Remembering the valiant

Nagaland joins the international community in observing Remembrance Day on November 11, 2025, honouring the sacrifices of British and Commonwealth servicemen and women who fought in the two World Wars and later conflicts. The state government, in partnership with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), will particularly observe the day to remember the valiant soldiers with help of Naga volunteers, turned the tide of the Second World War. For Nagaland, the significance of Remembrance Day is uniquely personal. The Battle of Kohima-etched permanently into the memory of World War II-was among the fiercest and most decisive battles ever fought in the Asian theatre. It will also be a time to look beyond military chronicles and into the lives extinguished, their families broken, and their generations forever altered by war. It is a tribute to those who fought and fell in defence of freedom. From April 4 to June 22, 1944, the hills of Kohima became the turning point of the Burma Campaign. Japan’s invasion plan, codenamed U-Go, aimed to strike the British IV Corps stationed at Imphal. However, Japanese Lt. Gen. Renya Mutaguchi expanded those ambitions into a full-scale advance into India-imagining not only a military victory, but possibly the collapse of British rule altogether. On paper , the Japanese army enjoyed overwhelming superiority over the allied forces (10:1 ) and this meant certain victory for the invading army. However, Kohima stood in the way. When the Japanese arrived, only the newly raised 1st Assam Regiment and a handful of Assam Rifles platoons stood between them and a collapse of the Allied front. What followed was a brutal confrontation around the Kohima ridge, which controlled the sole lifeline between Dimapur and the besieged troops at Imphal. The Battle of Kohima became a battle for survival of the allied forces and history. The iconic scene unfolded at the Deputy Commissioner’s bungalow and its tennis court, where soldiers fought at distances measured in feet. A mere 1,500 British-Indian troops faced nearly 15,000 Japanese soldiers of the 31st Division. The defenders were driven back to a tightening perimeter on Garrison Hill, surviving on air-dropped supplies, exhausted but unbroken. Their resolve held until the British 2nd Division broke through on April 18 and turned defence into counter-attack. However the greatest silent contributors were Nagas themselves-acting as porters, scouts, stretcher-bearers and intelligence gatherers. It was the Nagas who cut Japanese supply lines and guided Allied soldiers through unfamiliar terrain. Their role was indispensable. Starved of supplies, their lines cut and air superiority lost, the Japanese 31st Division collapsed. The road between Kohima and Imphal was reopened on June 22, 1944, ending the siege. So fierce was the battle that in a 2013 National Army Museum poll, Kohima was voted “Britain’s Greatest Battle”-the “Stalingrad of the East”. At the Kohima War Cemetery lies a verse that continues to resonate across generations:“When you go home, tell them of us and say, For your tomorrow, we gave our today.”On Remembrance Day, honours go not only to British and Indian soldiers, but also the countless Nagas whose courage helped change the course of history. Kohima is not merely a battlefield-it is a permanent testament to sacrifice, solidarity and the price of freedom.