Was Kohima the most important battle against Japan?

Discussion in 'War Against Japan' started by Jonathan Saunders, Feb 20, 2007.

  1. Kohima remains a low profile battle - and is hardly remembered in Britain. Yet from a British perspective it would be the most important battle against Japan - IMHO.

    I know very little about the war in the Pacific. I assume Okinawa and Midway to be the two major battles that decided the ultimate fate of Japan.

    I am interested in views as to which battle against the Japanese forces was, in the entire scheme of things, the most important turning point in the direction of the war. Or indeed if it wasnt one single battle but a series of inter-connected defeats for the Japanese.

    I hope teh question makes sense and I look forward to your replies.

    Regards,

    Jon S
     
  2. jacobtowne

    jacobtowne Senior Member

    The battle near the towns of Kohima and Imphal was the result of a Japanese offensive aimed at stranding the British army in Burma and severing the line of communication through Assam which supported both Stilwell's army and the China air supply route over the Hump.
    Although badly outnumbered, British and Indian troops fought a tenacious and bloody battle, which shattered the Japanese Fifteenth Army.
    It was the decisive battle of the war for Southeast Asia. The Pacific Theater is another matter altogether.

    Midway was a turning point of the war at sea and a sorely-needed victory for American morale. Nevertheless, it was a defensive action on the part of the Americans, and a one-dimensional battle between carrier-based aircraft.

    The real turning point in the Pacific, in my view, was the Guadalcanal Campaign, Aug. 1942 to Feb. 1943.
    This was a three-dimensional campaign involving ferocious air, sea, and land battles that continued for months. It ended in the first defeat experienced by the Japanese Imperial Army, and halted the advance of the Japanese southward toward Port Moresby and Australia. The Japanese lost many aircraft and pilots, 35,000 land troops, and remained on the defensive for the remainder of the war.

    JT
     
  3. It was the decisive battle of the war for Southeast Asia. The Pacific Theater is another matter altogether.





    I agree but thanks for pointing it out all the same. I take it that we cant look at just one battle in the war against Japan (similar to how we may view, say, Stalingrad for Germany) and say that had the biggest overall impact, or that was the significant turning point.

    Sorry I am a bit out of my depth on WW2 issues.
     
  4. T. A. Gardner

    T. A. Gardner Senior Member

    Imphal and Kohima represent the highwater mark for the Japanese advance in Burma. But, it was much more a case of the Japanese simply running out of the means to advance than the British initially stopping anything. By the time the most significant battles around these towns occured the Japanese no longer had the military strength to overcome a much improved British defense. When you add that the Japanese were at the end of a very long and tenious supply line there was simply no way they could achieve victory.
    On the whole the reversal of Japanese advances on Port Moresby New Guinea by primarily Australian troops marks the beginning of the end for Japan in the SWPA - CBI theater of operations. In Burma it was nearly into 1944 before Commonwealth forces made any really serious attempt to retake the country. By then the Japanese were in a severly weakened state against a vastly improved and numerically stronger Commonwealth army.
     
  5. Many thanks for your informative reply.
     
  6. Kiwiwriter

    Kiwiwriter Very Senior Member

    It was the greatest land defeat the Japanese Army had yet suffered, and probably ever...I don't really count the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, which was not much of a battle.

    That alone made the Kohima/Imphal battle important. It was the turning point in Southeast Asia. However, I agree that Midway and Guadalcanal were the turning points in the Pacific.

    Interestingly, there's no "turning point" in the China war. That was not decided in China.
     
  7. Gnomey

    Gnomey World Travelling Doctor

    It was the greatest land defeat the Japanese Army had yet suffered, and probably ever...I don't really count the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, which was not much of a battle.

    That alone made the Kohima/Imphal battle important. It was the turning point in Southeast Asia. However, I agree that Midway and Guadalcanal were the turning points in the Pacific.

    Interestingly, there's no "turning point" in the China war. That was not decided in China.

    Agreed Kiwi, for the war in SE Asia it was the turning point (as was Midway etc for the Pacific). There was no doubt about the fact that is was an important battle (and mainly forgotten).
     
  8. halsaps

    halsaps Junior Member

    this is what Lord mountbatten said about The battle of Kohima probably would go down as one of the greatest battles in history. It was in effect the battle of burma. The battle would never have been fought but for the courage of 500
    soldiers of the british territorial army.
     
  9. Kiwiwriter

    Kiwiwriter Very Senior Member

    Agreed Kiwi, for the war in SE Asia it was the turning point (as was Midway etc for the Pacific). There was no doubt about the fact that is was an important battle (and mainly forgotten).

    Don't forget that the victory at Kohima and Imphal was achieved at the same time as the fall of Rome and the invasion of Normandy. Nobody could compete with that for news space, especially a battlefield with towns named Shaduzup, Inkhantatawng, and Myitkyina. They didn't have the ring of "Rome," "Normandy," and "invasion."
     
  10. syscom_3

    syscom_3 Member

    What happened at Kohima and Imphal ultimatley had little impact on the course of the war.

    In the summer of 1944, the US was preparing B29 bases in the mariana's and gearing up for the invasion of the PI, all which had far more straegic impacts on Japan.

    Even if Japan had won at Kohima, the US was penetrating their inner defenses and the clock was beginning to tick downward for them.
     
  11. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    The defeat of the Japanese at Kohima and Imphal prevented the Japanese from pouring into India.At risk were the Allied supply routes to China over the Hump which later saw the establishing of forward B29 bases in China for the bombing of the Japanese homeland.Also Allied air supply support and bombing of Japanese positions in Burma were done from the security of Indian bases.

    Whether a Japanese invasion of India would have been viable is another debate as the Japanese in their conquests in South East Asia, after early successes always failed because the Allies had the upper hand as the war continued, in being able to cut off their supply lines to the area of their operations.
     
  12. syscom_3

    syscom_3 Member

    Ultimatley, the B29's in China accomplished nothing. So even if the Japanese did win the battle, nothing would have changed in the course of the war, other than more B29's would be based in the Mariana's than had been scheduled.

    The capture of the Mariana's also effectively cut the maritime Japanese supply lines as the US subs (with torpedo's that worked) began to spend a lot more time on station and had mroe successfull attacks.
     
  13. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

     

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