The Battle of Imphal was a Second World War battle which was fought between British-Indian forces and the Japanese Army near the city of Imphal, in North-East India, from March 7 to July 18, 1944. In order to invade India, a force of 120,000 Japanese troops attempted to annihilate the British forces at Imphal. But the Japanese were defeated and driven back into Burma, suffering more than 80,000 casualties. The Battle of Imphal was the turning point of the Burma Campaign in the South-East Asian Theater of war. It to be the biggest Japanese defeat of the war as it signalled the beginning of the Allied reconquest of Burma.
When the Japanese attacked and invaded Burma, the city of Imphal became very important from a military point of view as the British had built up a strong military force there, not only to prevent a Japanese invasion of India, but from which to launch a large-scale offensive to drive the Japanese out of Burma.
Under the command of General Mutaguchi, the Japanese began their assault on the British positions deployed on the Indian-Burma border on March 7, 1944. On March 12, after five days of fierce fighting, various British units were authorized to retreat to the Imphal Plain to force the Japanese to fight at the end of long and difficult lines of communication. It took 20 days for the British to withdraw to the plain.
Between March 19 and March 29, the 5th Indian Division was flown in along with artillery guns, jeeps and mules. By the time this division arrived, the Japanese were only 30 miles from Imphal. The tenacious fight put up by the British 50th Parachute Brigade, stationed on a small hill at Sangshak, delayed the Japanese advance on Imphal from the northwest, inflicting heavy casualties on the Japanese. This altered the Japanese schedule, which had to be reprogramed. The 50th Parachute Brigade had given General Scoones an extra time to further strenghten the defences at Imphal.
On March 29, the Japanese blocked the Imphal-Kohima road, laying siege to Imphal. Although the British-Indian troops were completely surrounded by the enemy forces, they were constantly supplied by planes, which delivered around 14,000,000 pounds of rations, 1,000,000 gallons of petrol, and 12,000,000 pounds of ammunition during the siege.
Although the Japanese took a hill at Nungshigum on April 6, the British forces retook the hill on April 13 after fierce fighting. Despite fierce attacks launched by the enemy against the Allied troops, morale among the Japanese had begun to wane due to heavy casualties. Heavy fighting also broke out to the southeast of Imphal where the Japanese came up against Ghurkhas and Indian troops of the 20th Division.
Heavy fighting also took place to the south of Imphal along the road to Tiddim. The forces under Scoones command had to get used to dry rations, which was very debilitating for the British. But the Japanese were in a far worse physical state. As the they closed in on Imphal, they became weaker and fewer in number as they were mown down by British machine gun fire. As the Battle of Imphal raged on, the Japanese became unable to take the city.
When the Japanese were defeated at Kohima, the British forces based there were sent south to attack the Japanese effectively from their rear. On June 22 Allied troops formally at Kohima reached men from the 5th Indian Division at a point called Milestone 107 along the Imphal-Kohima road, twenty miles north of Imphal. It signalled the end of the siege. The vicious fighting went on until July 18, when the Japanese High Command decided to retreat to the River Chindwin on the Burma side of the Indian-Burma border. The Japanese had suffered 80,000 casualties while the British had sustained 17,000 men killed and wounded.
[...] ← Battle of Imphal [...]