Flag of 26th Indian Division
26th Indian Division was formed in May 1942 from units stationed around Barrackpur near Calcutta. It was known as the ‘Tigers Head’ Division, because of its badge – a yellow & black Bengal tiger stepping out of a blue triangle, set on a black triangular background. The triangle was chosen because it is the capital form of the Greek letter delta & the division was raised in the delta of the River Ganges.
Due to lack of training and transport, the division was not considered battle-worthy for most of 1942. Instead, it was employed in internal security. However, its brigades were thrown piecemeal into the calamitous 1st Arakan Campaign in 1943.
In 1944, 26th Division was placed in reserve for the 2nd Arakan Offensive. When 7th Division became encircled, 26th Division fought its way down the coastal plain to reopen lines of communication & relieve the Admin Box. During this action, Major Charles Hoey of 1st Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment won a Victoria Cross leading his company at the Ngakyedauk Pass. Subsequently, 26th Division replaced 5th Division in the Arakan & was involved in capturing the railway tunnels through the Mayu Range.
In 1945, the ‘Tiger’s Head Division’ took part in the capture of Akyab & Ramree Island. It was then despatched to capture Rangoon through amphibious assault in Operation Dracula. On arrival, it was discovered that the Japanese had evacuated Rangoon, to avoid being cut off.
26th Division was disbanded on 31st August 1945.
Driver Allen’s Paintings of Burma
George Allen from Lancashire was a Royal Signals driver with 115th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery. He was with 19th Indian Division, the first across the Irrawaddy & to reach Mandalay, & then as they traveled deep into Burma.
Despite the danger, Driver Allen found time to paint over fifty pictures of what he saw in India & Burma. They provide unique images of the scenes that he witnessed. George Allen’s daughter Pam Walker generously donated this magnificent collection of pictures to the Kohima Museum. Many are now on display in the museum & scans of others will be posted on the website & on our social media.
In May 1945, George Allen found himself at Toungoo, a town on the main road to Rangoon. He sketched a village in the area.
He painted two pictures of a pagoda, first on a bright day & ten days later under a “monsoon sky”.
In September he returned to the area, where the nearby Sittang River had overflowed during the monsoon, flooding fields & villages.
Driver Allen School Project
George Allen from Lancashire was a Royal Signals driver with 115th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery. He was with 19th Indian Division as they traveled deep into Burma.
Despite the danger, Driver Allen found time to paint over fifty pictures of what he saw in India & Burma. They provide unique images of the scenes that he witnessed. George Allen’s daughter Pam Walker generously donated this magnificent collection of pictures to the Kohima Museum. Many are now on display in the museum.
When she was nine years old, Pam Walker’s granddaughter Frankie Fairhurst did a school project about her great grandfather’s adventures in WW2. She donated this charming item to Kohima Museum when the family visited.
The project began by introducing George Allen & then saying that he set sail on 21 March 1942 & reached Colombo after 114 days, on 13 July. He sometimes slept on deck, but rough seas made everyone sick.
1942 13th July – 31st November 1942
‘”Friendly natives, curious natives. Crocodiles, monkeys, other animals, insects”. This is how he described his time in Ceylon in his diaries. In the letters he wrote home, he said about going for a swim in the sea; going to Colombo for a day; having a good time; eating plenty; playing his accordion; going to the cinema (which had been built especially for troops!).
Unfortunately, there were lots of flies, ants, mosquitos & beetles. He also writes about being bored & getting fed up with the heat.’
Communication with home
‘It was really important to keep in touch with family & friends in the war to keep everyones’ spirits up. There wasn’t a lot of paper so people who sent letters had to have very small handwriting.
Letters were sent by either sea mail or air mail.
By the end of the war Great Grandfather had written: 343 letters to his Ma & Pa; 208 letters to his girlfriend & 42 letters to his friend Norman.’
Entertaining the troops
‘My great grandfather was very musical, when he was sent to war he took his accordion with him. He was one of the Line Party, he & his group went around singing & playing for the troops.’
Painting
“May 22nd 1944 – view painted from my bed. palms moved slightly to make a picture – many missed out.”
From Calcutta he headed north where he saw tea pickers & snow capped mountain peaks. He then crossed the Brahmaputra on a huge ferry & drove to Imphal.
BURMA
He crossed into Burma & the camp was by a river. This is where my great grandads war got DANGEROUS.
Getting Home
He sent his last letter home on the 28th September. He sailed from Rangoon Harbour on 5th Oct & arrived in Colombo on the 9th. He then left Ceylon on the same day & went through the Suez Canal on the 19th.
He says in his diaries that he saw flying fish & even some sharks!
On the 23rd October 1945 he went through Bomb Alley, the sea between Malta & Sicily.
Great Grandad arrived back in England on the 27th October 1945 …. ALIVE!!!
The Swords of General Grover & General Sakurai
On 24 October 1945, a formal surrender ceremony was held in Rangoon in which generals of Japan’s Burma Area Army handed their swords to officers in the British 12th Army.
Lt General Shozo Sakurai, commander of the Japanese 28th Army, surrendered his sword to Brigadier J.D. Shapland, who commanded the 12th Army’s artillery.
Brigadier Shapland later gifted Sakurai’s sword to Maj General Grover, who had commanded the British 2nd Division.
After Maj General Grover’s death, his son, Lt Col David Grover, generously donated to the Kohima Museum his father’s ceremonial sword & the sword surrended by Lt General Sakurai.
Instrument of Surrender
The Kohima Museum displays a copy of the Instrument of Surrender that was signed on 12 September 1945 in the Municipal Buildings in Singapore. It formalised the unconditional surrender of all Japanese forces in South East Asia.
It was signed by Maj General Itagaki, on behalf of Field Marshal Terauchi, who was too ill to attend. This was accepted on condition that Terauchi surrender in person as soon as he was well enough. This happened in Saigon on 20 November 1945.
On behalf of the Allies, the document was signed by Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia, who proclaimed to the assembly that
“I wish to make it entirely clear that the surrender today is no negotiated surrender. The Japanese are surrendering to our superior forces.” (26)
Thanksgiving Service
On Sunday 19th August 1945, 2 Division held a Service of Thanksgiving for the Allied Victory Against Japan & Conclusion of Hostilities. Below is the Order of Service.
Sketches
Two moving sketches of Kohima after the battle were donated to the museum by Mrs Lynn Griffiths, whose father was in the 2nd Division.
Sweetheart Brooches
Sweetheart brooches were worn by wives or girlfriends of troops overseas to demonstrate that their absent partners were not forgotten. They frequently mimicked the soldier’s regimental cap badge.
After VE day, these brooches became especially prominent for women whose men were still serving in the war against Japan.
The Kohima Museum has two examples that belonged to wives of Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders.
The upper example was bought in Calcutta & sent home by Private Ibbeson. The lower example belonged to the wife of Lance Corporal North.
Mrs North wrote to the Prime Minister asking for her husband to be sent home as soon as possible. On June 29th 1945, she received a personal letter from a Staff Captain in the Home Office. It patiently explained that Lance Corporal North would soon be eligible for repatriation, since he went away in April 1942 & the period of service in the Far East was 3 years & 4 months.
The letter concluded with some patronising reassurance that service in India & South East Asia was not as bad as often suggested by the newspapers. Indeed, a journalist with the Daily Herald had reported on conditions after spending only 7 months with 14th Army. However, “anyone who has served rather longer in the jungle will tell you that it has its good times as well as its bad ones, & some of these are very good indeed.”
One wonders if Lance Corporal North did indeed corroborate this, when he eventually got home.
Chagual
In addition to water bottles, Allied units in the Burma Campaign stored water in canvas bags called chaguals, which were suspended from mules or motor transport.
The chagual would be soaked prior to use until the canvas was saturated. In hot weather, heat was dissipated by water droplets evaporating from the canvas & this kept cool the water inside the chagual.
Small bottles were carried containing tablets that were used to sterilize drinking water.
General Grover’s Naga Walking Stick
Major General John Grover commanded 2nd British Division during the Battle of Kohima. The indigenous Naga people of Kohima presented him with a fine walking stick, which he is seen holding in the photo below (left). This stick was generously donated to the Kohima Museum by the General’s son, Lieutenant Colonel David Grover. It can be found in the Museum’s ‘Grover Cabinet’ (right), along with his personal diary & other artefacts.
Plan for Irrawaddy Crossing by 2 Division
The British 2nd Division began to cross the Irrawaddy River on February 25th 1945. Kohima Museum has on display the original plan for the crossing, as devised by Major General Nicholson.
Model Universal Carriers
The Kohima Museum has models of several aircraft & armoured vehicles that featured in the Burma Campaign. For example, this detailed model of a Universal Carrier.
The Bren gun carrier was a tracked vehicle with light-armour that was developed before WW2 to transport Bren light machine guns. In 1940, it was upgraded to become the universal carrier, which was used in all theatres involving British Commonwealth forces throughout the war & afterwards. By 1945, 57,000 had been produced & manufacture continued at lower levels until 1960. It has been estimated that around 113,000 were eventually built, making the Universal Carrier the most highly produced armoured vehicle in history.
Its primary function was to transport troops & equipment, especially support weapons such as machine guns & mortars.
Universal Carriers could be adapted to become amphibious by attaching empty 45 litre oil drums as buoyancy devices.
Kohima Museum has a model of a carrier adapted in this way.
Naga Dao & Spear
The Kohima Museum displays fine examples of a Naga spear & dao (sword), that were generously presented to the Museum in 1996 by Lieutenant General VC Khanna, GVSM (Retd) of the Indian army.
The traditional sword of the Naga people is called a dao & is typically 18 to 26 inches long. It has an unusual shape in being narrow at the hilt & then broadening gradually to the endpoint, which is bevelled rather than pointed. The hilt is wooden & sometimes wrapped with basketry; it does not have a guard. As well as serving as a weapon, the dao is used for cutting wood or meat & also for digging.
In “The Naga tribes of Manipur” (1911), T.C. Hodson, a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, recorded that: “The dao is the hill knife & used universally throughout the country. It is a blade about 18 inches long, narrow at the haft & square & broad at the tip, pointless and sharpened on one side only. The blade is set in a handle of wood; a bamboo root is considered the best. The ‘fighting’ dao is differently shaped is very heavy & a blow of almost incredible power can be given by one of these weapons. With both the fighting and the ordinary dao, one can make but two cuts: one from the right shoulder downwards to the left, one from the left, foot upwards to the right. The dao to a hill man is a possession of great price & to the dao he frequently owes his life in defending himself from the attacks of wild animals.”
Two further examples can be seen below.
In conflict, Nagas carried two spears each. These spears were about six feet long & made of light strong wood. They had a long steel blade, shaped like a leaf. The butts were also pointed. The shafts were decorated with characteristic tufts of black-, white- and red-dyed goat hair, especially when used for ceremonial purposes. A skilled warrior could use his spears effectively over a range of up to 30 yards.
The pictures below show Nagas carrying spears in 1944. They are stills from a film belonging to the Imperial War Museum that was recorded during the Battle of Kohima.
Christmas Memorabilia
Amongst the many souvenirs of the Burma Campaign brought back by veterans & donated to the Kohima Museum are several Christmas cards that were available to servicemen.
Second Division produced its own card for Christmas 1945.
14th Army Headquarters produced a card that included a geography lesson:
Other mementos include a group photograph of C Company 1/8 Lancashire Fusiliers, taken in Ahmednagar at Christmas 1942.
In Christmas 1943, a Warrent Officers’ & Sergeants’ Mess managed to provide its guests with a six course feast that would have been greatly envied by the folks back home.
Roll of Honour from the 2nd Division Memorial at Kohima
The 2nd Infantry Division Memorial was unveiled on 18 November 1944 by Lieutenant General Sir William Slim, Commander of 14th Army, in the presence of representatives of all the Division’s regiments. The ceremony included hymns, a lament played by kilted pipers of 1 Royal Scots & 1 Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, & the Last Post played by bugle.
Behind the monolith runs a semi-circular wall of grey dressed stone into which were set a series of thirteen bronze panels engraved with the Roll of Honour. Chisels were made in Divisional Workshops for the engraving, which took several months to complete.
In 1974, it was noticed that three of the panels had been stolen. The remaining ten were shipped to the U.K. for their preservation. Engraved tablets were installed in the wall behind the monolith as replacements.
Nine of the surviving bronze panels were received by the regiments they honoured. The tenth includes the fallen from Divisional & Brigade Headquarters & is displayed at the Kohima Museum in York.
The panel listing the men killed at Kohima from 2nd Battalion Royal Norfolks can be found at Norwich Cathedral.
Kohima Museum has no record of the locations of the other eight bronze panels that were sent to the UK. We would be grateful for any information.
Captured Flag of the Indian National Army
This flag was captured by Captain Jack Randle VC & was donated by his son to the Kohima Museum. The circumstances of its capture are not known. It had belonged to the Indian National Army (INA), which became Azad Hind Fauj (Army of Free India). A division of these troops, 16,000 strong, supported the Japanese in their invasion of India in 1944.
In the cartoon below, from a Japanese propaganda pamphlet, this flag is carried by somebody kicking out the British, as symbolised by a man with a Union Jack on his hat. The caption has been translated as:
“This is your opportunity! It will never come again.”
Japanese Invasion Money
After conquering countries, the Japanese military confiscated their currency and replaced it with invasion money issued by the Southern Development Bank, which was established in 1942 to provide financial services in occupied regions. Such money was first issued in the Philippines and subsequently in regions including the Dutch East Indies, Malaya, Singapore and Burma. The bank notes below are rupees printed by the Japanese for use in Burma & are on display at the Kohima Museum.
When Japan surrendered, Southern Development Bank notes lost all their value. Citizens received no compensation when this money became worthless. Japanese troops were ordered to destroy it & many tons were burned or dumped. The picture below is of a photographer surrounded by discarded invasion money in a street in Rangoon.
Kohima Epitaph
Below is a bronze plaque that commemorates the British 2nd Infantry Division in WW2. It used to be on a pillar in the chancel of the Royal Garrison Church in Aldershot. Major General Grover noticed that it mis-quotes the Kohima epitaph, with “… for their tomorrow …” instead of “… for your tomorrow …” . He insisted on its replacement with a correct version. The erroneous original can now be seen at the Kohima Museum.
This artefact also features some unusual hyphens in “to-morrow” & “to-day”.
Monsoon Cape
The monsoon brought misery to the troops in south east Asia. The heat & humidity required a lightweight garment that would dry out quickly & could be rolled & stored easily. British troops were issued with voluminous monsoon capes, the shape throwing water clear of the wearer & covering equipment worn underneath easily. They were made in India from cotton. They brought little relief, one recipient complaining:
“We have been issued with an absolutely useless piece of equipment namely, Wait for it! THE MONSOON CAPE useless because when wearing it, you could do nothing but ride a bicycle, which we did not have. You actually got wetter and stickier from your own sweat in a downpour than if you let the cooling monsoon rain pour off your shoulders.”
The BBC archive “WW2 People’s War” has the following by Frederick Weedman:
“It was mid-May 1944 when the monsoon rain started. It started as a thin continuous quiet pouring rain. We unpacked & put on our only protection against it …. our voluminous monsoon capes.
But even these did not prevent this rain from penetrating inside our clothes, & with the sweat from our bodies, it ran into our boots! It soaked our webbing so that it was as heavy as lead, & we felt that we had been condemned never to be dry.
I have vivid recollections of ‘C’ Company 7th Worcestershire Regiment splashing and slipping in the deep mud, our weapons on our shoulders, our mud-fouled haversacks & groundsheets flapping behind us, marching, marching, bent with fatigue. Most of us by now had substituted the heavy steel helmets for the more comfortable, but by now soaking & drooping, felt Burma Hats that drooped over our eyes.
Every few yards, someone sprawled on his face in the mud, arose & after shovelling the mud off himself, toiled onwards. Our main concern was to keep the mud off our weapons. They were our passport to survival. Each time our legs took the weight of our bodies, the packs on our backs, & our weapons, our knees would complain from the pain it gave them. And the penetrating rain made us shiver & wonder if we had malaria. There seemed no end to it. All we could do was to keep staggering upwards.
It was in these conditions that, after a time in action, a fatalistic attitude takes possession of the mind, an indifference possessed us to the dangers of attack. And so we trudged on, wearily climbing the steep mountains & the winding tracks that were like great rivers of mud.”
The image below shows the dedication ceremony on Jail Hill to the casualties at Kohima of 1st Battalion Queen’s Royal Regiment. Some of the men in the background have opted to wear monsoon capes.
A Japanese Hand Grenade
A Japanese Type 91 hand grenade is on display in the Kohima Museum. It is made from cast iron and is serrated to ensure maximum fragmentation. When filled with TNT, it weighed 1lb 5oz.
These grenades were fused to explode after four or five seconds, but the fuses were somewhat unreliable. If tempted to use captured grenades, Allied troops were advised to throw them as soon as they were activated.
To arm their grenades, Japanese soldiers had first to remove the pin & then depress the top by pushing it against something solid, such as a tree, helmet or boot; this would ignite it, ready to throw. British soldiers learned to take cover if they heard the metallic sound of a grenade being struck against a helmet. Once activated in this way, black smoke was emitted, as well as a speck of blue light that was visible at night.
Private Nobuyuki Hata of 58th Infantry Regiment described how men would remove the pins from their grenades in preparation for action:
“When we mounted close-range attacks, we’d take three, four or five hand grenades & pull the safety pin out. And we’d put them in our pockets. When we charged the enemy, we’d have grenades in one hand. You usually pull out the safety pin with your mouth, but we didn’t have time for that. The pin would already be out, so we’d bounce the grenades against the soles of our shoes. We went out knowing full well we could self-detonate. When you’re charging the enemy, you’re driven into this state of madness. Of course it’s terrifying, but you can’t just hang back & not do anything. When you charge the enemy, you just become this crazed being.” (3)
The picture above (from worldwar2historypics) shows a Japanese grenade (type 97) found hidden in a booby-trapped cabbage on Okinawa, April 1945.
(image from IJA Militaria)
For greater safety, Japanese grenades were transported with the striker retracted. To arm them, a key was used to screw the striker down enough to hit the percussion cap when struck.
(image from IJA Militaria)
Japanese Battalion Gun
The Kohima Museum displays a Japanese Type 92 Battalion Gun (70 mm Howitzer). Two of these guns were issued to each infantry battalion & so they saw very widespread service.
Their relatively light weight (476 lbs) made these versatile infantry support weapons mobile & allowed them to be moved over rough terrain & brought to bear quite easily.
They were normally towed by horses or mules, but could be dragged or carried by teams of men. The shield could be removed to reduce weight. Holes & brackets in the carriage allowed poles to be inserted to facilitate manual carriage. They could also be dragged by men using harnesses. Although a crew of four or five was used to operate the gun (commander, gunner, loader & two ammunition bearers), a full team of ten provided the manpower needed to move the gun & bring ammunition.
The Type 92 Battalion Gun had a 70 mm calibre & fired a high explosive shell of 8.7 lb, with a range of 3,000 yds (2,785 m). It could also fire armour piercing & smoke shells. It had a rate of fire of 10 rounds per minute. Wheels were used to adjust the elevation (-10° to +50°) & traverse (45°).
In ‘The History of the Assam Regiment, Captain Peter Steyn recorded that the “beastly little battalion gun was nicknamed the ‘Whizz-bang’.” (10)
The Tank on the Tennis Court
On May 13th 1944, a 30 ton Grant tank dropped 10 yds from the terrace above onto the tennis court on Kohima Ridge & finally broke the resistance of the Japanese there, with the help of infantry from the 2nd Dorsets.
The picture above shows a painting by Terence Cuneo of how he imagined the scene. The painting is displayed in the Kohima Museum. Terence Cuneo (1907 – 1996) was a prolific English painter noted for his scenes of railways, horses and military actions. He was the official artist for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
The tank on the tennis court was captured on newsreel film. A still is shown below.
Flag of 4 Queen’s Own Royal West Kents at Kohima
The Kohima Museum is proud to display the flag of 4th Battalion Queen’s Own Royal West Kents, that flew on Garrison Hill during the epic siege of Kohima, April 4-18, 1944. It shows the White Horse and Invicta motto of Kent, translated as “Unconquerable”. Garrison Hill was the only part of Kohima that the invading Japanese army failed to capture.
Energy Tablets
To meet the Japanese invasion of India in March 1944, the allies flew 5th Indian Division into Imphal & Dimapur between March 17 & 29. Transferring each of its three brigades needed 260 Dakota sorties. For most of the men, it was the first time they ever flew. As well as troops, guns, vehicles & mules were transported. 7th Indian Division was then transferred in the same way.
Return flights carried 43,000 non-combatants & 13,000 casualties from the war zone. After the road from Kohima was cut, 540 tons of supplies were flown into Imphal each day by Operation Stamina.
With two sorties per day, flight crews were exhausted. To keep them going, they were issued with “Energy Tablets” that contained drugs that would not only “Ward off sleep”, but also “Stave off depression”.
The examples above are on display at the Kohima museum. Their instructions state that the tablets should not be given to wounded, excitable or hysterical men or those whose minds are wandering, as they would make them worse.
Japanese Propaganda
The Kohima Museum has interesting Japanese propaganda intended to encourage Indians to turn against the British.
The drawing below depicts Japanese troops in the jungle greeting men of the Indian National Army (INA).
The INA was largely recruited from Indian POWs captured after the fall of Malaya and Singapore. An INA division of 16,000 accompanied the invasion of India in 1944. They expected to persuade Indians fighting alongside the British to change sides in large numbers, but such defections were rare. Despite the propaganda, Japanese troops often showed little respect for the INA, which was largely ineffective as a fighting force. Many of the INA became disillusioned and desertion was common.
Type 38 Japanese Carbine
The Kohima Museum has a Japanese Type 38 carbine, that was taken in 1945 at an ambush during a night patrol across the Mu river, between the Chindwin and Mandalay. Type 38 refers to the fact that it was introduced in the 38th year of Meiji (1905). It was donated by Dr JS MacRobert.
The Type 38 carbine was a shorter (33 inch) version of the Type 38 rifle (50 inches), one of the most widely used Japanese infantry weapons (pictured together below, with bayonet and scabbard). Whereas 400,000 of the carbines were produced, manufacture of the rifles reached 3,400,000.
Based on a bolt-action mechanism patented by Mauser, they were robust and reliable. An internal magazine was loaded with a clip carrying five 6.5mm cartridges. The carbine was intended for cavalry, engineers & artillery, but was adopted by many infantry units as its shorter length made it easier to handle in jungle conditions.
The Type 38 rifle had an effective range of 600m & a maximum range of 2,400m, whereas the effective range of the Type 38 carbine was 500m, with a maximum range of 2,000m.
A Gift from Japanese Survivors of Kohima
The Battle of Kohima was fought by the British 2nd Infantry Division and Indian troops under Command against the 31st Division of The Imperial Japanese Army.
In 1984, surviving veterans of 31st Division laid a wreath at the Kohima Memorial at York Minster, pictured above. They visited HQ of the 2nd Division (then in York) & presented the model of traditional samurai armour shown below.
The suit of armour was displayed at the Divisional HQ in Craigie Hall, Edinburgh, until the Division was withdrawn from the Order of Battle of the British Army in 2012. It was then signed over to the Trustees of the Kohima Museum, where it is now displayed & cared for.
The word “Samurai” means “ones who serve”. They were hereditary military nobility who fought for a lord or daimyo from the 12th Century until their abolition in the 1870s. Their armour was largely composed of small steel plates covered in lacquer and linked by strips of leather. The mask is intended to terrify their enemies.
A webinar by curator Bob White about the Kohima Museum collection can be watched by clicking here.
