PublishedHarper Collins, April 2011 |
ISBN9780007132416 |
FormatSoftcover, 448 pages |
Dimensions19.8cm × 12.9cm × 3.9cm |
Winner of the British Army Military Book of the Year 2011
The story of one of the most brutal battles in modern history - fought at a major turning point of the Second World War.
Kohima. In this remote Indian village near the border with Burma, a tiny force of British and Indian troops faced the might of the Imperial Japanese Army. Outnumbered ten to one, the defenders fought the Japanese hand to hand in a battle that was amongst the most savage in modern warfare.
A garrison of 1,500 fighting men, desperately short of water and with the wounded compelled to lie in the open, faced a force of 15,000 Japanese. They held the pass, preventing a Japanese victory that would have proved disastrous for the British. Another six weeks of bitter fighting followed as British and Indian reinforcements strove to drive the enemy out of India. When the battle was over, a Japanese army that had invaded India on a mission of imperial conquest had suffered the worst defeat in its history. Thousands lay dead, while tens of thousands more starved in a catastrophic retreat eastwards. They called the journey back to Burma the 'Road of Bones'.
Fergal Keane has reported for the BBC from conflicts on every continent over the past 25 years. He brings to this work not only rigorous scholarship but a raw understanding of the pitiless nature of war. Based on original research in Japan, Britain and India, Kohima is a story of extraordinary courage and the folly of imperial dreams.
