(Video courtesy: Defence Section, British High Commission, New Delhi)
On 22 June 1944, 75 years ago, the tide of the Second World War took a significant turn in the East. As #DDay75 captured the world’s attention on the European front, the British 14th Army, under the uncompromising Lieutenant General Bill Slim, were engaged in a fierce struggle with the Japanese 15th Army, which included the 1st Indian National Army Division.
The Japanese aspired to capture the vast quantity of Allied supplies held in Imphal and Dimapur to sustain their advance in to India. Had they achieved this, the outcome of the war could have been very different. The Japanese stranglehold on the Allied forces in Imphal was finally broken when men of the 5th Indian Division, fighting north from Imphal linked up with those of the British 2nd Division, who had fought south from Kohima, at milestone 109 on the Kohima-Imphal road.
The 75th anniversary of the Battle of Imphal is perhaps the best occasion to remember those whose sacrifices changed the course of not just the world war but the history of the Southeast Asia itself.
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