Battle of the Tennis Court

Last updated

Battle of the Tennis Court
Part of the Battle of Kohima during the U-Go Operation of the 1944 Burma Campaign in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II
IND 003483 tennis court at Kohima.jpg
The tennis court and terraces of the District Commissioner's bungalow in Kohima.
Date8 April – 13 May 1944
Location
Kohima, Nagaland, India
25°40′04″N94°06′11″E / 25.66770°N 94.10297°E / 25.66770; 94.10297
Result Allied victory
Belligerents
British Raj Red Ensign.svg XXXIII Corps Merchant flag of Japan (1870).svg 31st Infantry Division
Commanders and leaders
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Montagu Stopford Merchant flag of Japan (1870).svg Kotoku Sato
Strength
161st Indian Infantry Brigade
6th Infantry Brigade 		31st Infantry Division
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown

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". [1] 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.

Contents

Prelude

Kohima Ridge was about a mile long and about 400 yards wide, with a series of hills and gullies that ran alongside the road from Imphal to Dimapur. The steep slopes along the road made the ridge a formidable target for attackers, but it was a narrow space from which to repel an enemy attacking in strength. [2] In March 1944, the Japanese launched Operation U-Go, a large-scale invasion of India. [3] By 6 the British, Nepalese and Indian soldiers of Kohima Garrison had been surrounded on the Kohima ridge. [4] As the siege began the Kohima Ridge was defended to the south (facing Imphal) by the 1st Assam Regiment on Jail Hill. The centre ground of the ridge was mainly defended by 4th Battalion, Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment. The North West of the Ridge, known as Hospital Spur, was defended by the 3rd Assam Rifles who were facing the road to Dimapur. The North East of the Ridge on a sharp corner in the road was where the Deputy Commissioner (DC) Charles Pawsey's Bungalow and Tennis Court was situated. This was initially guarded by a composite group of soldiers, [4] thought to be British and Gurkha troops from the local Reinforcement Depot. [5]

Battle

The Japanese launched a series of attacks into the north-east region of the defences on 8 April, including two attacks on the DC's Bungalow area. The Japanese suffered massive losses, but poured in reinforcements to prepare for another attack. Some Allied soldiers manned a Bren gun to cover the withdrawal from the DC's Bungalow to the other side of the asphalt tennis court 12m higher up the hill. They held on to the last round but were then overrun, bayoneted and shot. [6] At this stage the Battle of the Tennis Court could be said to have begun with the area being rapidly reinforced by A Company of the 4th Battalion, Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment. [7]

During 9 April and before dawn on 10 April the Japanese 58 Regiment attacked the Allied defenders of the Tennis Court area almost every 30 minutes. [8] Major Tom Kenyon, officer commanding (OC) A Company of the 4th Royal West Kents, commanded the British, Indian and Gurkha defenders who had now dug weapon pits and trenches on the western edge of the tennis court. [9] During 10 April these defences and the overhead cover saved many lives as artillery shells landed on the Allied positions. The forward trenches ran out of ammunition on several occasions but were repeatedly resupplied by Sergeant Williams, who was awarded a Military Medal for his bravery. [10]

The decision was made on 12 April to relieve the defenders of the Tennis Court with B Company of the 4th Royal West Kents, commanded by Major John Winstanley. [11] During B Company's first night defending the Tennis Court, the Japanese forces attacked silently, wearing plimsoll shoes, instead of boots. They nearly overran the British forward positions with one of the platoon commanders, Lieutenant Tom Hogg, surviving a bayonet attack before firing all 25 rounds from his weapon (probably a Bren light machine gun), killing his assailant. [12]

On 13 April, heavy Japanese artillery and mortar fire fell around the DC's bungalow and the tennis court area. Several assaults were made by Japanese infantry, although these were repelled in what the British Ministry of Defence describes as "some of the hardest, closest and grimmest fighting, with grenades being hurled across the tennis court at point-blank range". [13] But on 14 April the Japanese did not launch an attack, [14] and on 15 April the British and Indian troops on Kohima ridge heard that the British 2nd Infantry Division was attacking along the Dimapur–Kohima road and had broken through Japanese roadblocks to relieve troops of the 161st Indian Infantry Brigade around Jotsoma, about 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Kohima. [15]

On 17 April, the Japanese tried one last time to take the ridge and captured Field Supply Depot (FSD) Hill and Kuki Piquet. On the morning of 18 April, British artillery opened up from the west against the Japanese positions, which stopped the Japanese attacks. Elements of the British 2nd Division, the 161st Indian Brigade and tanks from XXXIII Corps pushed into the area north-west of Garrison Hill and forced the Japanese from their positions. The road between Dimapur and Kohima had been opened and the siege was lifted. [16] [17]

Part of the Allied force relieving the siege was the 1/1st Punjab Regiment of the 161st Indian Brigade. By the evening of 18 April, D Company of 1/1st Punjab Regiment (Major Gavin Dunnett) were facing the Japanese forces in the Tennis Court area. [18] They were attacked almost immediately by the 58th Infantry Regiment, a battle in which a South East Asia Command Public Relations officer later reported "a grenade match was played across the bungalow's tennis courts". [19] The 1/1st Punjab Regiment took 22 casualties and lost ground, only to retake it again the following day (19 April) during which Jemadar Mohammed Rafiq was awarded the Military Cross for leading his platoon against Japanese bunkers. [18] The 1/1st Punjab Regiment seem to have moved rearwards on 21 April, having suffered 120 casualties, to be replaced by C Company of the 1st Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment, [20] part of the 6th Brigade of the British 2nd Division, who were themselves relieved by D Company of the same battalion on 23 April. [21]

The Japanese who had been fighting to capture Kohima did not retreat at once. Many of them stayed in the positions which they had captured and fought tenaciously for several more weeks. It is not entirely clear when the battle for the Tennis Court was won, but tanks operating from the road supported an infantry attack that captured the Tennis Court area on 10 May 1944. [22] By the morning of 13 May, most of the positions on the Kohima ridge had been re-taken by the British and Indian forces. On that day the DC's bungalow was finally recaptured by the 2nd Battalion, Dorset Regiment supported by Grant tanks firing from the Tennis Court. [23] The lead tank was driven by Sergeant Waterhouse of 149th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (149th RAC), firing his 75 mm gun into Japanese bunkers at no more than 20 yd (18 m). This tank was supported by two platoons of the Dorsets commanded by Sergeants Given and Cook. [24] The Allied breakthrough that ended the Battle of the Tennis Court is depicted in a 1982 painting by Terence Cuneo which is displayed in the Kohima Museum in Imphal Barracks, York. [25]

The fighting within the 6th Brigade's area was documented by Major Boshell, who commanded 'B' Company of the 1st Royal Berkshires, in the 6th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Division:

To begin with I took over an area overlooking the Tennis Court... The lie of the land made impossible to move by day because of Japanese snipers. We were in Kohima for three weeks. We were attacked every single night... They came in waves, it was like a pigeon shoot. Most nights they overran part of the battalion position, so we had to mount counter-attacks... Water was short and restricted to about one pint per man per day. So we stopped shaving. Air supply was the key, but the steep terrain and narrow ridges meant that some of the drops went to the Japs. My company went into Kohima over 100 strong and came out at about 60. [26]

Aftermath

Around 15 May the Japanese 31st Division began to withdraw and the fresh British and Indian troops from XXXIII Corps began to reinforce and relieve the British 2nd Division and the 33rd and 161st Indian Brigades. [27] In the aftermath of the fighting around Kohima, the troops of the Fourteenth Army began an advance, with the relief of Imphal, which would continue until Burma had been recaptured. [28] The battle was the turning point of the Battle of Kohima which was the watershed of the Burma Campaign. Earl Louis Mountbatten, the Supreme Allied Commander in the theatre, described Kohima as

probably one of the greatest battles in history... in effect the Battle of Burma... naked unparalleled heroism... the British/Indian Thermopylae. [29]

The Imperial War Museum Duxford has a diorama of the battle, amongst others. [30]

Notes

  1. ↑ CWGC staff 2015.
  2. ↑ Keane 2010, p. 226.
  3. ↑ Rooney 1992, pp. 25 & 49.
  4. 1 2 Keane 2010, p. 232.
  5. ↑ Colvin 2012, p. 91.
  6. ↑ Street 2003, p. 65.
  7. ↑ Lyman 2010, p. 47.
  8. ↑ Colvin 2012, p. 99.
  9. ↑ Colvin 2012, pp. 100–101.
  10. ↑ Street 2003, pp. 75–76.
  11. ↑ Colvin 2012, p. 104.
  12. ↑ Street 2003, p. 83.
  13. ↑ Ministry of Defence 2004, p. 4.
  14. ↑ Ministry of Defence 2004, pp. 4–5.
  15. ↑ Rooney 1992, pp. 76, 81–82.
  16. ↑ Rooney 1992, pp. 82–84.
  17. ↑ Allen 2002, pp. 237–238.
  18. 1 2 Edwards 2009, pp. 192–195.
  19. ↑ Edwards 2009, pp. 194.
  20. ↑ Edwards 2009, p. 208.
  21. ↑ Edwards 2009, p. 219.
  22. ↑ Lyman 2010, p. 68.
  23. ↑ Lyman 2010, p. 11.
  24. ↑ Colvin 2012, p. 200.
  25. ↑ YPT 2008.
  26. ↑ Ministry of Defence 2004, p. 6.
  27. ↑ Ministry of Defence 2004, p. 8.
  28. ↑ Rooney 1992, p. 181–190.
  29. ↑ Ministry of Defence 2004, p. 3.
  30. ↑ "Kohima Diorama – IWM Duxford". Planet Figure. Retrieved 20 September 2020.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burma campaign</span> 1941–1945 campaign during World War II

The Burma campaign was a series of battles fought in the British colony of Burma. It was part of the South-East Asian theatre of World War II and primarily involved forces of the Allies against the invading forces of the Empire of Japan. Imperial Japan was supported by the Thai Phayap Army, as well as two collaborationist independence movements and armies. Nominally independent puppet states were established in the conquered areas and some territories were annexed by Thailand. In 1942 and 1943, the international Allied force in British India launched several failed offensives to retake lost territories. Fighting intensified in 1944, and British Empire forces peaked at around 1 million land and air forces. These forces were drawn primarily from British India, with British Army forces, 100,000 East and West African colonial troops, and smaller numbers of land and air forces from several other Dominions and Colonies. These additional forces allowed the Allied recapture of Burma in 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Kohima</span> 1944 battle around Kohima, Nagaland, India

The Battle of Kohima was 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 British Indian force at Kohima was relieved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Imphal</span> Battle between Japanese and Allied forces in 1944

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 voting in a contest run by the British National Army Museum, the Battle of Imphal was bestowed as Britain's Greatest Battle in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">5th Infantry Division (India)</span> Infantry division of the Indian Army during World War II

The 5th Infantry Division is an infantry division of the Indian Army. It was raised during the second world war and fought in several theatres of war and was nicknamed the "Ball of Fire". It was one of the few Allied divisions to fight against three different armies - the Italian, German and Japanese armies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montagu Stopford</span> British Army general (1892–1971)

General Sir Montagu George North Stopford, was a senior British Army officer who fought during both the First and Second World Wars. The latter he served in with distinction, commanding XXXIII Indian Corps in the Far East, where he served under General Sir William Slim, and played a significant role in the Burma Campaign, specifically during the Battle of Kohima in mid-1944.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kōtoku Satō</span> Japanese general (1893–1959)

Kōtoku Satō was a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">7th Indian Infantry Division</span> Military unit

The 7th Infantry Division is a war-formed infantry division, part of the British Indian Army that saw service in the Burma Campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">33rd Division (Imperial Japanese Army)</span> Military unit

The 33rd Division was an infantry division of the Imperial Japanese Army. Its call sign was the Bow Division. The 33rd Division was raised in Utsunomiya, Tochigi prefecture, simultaneously with 32nd, 34th, 35th, 36th and 37th Divisions. Its headquarters were initially in Sendai. It was raised from conscripts largely from the northern Kantō prefectures of Tochigi, Ibaraki and Gunma.

The 31st Division was an infantry division of the Imperial Japanese Army. Its call sign was the Furious Division. The 31st Division was raised during World War II in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 22, 1943, out of Kawaguchi Detachment and parts of the 13th, 40th and 116th divisions. The 31st division was initially assigned to 15th army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harold Rawdon Briggs</span> British Army general (1894–1952)

Lieutenant General Sir Harold Rawdon Briggs, was a senior British Indian Army officer, active during the First World War, Second World War and the Malayan Emergency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation U-Go</span> Japanese Invasion of India in 1944

The U Go offensive, or Operation C, was the Japanese offensive launched in March 1944 against forces of the British Empire in the northeast Indian regions of Manipur and the Naga Hills. Aimed at the Brahmaputra Valley, through the towns of Imphal and Kohima, the offensive along with the overlapping Ha Go offensive was one of the last Japanese offensives during the Second World War. The offensive culminated in the Battles of Imphal and Kohima, where the Japanese and their allies were first held and then pushed back.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burma campaign (1944)</span> Aspect of the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II

The fighting in the Burma campaign in 1944 was among the most severe in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II. It took place along the borders between Burma and India, and Burma and China, and involved the British Commonwealth, Chinese and United States forces, against the forces of Imperial Japan and the Indian National Army. British Commonwealth land forces were drawn primarily from the United Kingdom, British India and Africa.

The Battle of Shangshak took place in Manipur in the forested and mountainous frontier area between India and Burma, from 20 March to 26 March 1944. The Japanese drove a parachute brigade of the British Indian Army from its positions with heavy casualties, but suffered heavy casualties themselves. The delay imposed on the Japanese by the battle allowed British and Indian reinforcements to reach the vital position at Kohima before the Japanese.

The British Indian XXXIII Corps was a corps-sized formation of the Indian Army during the Second World War. It was disbanded and the headquarters was recreated as an Army headquarters in 1945.

The 161st Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. As part of the arrangements for the independence and partition of British India the brigade was allocated to India and became the 161st Infantry Brigade in the army of the newly independent India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kohima War Cemetery</span> CWGC cemetery in India

Kohima War Cemetery is a memorial dedicated to soldiers of the 2nd British Division of the Allied Forces who died in the Second World War at Kohima, the capital of the Indian state of Nagaland in April 1944. The soldiers died on the battleground of Garrison Hill in the tennis court area of the Deputy Commissioner's residence. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which maintains this cemetery among many others in the world, there are 1,420 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War at this cemetery, and a memorial to an additional 917 Hindu and Sikh soldiers who were cremated in accordance with their faith. The memorial was inaugurated by Field Marshal Sir William Slim, then Commander of the 14th Army in Burma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imphal War Cemetery</span> CWGC cemetery in India

The Imphal War Cemetery is located in Imphal, the capital of the Indian state of Manipur, in Northeast India, which has an international border with upper Burma. The cemetery has 1,600 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War and is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Many of the people buried in the cemetery were killed during the Battle of Kohima and Imphal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chamar Regiment</span> Military unit

The Chamar Regiment was an infantry regiment among the units raised by the British during World War II to increase the strength of the Indian Army during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">118th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery</span> Military unit

The 118th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, was an air defence unit of the British Army during World War II. Initially raised as an infantry battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment in 1940, it transferred to the Royal Artillery in 1942. It served in Home Forces and then went to Assam to defend Fourteenth Army's vital bases and airfields during the Burma Campaign until it was broken up in 1944.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shigesaburō Miyazaki</span>

Shigesaburō Miyazaki was a Japanese major general of the Imperial Japanese Army who was notable for commanding the Japanese 31st Division in the Burma Campaign of 1944. His eldest son was Shigeki Miyazaki who was the former president of Meiji University.

References

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.