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Forgotten Voices of the Japan Laan - The Battle of Imphal and the Second World War in Manipur
By Yaiphaba Meetei Kangjam
Aryan/Intach, 2019
The book takes the reader back to a little heard period in Manipur's recent history but one which is marked by parallel trauma the places World War II experience. There is a growing volume of scholarship on this battlefield now and the extent of this trauma is beginning to come to light. Till recent times, most of these accounts and interpretations have been either purely military treatises or else accounts from the perspective of the victors, the British army and administrators. This book is important as it gives an account of this battlefields by local Manipuri residents on whose courtyards these fierce and bitter battles were fought. As to the intensity of the conflict here, it may be recalled that in 2013, a vote taken by the National ArmyMuseum, London, ranked it as the most important for the British in their entire history. A defeat here would have not only changed the complexion of the WWII in Asia where Japan was already acquiring a visage of invincibility, but perhaps resulted in an ignominious exit for the British from its prized Indian colony where there was already a struggle for an end to their rule. This is especially so as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army was also fighting alongside the Japanese. The book is a collection of testimonies by surviving witnesses of the war. Many who saw the war are no more, and those who the author managed to speak to, are also in their 80s. In another decade or so, nobody from that generation would be around. This being so, this book will be a very valuable resource for future researchers into the nature and impact of those traumatic war years.
Order
This book can be ordered in India from Amazon India and from the Delhi based Aryan International.
From everywhere else, it can be ordered from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk
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Imphal 1944 - The Japanese invasion of India
By Hemant Singh Katoch
Osprey/Bloomsbury, 2018
In March 1944, the Japanese Fifteenth Army launched an offensive into India from Burma. Named "U Go," its main objective was the capture of the town of Imphal, which provided the easiest route between India and Burma. Whoever controlled it, controlled access between the two countries. Facing off against the Japanese was the British Fourteenth Army and its Imphal-based 4 Corps. For the next four months, over 200,000 men clashed in the hills and valley of Manipur in what has since been described as one of the greatest battles of World War II. Although numbers vary, it is estimated that some 30,000 Japanese soldiers died and 23,000 were injured at Imphal–Kohima in 1944 due to fighting, disease and in the retreat back to Burma. It remains the largest defeat on land ever for the Japanese Army. With fully commissioned artwork and maps, this is the complete story of the turning point in the Burma campaign in World War II.
Order
This book can be ordered directly from Osprey here. It is also available on Amazon.
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The Battlefields of Imphal: The Second World War and North East India
By Hemant Singh Katoch
Routledge, 2016
This book is the first systematic mapping of the main scenes of the fighting in the critical Battle of Imphal. It connects the present with the past and links what exists today in Manipur with what happened there in 1944. The events were transformative for this little-known place and connected it with the wider world in an unparalleled way. By drawing on oral testimonies, written accounts and archival material, this book revisits the old battlefields and tells the untold story of a place and people that were perhaps the most affected by the Second World War in India.
Order
This book can be ordered in India from Amazon India here.
Map
For a high resolution and colour version of the Battle of Imphal map used in the book, please click here.
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