Who Did What at the Siege of Kohima?
A 1973 newspaper exchange about our failure to give honour where honour is due.
A friend recently sent me copies of a newspaper exchange which took place in the letters pages of the Daily Telegraph in 1973. They were collected by her father, James Barratt who, at the time of the battle, was a Lieutenant in the 1/17th Dogras, and who served throughout the siege on Kohima Ridge.
They are fascinating, revealing that only 29-years after the battle of Kohima between April and June 1944 the memory of the Indian contribution had been forgotten by some, but not by those who were there.
Fortunately, historians are, even today, attempting to right this wrong. I have tried to do this in my new book, A War of Empires, where I estimate the number of troops - British, Indian and Nepalese - on Kohima Ridge at the start of the siege.
Recently, Charlotte Carty gave a superb presentation about her father’s regiment, 1st Battalion The Assam Regiment in the fighting before (at Jessami and Kharasom) and at Kohima itself, in 1944. You can watch it here on the Kohima Educational Trust’s website. (Incidentally, Charlotte will be attempting to recreate the Assam Regiment 39-hour withdrawal back to Kohima in April 2024, in support of the KET).
The first letter in the collection (a response to an earlier one from a Mr I.C. Berry on 10 May 1973) came from Brigadier Sir John Smyth VC (he had commanded the 17th Indian Division in 1942) on 16 May 1973. He, of course, had been sacked by Wavell following the Sittang Bridge disaster. His knowledge of Kohima was second-hand.
Smyth wasn’t wrong, of course, but he entirely neglected to mention that the Royal West Kents at Kohima were part of an Indian Brigade, and that the majority of troops that held Kohima until the arrival of the 2nd British Division, were Indian. A letter making this clear came a couple of weeks later on 7 June from J.C. Rietchel, late of the Royal West Kents, who was keen to put the record straight and to emphasise the role of the Assam Rifles, the 2nd Division and others in the fighting, and to reposition the Royal West Kents within the 161 Indian Brigade.
A comment by a ‘Daily Telegraph Reporter on 8 June reported on the exchange:
This was followed by a letter from Brigadier Ross Howman a month later, reminding readers of the excellent account of the battle by C.E. Lucas Phillips. Howman knew what he was talking about, because it was he, as a Lieutenant Colonel, who had first raised the Assam Regiment in Shillong in 1941:
James Barratt then responded on 24 July with his own defence of the Indian contribution to the battle, one in which he fought as a member of the besieged garrison:
James Barratt then left a hand written note, in which he further explained the work of the Indians during the siege. He had helped CE Lucas Phillips with the latter’s book, and had written to him about the exchange in the newspaper. Apparently Lucas Phillips had also written to the paper, but his letter had not been published. He was aiming, noted Barratt, to show a ‘fair balance between Phase I (the siege) and Phase II (the battle). [The] work of the Indian Army in both Phases remains understated, or not stated at all except in ‘Springboard to Victory’.’
What James Barratt declines to mention was that he was awarded an MC ‘for gallant and distinguished service in Burma’ (see below), and is quite extensively mentioned by Lucas Phillips, who tells us that in the battle Barratt commanded a company of 100 ‘odds and sods’ - drivers and clerks from the Royal Indian Army Service Corps - on Kuki Piquet in the first part of the fighting. When his position had been overrun he helped to defend (and administer) the Advanced Dressing Station commanded by Lieutenant Colonel W.J.F. Young RAMC.
I’ve always been a great admirer of Lucas Phillips as an historian, and of the care he took in interrogating veterans of the battles he described. He was determined to ensure that the memory of the battle recorded the gallant efforts of all who fought - British and Indian. Springboard to Victory remains up there as one of the best accounts of the battle. It has recently been republished and is well worth a read.
Thank you for this Rob.
Please may I offer some information on the NON-British-unit gallantry awards to men of the Kohima Garrison, during the siege, who served in Indian or Burma Army units. The list is:
4/7th Rajputs – MC.
4/12th Frontier Force Regiment – MC.
Assam Regiment – MC – IDSM (Indian Distinguished Service Medal) – 2 x MM.
Assam Rifles – 2 x MC – MM.
Burma Regiment – MC.
Indian Artillery – DSO (Distinguished Service Order) – MC.
Indian Signals – MM.
Royal Indian Army Service Corps – DSO – MC.
Indian Army Medical Corps & Indian Medical Service – DSO – MC – MM.
Six of the above awards were to British officers serving in Indian Army units and the remainder were awards to Indians.
I am very pleased to see the award of the Military Cross to Subadar Multan Singh IOM, 4th Battalion 7th Rajput Regiment. His was the “Forgotten Company” that also marched up the hill to Kohima and reached it as the siege started. It fought throughout the siege but historians have tended to ignore it.
Perhaps now we can start giving fair and long overdue credit to the sepoys who fought at Kohima – without them the Japanese would have had a walkover.
James Barratt’s MC (1/17th Dogras) was for bravery and leadership on the TONZANG – TIDDIM road on 18 September 1944 – see National Archives reference WO 373/36/235.
Harry