| 7th Infantry Division | |
|---|---|
 Formation sign for the 7th Indian Infantry Division. [1] | |
| Active | 1940-present |
| Type | Infantry |
| Size | Division |
| Garrison/HQ | Ferozepur |
| Nickname(s) | Golden Arrow Division |
| Engagements | Battle of the Admin Box Battle of Kohima Battle of Central Burma Irrawaddy River |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Frank Messervy Geoffrey Charles Evans |
The 7th Infantry Division is a war-formed infantry division, part of the British Indian Army that saw service in the Burma Campaign.
The division was created on 1 October 1940 at Attock, under the command of Major General Arthur Wakely. Its formation sign was an arrow, pointing bottom left to top right, in yellow on a black background. The division was sometimes known as the "Golden Arrow" division from this sign. When first formed, the division consisted of the 13th, 14th and 16th Indian Infantry Brigades, but within eighteen months, both the 13th and 16th Brigades were removed and dispatched to Burma, where both fought during the Japanese conquest of Burma. The 14th Brigade was renumbered the 114th Indian Infantry Brigade and remained with the division.
During 1942, the 33rd and 89th Brigades were added to the division. The division trained for operations in the deserts in the Middle East but by the end of the year, the North African campaign was clearly at an end. In early 1943, the division was reassigned to the Burma campaign and Major General Frank Messervy, a veteran of the fighting in North Africa, was appointed to command, replacing Major General Thomas Corbett.
After extensive retraining and preparation, 7th Division took part in an offensive in Arakan, the coastal province of Burma. Starting in December 1943, the division advanced down the Kalapanzin River valley as part of XV Corps. In February 1944, Japanese troops infiltrated through the division's front and overran the divisional HQ. Units of the division took part in the subsequent Battle of the Admin Box, in which the Japanese failed to capture positions supplied by parachute drops and were forced to retreat.
During March, the Japanese launched a major offensive (codenamed Operation U-Go) into Manipur. Having been withdrawn from the Arakan battles, the division proceeded by road and rail to Dimapur, where it came under command of XXXIII Corps and took part in the Battle of Kohima. The 161st Indian Brigade, part of the 5th Indian Division, came under command, while the 89th Brigade was flown to Imphal, to replace 161st Brigade in 5th Division. During early May, 33rd Brigade completed the recapture of Kohima Ridge, while the main body of the division recaptured Naga Village to the north of the ridge. During the later part of the month and early June, the division advanced through heavy monsoon rains along rough tracks to the east of the main road from Kohima to Imphal, and cleared Japanese stragglers from Ukhrul.
From July to October, the division regrouped near Kohima, and 89th Brigade rejoined. Late in 1944, Major General Messervy was promoted to command IV Corps and was replaced in command of the division by Major General Geoffrey Charles Evans. Now commanded by IV Corps, the division advanced down the Gangaw Valley west of the Chindwin River, with the 28th (East Africa) Brigade under command, screened until Pauk was reached by the lightly equipped Lushai Brigade. During late February 1945, the division captured vital bridgeheads across the Irrawaddy River near Pakokku. During March, as part of the decisive Battle of Central Burma, the division was involved in several battles at Myingyan and Yenangyaung.
During April, the division once again came under command of XXXIII Corps and advanced down the west bank of the Irrawaddy. After Rangoon, the capital, was captured in early May, the division was directly commanded by the new headquarters of Twelfth Army and resisted Japanese diversionary attacks across the Sittang River during the monsoon.
After the war ended, in September 1945, the division moved to Thailand, where it disarmed the Japanese occupying army, and liberated and repatriated Allied prisoners of war.
Following the Partition of India in 1947 the 7th Division local units were split between India and Pakistan, and both armies continue to have a 7th Infantry Division with the Golden Arrow formation sign.
All these brigades were assigned or attached to the division at some time during World War II. [2]
The Battle of Kohima proved the turning point of the Japanese U-Go offensive into India in 1944 during the Second World War. The battle took place in three stages from 4 April to 22 June 1944 around the town of Kohima, now the capital city of Nagaland in Northeast India. From 3 to 16 April, the Japanese attempted to capture Kohima ridge, a feature which dominated the road by which the besieged British and Indian troops of IV Corps at Imphal were supplied. By mid-April, the small British and Indian force at Kohima was relieved.
The Battle of the Tennis Court was part of the wider Battle of Kohima that was fought in North East India from 4 April to 22 June 1944 during the Burma Campaign of the Second World War. The Japanese advance into India was halted at Kohima in April 1944 and Garrison Hill, on a long wooded ridge on a high ridge west of the village, was, according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission the scene of "perhaps the most bitter fighting of the whole Burma campaign when a small Commonwealth force held out against repeated attacks by a Japanese Division". During the siege of Kohima, heavy fighting, including hand-to-hand combat, occurred in the grounds surrounding the Deputy Commissioner's bungalow, including the tennis court, beginning around 8 April and continuing until 13 May when the assaulting Japanese troops began withdrawing from the area.
The Battle of Imphal took place in the region around the city of Imphal, the capital of the state of Manipur in Northeast India from March until July 1944. Japanese armies attempted to destroy the Allied forces at Imphal and invade India, but were driven back into Burma with heavy losses. Together with the simultaneous Battle of Kohima on the road by which the encircled Allied forces at Imphal were relieved, the battle was the turning point of the Burma campaign, part of the South-East Asian theatre of World War II. The Japanese defeat at Kohima and Imphal was the largest up until that time, with many of the Japanese deaths resulting from starvation, disease and exhaustion suffered during their retreat. According to a voting in a contest run by the British National Army Museum, the Battle of Imphal was bestowed as Britain's Greatest Battle in 2013.
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