Students along with teachers during the field visit to Kohima War Cemetery on February 16. (Photo Courtesy: St John College)
Dimapur, February 17 (MExN): The History department of St John College (SJC), Dimapur undertook a field trip to World War II Cemetery Kohima on February 16. Senkatoshi, Head of Department, History in a press release informed that the main purpose of the field visit was to delve into the “5Ws and 1H: what happened, when it happened, where did it happen, who were involved, why did it happen and how did it happen” in the Battle of Kohima. Citing Winston Churchill’s words that “a nation that forgets its past has no future”, the students were encouraged to discover and know its past.
Briefing the students, the HoD informed the students that the Battle of Kohima was fought decisively between the Allied Forces led by the Great Britain and the Japanese, from April 4 to June 22, 1944. This battle is often referred to as the “Stalingrad of the East” due to the intense fight involved in the Kohima ridge. In 2013, the British National Museum voted this battle as one of “Britain’s Greatest Battle.”
American historians Alan Millet and Williamson Murray while writing about the fighting at Kohima between the Japanese and Anglo-Indian Troops remarked that “nowhere in the World War II, did the combatants fight with more mindless savagery.” This battle marked a turning point in the Japanese operation codenamed U-Go. If successful, the operation U-Go could have opened the Indian sub-continent for the Axis Powers to takeover.
During the visit, the students also found out that Saliezhu Angami, 21 years old, was the only Naga grave at the cemetery, where its epitaph reads, “The big-minded warring youngest son of mine shall arise and shine like a star”, the press release informed.
The Kohima War Cemetry today lies on the battleground of the erstwhile Garrison Hill and contains many as 1420 graves of the Allied soldiers killed in the battle. Thirty-one (31) history majoring students with two teachers of Modern Composite History took part in the field visit.