken, and homes were damaged and destroyed.
Many local people were recruited to what became known as ‘V Force’ to provide information and guidance to the Allied forces in difficult and unfamiliar terrain. Many people also provided physical labour, carrying supplies, digging trenches, and guiding patrols. This work put them in direct lines of fire and at great risk. The support and aid provided by the Nagaland people was essential to the Allied victory. Afterwards the landscape was littered with the physical remnants of the fighting, and items and human remains are still found throughout the region today.
Reconciliation and Peace
Reconciliation between opposing countries and armies after conflict is extremely difficult. Masao Hirakubo OBE, a Japanese veteran who served in India and Myanmar (then known as Burma), advocated for the reconciliation of British and Japanese soldiers who were once enemies. He founded the Burma Campaign Society to bring together veterans. Visits to both countries took place to allow the sharing of cultures and customs to create a new mutual understanding and achieve friendship.
“Many people say reconciliation, but each person has a different perception. Just making friendships, shaking hands, they say reconciliation. But my reconciliation is really reconciling with ex-enemies, from killing and fighting each other, now to making friends. Not by the mind, but by the actual experience.”
Masao Hirakubo OBE
In Grateful Dedication
Ours is a “today”
Dearly ransomed in blood
That freely flowed “yesterday”
A sacrifice, the whole
This tennis court was too poor to contain
Gallantly lay their lives down
What price, what price a soul
For the fair Kohima
To her, O faithful dead,
You can never, never die
While you live on in our hearts
And generation to generation repeats
The story of your sacrifice
May the skies never close over you
May the rains woo you softly,
The mountains be hushed before you
May you rest in eternal peace
Easterine Kire (poet and author)
Kohima Epitaph
1,420 British, Indian, Australian and Canadian soldiers are buried at the Commonwealth War Graves at Kohima War Cemetery. There is also a monument to over 900 Hindu and Sikh soldiers of the British Indian Army who were cremated in line with their religious beliefs.
The cemetery is located on the former battlegrounds of Garrison Hill – the outline of the tennis court is preserved.
A memorial to the 2nd Division at the Cemetery bears the Kohima epitaph. You have likely heard the epitaph before and not known the connection to Kohima – ‘The Forgotten Battle’:
“When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say, For Your Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today”
In Kohima Hills
In the hills, they fought and died
So stubbornly instilled with matchless pride
With unfaltering stride, no matter the task
Victory they brought, and triumph unsurpassed
Now the silent tribute to victory gained
Stands a memorial, selflessly attained
Sleep on dear Comrades! Your glorious endeavour
Remains in our hearts, and all men’s forever
And here they lie in deathless sleep
They gave their all, for freedom to keep
Embraced by the hills, who witnessed my story
Their tale will live forever in Glory
An epic of courage this poem reveals
Of those who fell in the Kohima Hills
And when you go home remember they: say
For your tomorrow, they gave their today
Private Humphrey Silkman, 2nd Battalion, The Dorsetshire Regiment, 2nd British Infantry Division
Through our online exhibition we have explored events spanning April-June 1944, in and around the town of Kohima, Nagaland, north-east India, and how it was the site of one of the most severe and brutal conflicts of the Second World War.
The Battle of Kohima has come to be known as the ‘Forgotten Battle’, and the troops that fought so tirelessly, the ‘Forgotten Army’. But the conflict was never forgotten by those that were involved and the communities affected – its impact and legacy is still felt globally today.
The story of the Battle of Kohima and highlights how our local regiment connects County Durham with a global story, spanning continents, decades, and generations.
“And when you go home remember they: say, For your tomorrow, they gave their today”
Thank you for taking the time to learn about The Forgotten Battle. We would appreciate a few minutes of your time to complete the following survey about The Story’s first online exhibition: