Imphal, April 07: A 32 member team of Royal British Legion, which included eight World War II veterans and their friends and family members, visited the Imphal War Cemetery to pay homage to those, who made the supreme sacrifice in the Battle of Imphal today.

As part of the formal cer�emony, conducted under the aegis of HQ IGAR(S), Brig PK Kayastha, Commander 9 Sector Assam Rifles laid floral wreath along with the War veter�ans at the War memorial.

Troops of 22 Maratha Light Infantry pre�sented a Guard of Honour and sounded the Last Post.

Later a memorial service was held.

It was an emotional mo�ment for all the visitors, while they paid solemn trib�ute to the departed souls, who made supreme sacri�fice in the service of the Nation.

Daniel Milligan (85) who took part in the war said he gunned down three fighters and were involved in the war at Bishenpur.

He said the troops referred to Gen�eral Slim who commanded the Allied Forces as Uncle Slim.

He also narrated the war at Mandalay, Shwebo and other battles he took part.

He showed his friends who died in Manipur.

Early in 1942, as the Japa�nese approached Rangoon, a very large proportion of its Indian population fled from the city to India, many of them to Upper Burma by Chindwin tracks to Assam.

In May of that year our forces followed the same route on their retreat to In�dia.

In their wake came still more civilian refugees, many of whom perished on the terrible journey under ceaseless heavy rain, with�out transport and without food!.

Of the 4,00,000 civilians who fled to India about 1,40,000 passed through Imphal into Assam.

The defense of India and the retention of a position from which Burma could be re-entered now became of primary importance.

The 23rd Indian division was formed in Manipur State, new airfields were con�structed here, and army and air force reinforcements ar�rived.

Eventually there was a considerable concentra�tion of our fighting forces in the Imphal area. Strategically well placed for attacks in the lines of communication by road and river which were vital for the maintenance of all Allied operations in Burma, Imphal with its airfields was a main objective when the Japa�nese made their thrust to�wards India in the spring of 1944.There was severe fighting in the surrounding hills and on the outskirts of the plain; and the enemy succeeded in cutting and holding for over three months a long section of the Imphal-Kohima road.

The fourteenth Army held grimly on, inflicting heavy casualty.

Of all the battles on this frontier of India, the siege of Imphal and its relief in the summer of 1944 rank next in importance to the Battle of Kohima.

The site is open and flat, and easily accessible.

There were originally some 950 burials in the cemetery, but the graves from two smaller cemeteries in Imphal and from isolated locations in the region were moved into this cemetery by the Army Graves Service after hostili�ties had ceased.

The total number of burials is now 1,603 classified as shown opposite.

Four of the sol�diers from the United King�dom whose graves could not be precisely located are commemorated by special memorials type 'C", ie in�scribed "Buried near this spot".

On 6th March 1944, the Japanese started the attack.

The Japanese 33rd Division advanced towards Tiddim, the 15th towards Imphal and the 31st towards Kohima.

The Japanese troops with a force of al�most 120,000 men tried to break through the Imphal valley.

British and Indian troops fought the most in�tense battle in the Imphal valley against the Japanese which is comparable for its ferocity and bloodshed with the battle of Stalingrad and Berlin.

There were two simul�taneous battles that were fought at Imphal and Kohima.

These battles proved to be the turning point for the Allied forces as from here onwards they marched into Burma relent�lessly which led to her final victory in the South East Asian Theatre.

On the other hand it was the beginning of the Japanese downfall and complete subjugation.

General Slim pointed out, "Like unevenly spaced spokes of a wheel, six routes were covered on the Imphal plain; from the north the broad Kohima road and the footpath down the Iril river valley, from the North�west, the Ukhrul road, from the Southwest, the tarmac Tamu-Palel road, from the South, the rugged Tiddim highway and from the West, the Silchar-Bishenpur track." The Northern sector of the perimeter was held by the In�dian 5th Division.

It en�countered the first Japa�nese attack at Imphal, which came from the North, and lost the key heights at Nungshigum. Subse�quently the British were able to wrest control of the vital summit from the enemy and continued to capture the remaining heights.

General Gracey's 20th Di�vision was spread over with a frontage of 25 miles facing Japanese 33rd Division In�fantry Group under General Yamamoto at Palel. Japanese forces tried to push up the Palel road, and the battle raged between April 4 and 10.When the Japanese Army finally withdrew, the 20th Division had yielded only two miles of ground and successfully held another series of hilltops known as Crete West and Scraggy.

The official figures show that 30,000 were killed in battle, while hundreds more died after the defeat became a rout, as victims of sick�ness, malnutrition and expo�sure. As the Japanese feared, the Imphal Plain be�came the fountainhead of the successful British effort to retake Burma.

The Japanese starving and diseased had by now lost 60,000 troops and fell back to Chindwin River, abandoning their artillery and transport.

The Japanese defeat on the Imphal Plain and the re�opening of the Kohima- Imphal road meant that be�fore the end of June 1944 the Japanese invasion of India had finally failed; no further full-scale offensive was at�tempted by the Japanese in Burma.

Allied losses in the same period totaled about 2,670 killed and fewer 10,000 wounded and missing.

Most of those who died lie in the British War Cemetery and Indian Army War Cemetery, at Imphal and Kohima.

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