{"id":85669,"date":"2024-02-01T02:00:03","date_gmt":"2024-02-01T07:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=85669"},"modified":"2023-11-11T20:07:33","modified_gmt":"2023-11-12T01:07:33","slug":"the-kohima-epitaph-britains-forgotten-battle-that-changed-ww2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2024\/02\/01\/the-kohima-epitaph-britains-forgotten-battle-that-changed-ww2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kohima Epitaph: Britain&#8217;s Forgotten Battle That Changed WW2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/t0g2yFPlFYo?si=q39NnuM61b4D2ypx\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>The History Chap<\/strong><br \/>\nPublished 9 Nov 2023<\/p>\n<p>What is the Kohima Epitaph and what has it got to do with Britain&#8217;s forgotten battle that changed the Second World War? Well, those of you living in the UK and who attend Remembrance Sunday services will probably know the words even if you don\u2019t know the story behind them:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When you go home, tell them of us and say,<br \/>\nFor your tomorrow, We gave our today.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The memorial which bears those powerful words, stands in a cemetery containing the graves over over 1,400 British servicemen and memorials to over 900 Indian troops who died alongside them. They died in one of the bloodiest, toughest, grimmest battles of the Second World War. A battle sometimes called the \u201cStalingrad of the East.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Outnumbered 6:1 and half of whom were from non-combat units, the multi-national British garrison stood their ground in bloody hand-to-hand fighting, refusing to retreat or surrender for two weeks until relieved. And even then the battle continued for another vicious month. That stand stopped the Japanese invasion of India in its tracks and turned the tide of the war in South East Asia. Both for its ferocity and its turning point in the war, it has been called: &#8220;Britain&#8217;s greatest battle&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The Japanese lost 53,000 men from their army of 85,000.<br \/>\nThe British (14th Army) lost 4,000 men killed and wounded.<\/p>\n<p>This forgotten victory was made possible by General William (Bill) Slim commanding the 14th Army. Rather like the battle and the 14th Army, General Slim has not received the recognition that he is due. And yet, it is almost completely forgotten. Rather like the army that fought against the Japanese in Burma.<\/p>\n<p>So, as we near Remembrance Sunday, I think it is time to reveal the story of the Battle of Kohima in 1944.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Chapters:<br \/>\n00:00 Intro<br \/>\n01:29 The Rising Sun<br \/>\n02:04 General Slim &#038; the 14th Army<br \/>\n03:16 Japanese Invasion<br \/>\n05:50 Kohima<br \/>\n08:22 Siege of Kohima<br \/>\n09:21 Battle of the Tennis Court<br \/>\n10:10 John Harman VC<br \/>\n11:08 Holding Out<br \/>\n12:10 Relief &#038; Battle<br \/>\n13:18 John Randle VC<br \/>\n14:29 Victory<br \/>\n16:08 Bill Slim&#8217;s Springboard<br \/>\n17:20 The Kohima Epitaph<\/p>\n<p>Regiments who fought at the battle of Kohima include:<\/p>\n<p>2nd Royal Norfolk Reg.<br \/>\n1st Royal Scots<br \/>\n1\/8th Lancashire Fusiliers<br \/>\n7th Worcestershire Reg.<br \/>\n1st Queen&#8217;s Own Cameron Highlanders,<br \/>\n2nd Dorset Reg.<br \/>\n1st Royal Welch Fusiliers<br \/>\n1st Royal Berkshire Reg.<br \/>\n2nd Durham Light Infantry<br \/>\n4th Queen&#8217;s Own Royal West Kent Reg.<br \/>\n1st Somerset Light Infantry<br \/>\n1st Queen&#8217;s Royal Regiment<br \/>\n2nd Duke of Wellington&#8217;s<br \/>\n4th Border Reg.<br \/>\n1st Essex Regiment<br \/>\nRoyal Artillery<br \/>\nRoyal Signals<br \/>\nRoyal Engineers<br \/>\n2nd Manchester Regiment<\/p>\n<p>1st Punjab Reg.<br \/>\n4\/7 Rajput Reg.<br \/>\n4\/15 Punjab Reg.<br \/>\n4\/1st Gurkha Rifles<br \/>\n4\/14th Punjab Reg.<br \/>\n4\/5th Royal Gurkha Rifles<br \/>\n1st Burma Reg.<br \/>\n1st Assam Reg.<br \/>\n1st Chamar Reg.<br \/>\nShere Regiment (Nepal)<br \/>\nMahindra Dal Reg. (Nepal)<br \/>\n2\/4th Bombay Grenadiers<br \/>\n5\/4th Bombay Grenadiers<br \/>\n17\/7th Rajput Reg.<br \/>\nIst Royal Jat Reg.<br \/>\n7\/14th Punjab Reg.<br \/>\n8\/13th Frontier Rifles<br \/>\n1st Bihar Reg.<\/p>\n<p>Follow me at:<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehistorychap.com\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.thehistorychap.com<\/a><br \/>\nInstagram: <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3iySrAj\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/bit.ly\/3iySrAj<\/a><\/p>\n<p>My name is Chris Green and I love to share stories from British history. Not just because they are interesting but because, good or bad, they have shaped the world we live in today.<\/p>\n<p>History should not be stuffy or a long list of dates or kings &#038; queens. So rather than lectures or Youtube animations, I tell stories that bring the past to life. My aim is to be chat as if I were having a coffee or meal with you. Jean in Maryland, USA recently wrote: &#8220;Chris, is the history teacher I wish I had at school!&#8221; Just for the record, I do have a history degree in Medieval &#038; Modern history from the University of Birmingham.<\/p>\n<p>Disclaimer: All opinions and comments expressed in the &#8220;Comments&#8221; section do not reflect the opinions of Chris Green Communication Ltd t\/a The History Chap. All opinions and comments should contribute to the dialogue. Chris Green Communication Ltd  does not condone written attacks, insults, racism, sexism, extremism, violence or otherwise questionable comments or material in the &#8220;Comments&#8221; section, and reserves the right to delete any comment violating this rule or to block any poster from the channel.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The History Chap Published 9 Nov 2023 What is the Kohima Epitaph and what has it got to do with Britain&#8217;s forgotten battle that changed the Second World War? Well, those of you living in the UK and who attend Remembrance Sunday services will probably know the words even if you don\u2019t know the story [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,4,7,23,24,5,230],"tags":[1478,884,1095,1509,888],"class_list":["post-85669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asia","category-britain","category-history","category-india","category-japan","category-military","category-ww2","tag-billslim","tag-burma","tag-fortification","tag-imphal-kohima","tag-nepal"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/favicon.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hpV6-mhL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85669"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85670,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85669\/revisions\/85670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}