Kohima Museum

This is what it's all about! The symbols, the Sacrifice, the proud countenance of the few remaining British warriors that just says "I served in the 14th Army", The Remembrance!

Just thought that with all of the hullabaloo on the 75th Anniversary of D Day going on and the apparent scarceness of similar for the South East Asia Command, you might be interested to see this letter which was received today - Not forgotten after all - apparently !! although I would suggest that planning for the 75th Anniversary of D Day took well over a year.

Anyone get the Times newspaper?

The Kohima Museum sends a message of support to our colleagues in Imphal on this significant day as they open the Imphal Peace museum.

On this day.....75 years ago, The British 2nd Infantry Division opened the Kohima/Imphal road thereby seeing the utter defeat of the Japanese 31st Division and allowing essential supplies to reach the beleaguered IV Corps. The Japanese never recovered from this massive defeat.
Well done the 2nd Division

It is with sadness that I report the passing of a Kohima Veteran. Serjeant Roy Welland has passed into the light at the age of 96. Roy was in the Royal Berkshires and fought across the Tennis Court after the Siege was lifted.
In 2013 Roy and his partner Ruth Smith were in a small group of us who went to Japan to the burial place of Lieutenant General Sato - Commander of the Japanese 31st Division. There we met a Japanese Veteran who had also fought across the Tennis Court. Th...e 2 men embraced and wept in an emotional meeting.
Roy, in his original bush hat was to be seen at all of the Burma campaign and Kohima reunions and Memorial days.
Another Ordinary Man who did extraordinary deeds at a time when ordinary men walked large in the world. Rest in Peace Roy - it was a pleasure to have known you as our journeys through this life crossed
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An RAF day today as 2 independent groups visited today The Coates family plus a friend visited from Norwich and York. Their dad flew a Sunderland 'Flying Boat' which landed on the mighty Irrawaddy river as it resupplied the Chindits. A first for the Kohima Museum. Then the Campbell's are coming....as Mr Campbell came down from Scotland to visit family here in York. Mr Campbell had donated some great photo albums compiled by his dad from when he served in the RAF during the Burma Campaign. A most interesting morning.....thanks for your visit

Japanese Ambassador and Mrs Tsuruoka visited the Museum on an informal visit on Saturday 4th May. It was an emotional visit as the sheer ferocity of the combat between Japan and the UK was unfolded in the calmness of the Kohima Museum.
A great step taken as the visit overrun their timetable by a considerable amount. Thank you for your visit

Hi Nino Zhasa , I am on my final flight home and would like to thank you for your great help and support during the last month. We work well together (mostly 😃) and you know all of the places that I like to go to which makes my job easier / so you get a shout out from me B

Due to bad Wi-fi I have been unable to write up the travels over the last few days and now that the signal is good I don’t have time as we are in departures for our first leg of the journey home - Mandalay to Bangkok This 3rd phase of Indus Experiences 75th anniversary Tour has been excellent and to drive across the old Ava bridge over the mighty Irrawaddy was amazing so just wait out and further reports will be forthcoming

At the end of this tour I will have followed the route taken by the British 2nd Infantry Division from the concentration point of Dimapur, up to Kohima via Zubza where they picked up the first casualties. On up to Kohima where the 4 QORWK plus another 1000 or so British, Indian and Gurkha soldiers stood against the mighty Japanese Imperial Forces in the form of the 31st Division for 14 days and nights until relieved by the Crossed Keys Division.
Then we have circled the Kohim...a Ridge and tried to come to terms in our minds the terrible and viscous hand to hand fighting - in appalling conditions, and on low rations and water, experienced by ALL of the forces involved. Not to forget the sacrifices made by the Naga Hill people and they became embroiled in this conflict.
Then we travelled down the Kohima Imphal road following the same route as the 2nd Division as they pursued the defeated but not yet beaten 31 Division as they retreated.
We followed up with some of the battles that took places around the Imphal Plain, such as Nunshigum and Sangshak and Kanglatongbi. Each in their own way as critical as Kohima and no less brutal as the 15th Army under Mutaguchi sought to surround and defeat the forces of the 14th Army under Slim. Sought and failed. Then we followed the aggressive advance of the allied forces as they pursued the retreating Japanese as they withdrew across the Chindwin River leaving behind at least 35000 dead
We continued down the road from Imphal to Moreh passing the Shenham Saddle to cross the border at Tamu and continued down to Kalemyo. We saw the confluence of the Myittha with the Chindwin
We diverted to Kalewa to view the crossing point over the Chindwin and find some interesting detail about some of the lesser known actions (lesser known unless you were involved). Then we more or less followed the Chindwin also known as ‘the Angry River’ down to Monywa.
Off to Mandalay early tomorrow passing as we do so, the Irrawaddy crossing points of the 20th & 2nd Divisions which took place on 12th and 24th respectively.
The tour finishes with a further diversion to Meiktila which was the main Japanese Hub and where the 17th Indian Division under Cowan and part of Scoones IV Corps formed Slims ‘anvil’ and engaged the Japanese in more savage fighting until the ‘hammer’ in the form of Stopfords XXXIII Corps came crashing down on the desperate Japanese and the game was all but over.
From the defeated army that retreated across Burma in 1942 until the close pursuit of the beaten Japanese forces in 1945 took just about two and a half years.
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The Chindwin river (the angry river) stretches out in front of us. Tomorrow we drive to Mandalay and the mighty Irrawaddy we will spend some time exploring around there and our final act on this epic tour will be to visit Meiktila before departing for home via Bangkok and Dubai

We have an easy day today. Been out to visit a Japanese cemetery near the centre of Manywa. It is in a very sad state but bearing in mind that Japan sent out bone collectors to repatriate their fallen, this may just be a memorial I believe that is for 215 regiment of 33rd Division. All of the soldiers fought for what their country believed was right at the time. Japanese were no different

This first photo is to represent striving for the top position at any cost. I may have hit it a bit wrong but the second photo is the rich family on whose behalf the struggle is taking place. 3rd us a huge elephant carving and the 4th is my mother in law escaping again

Margaret Helen Morris- this would be the statue of a Buddha lying down. It is carved out of solid rock a few 100 years ago but has been polished up. The next photo are the toes Your dad and I would’ve looked st the same reclining Buddha but 75 years apart! That’s a wow for me

Well after some serious driving - 9 hours, we arrive at Monywe. We have achieved no battlefield nuggets like the previous days but instead visited this important site of 482 caves hewn out of solid rock with over 2500 statues of Buddha, some of them dating back to the 1400’s - according to our guide. The temperature was around the 42 degree mark which I believe is quite a lot in old money Tomorrow is a trip to the market and a rest by the pool before we head to Mandalay and a visit to Meiktila on the 29th before flying home - hurrah.

Went to Kalewa today which we believe was the main crossing point over the Chindwin. The black & white shots are from Pathe News and are from the time of the crossing. They are on a board at the Buddhist temple which is the same one shown in the photos from today. The caretaker said that ‘many’ Japanese visit each year to commemorate family. He said that very many ‘Japanni’ were killed at this place. It was a great visit but only to backfill the preceding story - unless the maps and operational accounts are available

#IndusExperiences 75th Anniversary Tour. A long drive to visit Tiddim, the place where the Japanese 33rd division attempted to destroy the 17th (Black Cat) division. We also looked for the ‘Chocolate Stairway’ but were unable to see it - we were probably on the wrong side of Kennedy Peak which we did find although the vehicle was defeated by the terrain. Driving down we also located the locale of Fort White While at Tiddim, we were shown the building occupied by the Japanese 33rd Div HQ for a short while. We were told this by the Secretary of the Baptist convention who also happened to live in it. See below for photos