Battle of Imphal

The outline of the tennis court at Kohima War Cemetery
Red Hill or Point 2926 (or Maibam Lotpaching) near Imphal
The banks of the small stream at Potsangbam in Manipur was the scene of much fighting between Japanese and British-Indian forces in May 1944
The abandoned WWII-era Ledo Airfield in Assam
The Irrawaddy River near Mandalay in Burma/Myanmar

Battle of Imphal Tours

“Imphal was one of the greatest Allied victories of the war, a turning point as significant in Asia as EI Alamein and Stalingrad had been in Africa and Europe” - Peter Heehs, History Today

"The war in Burma was a combination of jungle war, mountain war, desert war, and naval war…" - Col. Fuwa Masao in Louis Allen, Burma - The Longest War

In 1944, the British Fourteenth Army and the Japanese Fifteenth Army clashed around the town of Imphal, Manipur, in North East India in what has since been described as one of the greatest battles of the Second World War. Indeed, the combined battle of Imphal and Kohima is considered among the greatest defeats on land ever for the Japanese. In April 2013, Imphal/Kohima was voted 'Britain's Greatest Battle' by the UK's National Army Museum. It is also the main turning point of the Second World War's Burma Campaign.

The history of this website and the battlefield tours lies in the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Imphal. This website was launched in December 2012 with the aim of creating greater awareness about the Battle of Imphal and its then-upcoming 70th Anniversary in the year 2014. It includes information about the battle, Manipur's experience of the Second World War, and the main battlefields and related sites of interest.

The Tours

We at Battle of Imphal Tours organise and conduct guided tours to the main Second World War battlefields in both India and Burma/Myanmar. Among others, this includes Imphal and Kohima in North East India and places such as Mandalay, Meiktila, Rangoon/Yangon, and Myitkyina in Burma/Myanmar. All of these are original tours: they have been conceptualised, researched, designed and launched by our founder, Hemant Singh Katoch. The first battlefield tour was launched in Imphal in early 2013; since then an entire series of tours covering the main Burma Campaign battlefields and sites of interest in both India and Burma/Myanmar have been developed. Separately, in 2022, we also launched a battlefield tour in Manipur focused on the Anglo-Manipur War of 1891.

Note: Due to the volatile security situation in Myanmar since February 2021, the Myanmar tours have been suspended until further notice.

Battle of Imphal 1944 Tour