Authors: Fergal Keane
Perhaps nothing – no apology, no compensation – could make up for the anguish of the prisoners of war or alter the memory of
Japanese barbarism for many of the British and Indian veterans. One of the reasons they survived at Kohima was because they had learned to fear the Japanese so much that they would never surrender to them. Among the veterans of Kohima I interviewed, most had an abiding hatred for the enemy. The Cameron Highlanders’ officer, Gordon Graham, attended a 2nd Division parade with his friend Masao Hirakubo and heard a veteran behind them mutter ‘Japanese bastard.’ According to John Laverty’s son Patrick, his father would gladly have seen the Japanese veterans ‘garrotted in the street’. Even the clergyman, the Reverend Bruce Hayllar, who was shelled as he lay among the wounded, refused to buy Japanese cars and struggled with himself on the few occasions when Japanese Christians came to him for Communion. He was changed by a single experience. ‘I had to baptise a baby and it was half Japanese,’ he recalled. ‘That cured me, because I said, “Don’t be so stupid. This child isn’t to blame for all of this.”’
Masao Hirakubo died at the age of eighty-eight and his funeral in London was a large affair. I remember the atmosphere of gentleness in the chapel, so far removed from the place that had sent Hirakubo on his long journey of reconciliation. His son, Masahiro, read from the Book of Wisdom. ‘Though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality.’ There were a handful of British Kohima veterans in the congregation. Many more would have come, Philip Malins told me, but they were getting too old and frail to travel far. ‘We are dying out,’ he said. ‘Soon there will be none of us left.’
To their memory, to all the dead of Kohima, I offer this book.
Alanbrooke, Field Marshal Lord.
War Diaries, 1939–1945.
Ed. by Alex Danchev and Daniel Todman. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2001.
Aldrich, Richard J.
Intelligence and the War Against Japan.
Cambridge University Press, 2000.
All Burma Veterans Association, Tokyo.
A Bibliography of Japanese Books of the Burma Campaign.
2000
Allen, Louis.
Burma: The Longest War.
J. M. Dent (The Orion Publishing Group), 1984.
Atkins, David.
The Reluctant Major.
Toat Press (rpt.), 1986.
Bailey, Christopher, and Harper, Tim.
Forgotten Armies: The Fall of British Asia, 1941–45.
Penguin/Allen Lane, 2004.
Barker, Arthur James.
The March on Delhi.
Faber, 1963.
Barua, Pradeep.
Gentlemen of the Raj: The Indian Army Officer Corps, 1817–1949.
Praeger, 2003
Basho, Matsuo.
The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches.
Trans. by Nobuyuki Yuasa. Penguin Classics, 1966.
Benegal, Ramesh S.
Burma to Japan with Azad Hind: A War Memoir 1941–44.
Lancer InterConsult, 2009.
Bercuson, David, and Holger, G. Herwig.
One Christmas in Washington – Churchill and Roosevelt Forge the Grand Alliance.
Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2005.
Best, Geoffrey.
Churchill: A Study in
Greatness. Hambledon Continuum, 2002.
Bond, Brian, and Tachikawa, Kyoichi, eds.
British and Japanese Military Leadership in the Far Eastern War, 1941–45.
Routledge, 2006.
Bose, Sugata.
A Hundred Horizons.
Harvard University Press, 2006.
Brandon, Piers.
Decline and Fall of the British Empire.
Cape, 2007.
Brett James, Anthony.
Ball of Fire: The Fifth Indian Division in the Second World War.
Gale and Polden, 1951.
——.
Report My Signals.
Hennel Locke in association with George G. Harrap, 1948.
Burchett, W. G.
Wingate’s Phantom Army.
Thacker and Co., 1944.
Burton, F. H.
Mission to Burma: The Story of 177 Squadron.
Privately published, 1991.
Callahan, Raymond.
Burma, 1942–1945.
Books and Bookmen, 1967.
——.
Churchill and his Generals.
University Press of Kansas, 2007.
Calvert, Michael.
Fighting Mad.
Pen and Sword, 2004.
Campbell, Arthur.
The Siege.
Allen and Unwin, 1956.
Chang, Iris.
The Rape of Nanking.
Penguin, 1997.
Chaplin, H. D.
The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment 1920–1950.
Michael Joseph, 1954.
Chapman Lebra, Joyce.
Women Against the Raj: The Rani of Jhansi Regiment.
Institute of South East Asian Studies, 2008.
Churchill, Sir Winston.
The Second World War.
6 vols. Reprint Society, 1960.
Clarke, Peter.
The Last Thousand Days of Empire.
Allen Lane, 2007.
Coakley, Robert W.
World War II: The War Against Japan
. Army Historical Series, United States Army, 1989.
Colvin, John.
Not Ordinary Men.
Pen and Sword, 1994.
Cook, Haruko Taya and Theodore F.
Japan at War.
Phoenix Press, 2000.
Costello, John.
The Pacific War, 1941–45.
Harper Perennial, 2002.
Doak, Kevin.
A History of Nationalism in Modern Japan: Placing the
People.
Brill, 2007.
Dower, John.
Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Aftermath of World
War II.
Penguin, 1999.
Drea, J.
Japan’s Imperial Army: Its Rise and Fall, 1853–1945.
University Press of Kansas, 2009.
Edwards, Leslie.
Kohima: The Furthest Battle.
History Press, 2009.
Evans, Geoffrey, and Brett James, Anthony.
Imphal: A Flower on Lofty Heights.
Macmillan, 1962.
Fay, Peter Ward.
The Forgotten Army: India’s Armed Struggle for Independence 1942–1945.
University of Michigan Press, 1995.
Fergusson, Bernard.
Beyond the Chindwin.
Collins, 1945.
——.
The Wild Green Earth.
Collins, 1946.
Fitzpatrick, Gerald.
No Mandalay, No Maymyo (79 Survive)
. Book Guild, 2001.
Foucar, E. C. V.
I Lived in Burma.
Dennis Dobson, 1956.
Fujiwara, Iwaichi.
Japanese Army Intelligence Operations in Southeast Asia during World War II.
Trans. by Akashi Yoji. Heinemann, 1983.
Gin Ooi, Keat.
Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, from
Angkor Wat to East Timor.
ABC-CLIO, 2004.
Graham Bower, Ursula.
Naga Path.
John Murray, 1952.
Graham, Gordon.
The Trees Are Still Young on Garrison Hill.
Kohima Educational Trust, 2005.
——, and Cole, Frank.
Burma Campaign Memorial Library: A
Collection of Books and Papers about the War in Burma 1942–1945.
SOAS, 1999.
Grant, Ian Lyall.
Burma: Turning Point.
Zampi Press, 1993.
Harrison, Mark.
Medicine and Victory.
Oxford University Press, 2008.
Hart, Peter.
At the Sharp End.
Pen and Sword, 1998.
Hastings, Max.
Finest Years: Churchill as Warlord
1940–45. Harper Press, 2009.
——.
Nemesis: The Battle for Japan, 1944–45.
Harper Press, 2007.
Hill, John.
Slim’s Burma Boys.
History Press, 2008.
Horne, Gerald.
Race War! White Supremacy and the Japanese Attack on the British Empire.
New York University Press, 2004.
Horowitz, David.
The Deadly Ethnic Riot.
University of California Press, 2001.
Jackson, Ashley.
The British Empire and the Second World War.
Hambledon Continuum, 2006.
Jowett, Philip.
The Japanese Army, 1931–45.
Osprey, 2002.
Keegan, John.
Churchill’s Generals.
Cassell, 2005.
King-Clark, R.
The Battle for Kohima: The Narrative of the 2 Battalion the Manchester Regiment.
Fleur de Lys, 1995.
Kratoska, Paul H.
South East Asia, Colonial History: High Imperialism (1890s–1930s).
Taylor and Francis, 2001.
Latimer, Jon.
Burma: The Forgotten War.
John Murray, 2004.
Leer, Martin, and Clunies Ross, Bruce.
Bodies and Voices: The Force Field Representation in Colonial and Post Colonial Studies.
Rodopi, 2007.
Lewin, Ronald.
Slim, the Standard Bearer.
Wordsworth Military History Library, 1999.
Lowry, Michael.
Fighting Through to Kohima.
Pen and Sword, 2003.
Lucas Phillips, C. E.
Springboard to Victory.
Heinemann, 1966.
Lunt, James.
A Hell of a Licking.
Collins, 1986.
Lyman, Robert.
The Generals: From Defeat to Victory, Leadership in Asia 1941–45.
Constable and Robinson, 2008.
——.
Slim: Master of War.
Constable and Robinson, 2004.
McCann, John.
Return to Kohima.
Privately published, 1993.
Marks, James Ebenezer.
Forty Years in Burma.
Hutchinson, 1917.
Marston, Daniel.
Phoenix from the Ashes: The Indian Army in the Burma Campaign.
Praeger, 2003.
Mason, Philip.
A Matter of Honour: An Account of the Indian Army, its Officers and Men.
Cape, 1975.
Masuzawa, Michiko.
A Quiet Man: About my Father, Shigesaburo Miyazaki.
Koyo Publishing, 1987.
Mercado, Stephen C. Nakano.
A History of the Imperial Japanese Army’s Elite Intelligence School.
Brassey’s, 2002.
‘Militiaman’ [anon.].
Six for the King.
Peace Bros., 1984.
Moran, Lord.
The Anatomy of Courage.
Robinson, 2007.
Moreman, T. R.
The Jungle, the Japanese and the British Commonwealth Armies at War, 1941–45: Fighting Methods, Doctrine and Training for Jungle Warfare.
Frank Cass, 2005.
Morris, James.
Farewell the Trumpets.
Penguin, 1979.
——.
Heaven’s Command.
Penguin, 1979.
——.
Pax Brittanica.
Penguin, 1979.
Mountbatten, Lord Louis.
Personal Diary of Admiral the Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander, South-East Asia, 1943–46.
Ed. by Philip Ziegler. Collins, 1988.
Murphy, Ray.
The Last Viceroy.
Jarrold’s, 1949.
Nag, Sajal.
Contesting Marginality: Ethnicity, Insurgency and Subnationalism in North-East India.
Manohar, 2002.
Nisbet, John.
Burma under British Rule.
Constable, 1901 (rpt. Elibron Classics, 2005).
Orwell, George.
Orwell Diaries.
Harvill Secker, 2009.
Ottowell, Stuart.
CHHE – SAAT: Memoir of an Officer of the 6th/7th Rajput Regiment.
Manohar, 2008.
Owen, Frank.
The Campaign in Burma.
HMSO, 1946.
Parkin, Ray.
Into the Smother: A Journal of the Burma – Siam Railway.
Hogarth Press, 1963.
Peace, David.
Tokyo Year Zero.
Faber, 2007.
Pownall, Henry.
Chief of Staff: The Diaries of Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Pownall.
Ed. by Brian Bond. Leo Cooper, 1972.
Roberts, Andrew.
The Storm of War.
Allen Lane, 2009.
Rooney, David.
Burma Victory: Imphal and Kohima, March 1944 to May 1945.
Cassell, 1992
Seagrave, Gordon.
Burma Surgeon.
W. W. Norton, 1943.
Shakespear, L. W.
History of the Assam Rifles.
Naval and Military Press, 2005.
Shipster, John.
Mist over the Rice Fields.
Pen and Sword, 2000.
Shiramizu, Soichi.
The Starving Mountains.
Ashi Shobo, 1972.
Slim, Field Marshal Sir William.
Defeat into Victory.
Cassell, 1956.
Smith, Harry.
Memories of a Hostile Place: Tales of an Amateur Soldier in World War II, Major H. C. Smith, 4 Royal West Kent Regiment.
Privately published.
Spector, Ronald.
Eagle against the Sun: The American War against Japan.
Cassell, 2000.
Spencer, William.
Army Records: A Guide for Family Historians.
National Archives, 2008.
Stanley Clark, E. B., and Tillot, A. T.,
From Kent to Kohima.
Gale and Polden, 1951.
Street, Robert.
A Brummie in Burma.
Barny Books, 1997.
——.
Another Brummie in Burma.
Barny Books, 2003.
——.
The Siege of Kohima: The Battle for Burma.
Barny Books, 2003.
Strip, Alan.
Codebreaker in the Far East.
Oxford University Press, 1995.
Subba, Bahadur, and G. C. Ghosh, eds.
The Anthropology of North-East India.
Longman Orient, 1999.