Come with me to the battlefields of North Eastern India

Following a pleasing number of requests I am happy to announce that my friends at Sampan Travel have organised a series of very special guided tours to the battlefields of north eastern India over the next few years. I wanted to give folk a ‘heads up’ with respect to dates as the first trip, this November, has already sold out. These are specially designed as small group journeys exploring stuff off the beaten track, with yours truly as the accompanying historian. For example, this coming November (8-21) we will be making probably the first ever curated trip from Kohima to Imphal over three days via the Naga villages of Jessami, Kharasom, Ukhrul and Sangshak. Being able to visit Sangshak for the first with my fiend Yai a number of years ago was an immense privilege; being able to combine it with the famous (though poorly known) defence of Jessami and Kharasom by Lt Col ‘Bruno’ Brown’s remarkable 1st Battalion Assam Regiment in late March 1944 will be an adventure.

Next February, we’ll be travelling north to Ledo to have a look at the Hump airlift and the source of the Stilwell/Ledo Road, two of the greatest engineering and logistical feats of the Second World War.

Previous trips have attracted folk from India, the USA, Australasia and the UK. All are welcome. We gather in Kolkata before we head into the hills, to enjoy something of this remarkably vibrant and historic city.

The point of these trips is to look deeply into the history of Assam and Manipur during the Second World War. We chat throughout, with a series of discussions at each site we visit. Nothing is off limits! We talk about what happened; ask questions of the hidden victims (the local indigenous people such as the Naga, Kuki and Meitei), evaluate the role of the Indian National Army and of Subhas Chandra Bose, and the role - good and bad - of empire. Our conversations will range from the tactical to the strategic, but most of all, unlike the poor benighted troops in 1944, we’ll have fun!

Planned dates are as follows:

• The Forgotten War Tour with Rob Lyman: Nagaland & Manipur

  8-21 November 2023

• The Forgotten War Tour with Rob Lyman: Manipur, Nagaland & Assam

  6-19 February 2024

• The Forgotten War Tour with Rob Lyman: Nagaland & Manipur

  8-21 November 2024

• The Forgotten War Tour with Rob Lyman: Manipur, Nagaland & Assam

  (dates tbc) February 2025

To avoid missing out, please contact Bertie Lawson at Sampan to express your interest. The February 2024 trip will be marketed soon: it is likely to sell out fast.