An unexpected collision
The Japanese 15th Army invaded India in March 1944. Unknown to either side, the 50th Indian Parachute Brigade lay in its path. Formed of volunteers from many regiments, the 50th Brigade was carrying out jungle training near the Naga village of Sangshak. It was not expecting combat & so was unprepared. Nevertheless, its heroic stand had a massive impact on the Battles of Imphal & Kohima.
The Brigade was commanded by Brigadier Hope Thomson & consisted of three infantry battalions (152 Indian, 153 Gurkha, & 4/5 Mahratta Light Infantry), with two companies of the Nepalese Kalibahadur Regiment under command. The infantry were supported by 50 Medium Machine Gun Company, 15 Mountain Battery, D Troop of 582 Jungle Mortar Battery & 80 Para Field Ambulance.
Hope Thomson had posted troops to overlook the various tracks that approached his camps from the east. The first of his units to make contact was C Company of 152 Battalion, who were several miles from most of the brigade, on a hilltop in an isolated position.
On March 19, the 7 British officers & 170 men of C Company found themselves surrounded by 900 Japanese of 58th Regiment. After exchanges of fire, three determined assaults were launched at the paratroops during the afternoon & night. Each was repelled with heavy losses. An attempt to reinforce C Company was thwarted by a Japanese roadblock.
March 20. Such a brave act
The following morning, according to the 58th regimental history:
“Suddenly, from the top of the hill, a small group of about 20 men charged down towards us, firing & shouting in a counter-attack. However, between us was a wide ravine, which they had been unable to see, & some fell into it in their rush, while the rest had no choice but to surrender. At the very top of the position an officer appeared, put a pistol to his head & shot himself in full view of everyone below. Our men fell silent, deeply impressed by such a brave act.” (21)
This futile gesture seems extraordinary for a British officer. It is far more consistent with the culture of the Imperial Japanese Army, where suicide was considered heroic, even when nothing was gained. Perhaps this is why the Japanese were so impressed.
Of the 177 paratroops of C company, only twenty escaped. The Japanese of 3 Battalion 58th Regiment had suffered 160 casualties.
Brigadier Hope Thomson received the following orders:
“Your task is to destroy Japanese moving west through Naga Hills. If unable to do so owing to superior enemy strength, you will ensure security of your force by concentrating it into close defence box in general area of Sangshak.
In event of enemy by-passing your positions, you will cut their lines of communication & harass their rear. Your continued resistance in your present area of operations is an essential part of a plan for defence of Imphal. If your communications are cut & cannot be opened, you will be supplied by air.” (3)
Hope-Thomson concentrated the units of 50 Parachute Brigade at Sangshak, a Naga village on the top of a grassy hill. It consisted of a wooden Baptist missionary church on its highest point, with about thirty houses lower down. To its north, south & east were dense rhododendrons & jungle. A defensive position was prepared, 800 x 400 yards, with the church in its north-west corner.
Efforts to dig in were severely restricted, because there were only a few feet of soil that covered obsidian, black, shiny volcanic rock, which could not be penetrated with the tools available. Accordingly, trenches & foxholes were shallow, providing inadequate cover. Furthermore, the site had no source of water.
Most of all, 50 Brigade needed barbed wire to protect its position against sudden rushes from the jungle that encroached close to the perimeter. Despite repeated requests, no barbed wire was sent to Sangshak from the plentiful supplies available to 4 Corps on the Imphal plain.
March 21. Our great disappointment.
The Japanese 15th Infantry Division had been assigned to take Sangshak on its way to cut the Imphal Road. However, they were behind schedule, which left 50th Indian Brigade threatening the flank of 31st Division as it headed for Kohima. The southern column of 31st Division, its Left Raiding Column, was commanded by Major General Miyazaki. He decided to divert his advance to deal with the unexpected threat of 50th Brigade. Around 2,200 Japanese with mountain guns were initially engaged, but they were joined by more later.
Capturing supplies abandoned by their retreating enemies was a key part of Japanese strategy, as they had set off with only enough food for 20 days. Captain Shosaku Kameyama, of 3rd Btn, 58th Infantry Regt, recorded
“After 6 days’ hard march we poured into Ukhrul, a small village on the road from Kohima to Sangshak. British troops seemed to have evacuated it only a few hours before & the village was burning. We then realised that the enemy had destroyed all their food & supplies, to our great disappointment.” (3)
March 22. A gory Hollywood epic
Shortly before dusk on March 22, the leading Japanese approached the defensive box of 50th Brigade from the west. They appeared on a hill adjacent to the Sangshak plateau, silhouetted against the evening sky, & charged. The defenders, who had been waiting in silence, greeted them with a hail of rifle, machine gun & mortar fire.
Within minutes the attack was repulsed, leaving ninety men on the ground out of the 120 in the leading company. Captain Nield, a medical officer, commented that
“It seemed as if we were watching a gory Hollywood epic.” (21)
March 23. No attempt at surprise
Lance Corporal Toshiyuki Sakano described a ritual performed when their battalion commander ordered an attack during the coming night:
“Company Commander Marukawa gave an address: ‘Let everyone toast their lives to me in this operation…’ He was speaking in tears. Then about ten porcelain cups were brought in, filled with Japanese sake, & circulated among us. After we all had a sip, the cups were thrown at a rock to be broken in pieces – a ritual before going into a hard battle.” (5)
At 01.30 on March 23, three companies of Japanese charged in waves, without artillery support. They made no attempt at surprise, carrying lights & shouting as they ignited the village. Flames from the burning buildings lit the battlefield & threatened to engulf the defenders, until the wind changed direction.
50 Brigade’s mountain guns, mortars & machine guns again took a heavy toll, including a battalion commander, but the Japanese kept attacking through the night, disregarding casualties. When dawn broke, they withdrew into the jungle & shooting subsided.
Lieutenant Shosaku Kameyama, 58th Infantry Regiment, 31 Division, was shocked by what had happened:
“This was the first time that we had fought with the British-Indian forces, which was very different from our experience of fighting the Chinese army, which had inferior weapons to ours.
From our experience in China, we were confident of the success of the night attack. But when 8th Company broke through the enemy front line … very fierce enemy firing made their progress impossible. Under a strong counter-attack the commander & most soldiers of 8th Company were killed or wounded. Though we wanted to advance, we could not even lift our heads because of the heavy fire, which we had never before experienced.” (3)
When the body of a dead Japanese officer was searched, he was found to be carrying detailed battle plans for 15 & 31 Divisions. They revealed for the first time that an entire Division was heading for Kohima. The importance of this discovery was unquestionable, so the 50 Brigade Intelligence Officer slipped through the surrounding Japanese & delivered the documents to 4 Corps Headquarters at Imphal, 33 miles away.
That day, 23 March, C47 Dakota transport aircraft dropped supplies, but were flying too fast & too high for accuracy, so that most parachutes floated down to the valleys around Sangshak, where the Japanese could gather them. Years later, John Sanderson, who in 1944 was a Captain in 152 Battalion of 50th Indian Parachute Brigade, told his son:
“Dakotas flew over with parachuted supplies of ammunition, water, food & equipment. We were frustrated to see almost all these containers floating down into the Japanese-held positions. The mountainous region and low clouds made the pilots’ task difficult.
The aircraft came in high to avoid the enemy’s fire from the ground & slung their loads out in one run over the position. One aircraft, however, came over very low & made a number of runs over the hilltop, dropping only two parachute loads each run. The brave pilot made every flypast so low that the besieged soldiers could see him waving. They could clearly make out the dispatchers in the doorway, as they watched & shouted encouragement.
The Japanese directed intense small arms fire from the jungle as the single Dakota flew over their heads. All subsequent supply drops followed the same pattern. Of every flight on subsequent days, they could only rely on being able to collect this one precious load.
The pilot & crew of this aircraft had taken part in the Brigade air training. On hearing that 50 Brigade was cut off & having to rely entirely on supply from the air, they were determined that whatever happened, & regardless of the risk to themselves, the Brigade should at least get their entire aircraft load.” (7)
To try to recover parachuted supplies, an attack was launched by Gurkhas of 153 Battalion, but they were driven back empty-handed.
Ammunition & supplies quickly became depleted & rations were cut to a minimum. Priority was given to the wounded for what little water remained.
During the day, large Japanese columns with elephants reached Sangshak, bringing artillery.
Shelling began at midday, followed by large attacks. These were beaten off after fierce hand- to-hand fighting. A call for air support brought strikes by Spitfires, but targets were difficult to locate precisely & the defenders were strafed as well as the Japanese.
At dusk, an attack led by Captain Nagaya was launched across a rough football pitch against the western side of the position. As they burst into the defensive perimeter, two grenades landed close to Nagaya. He grabbed one & hurled it back, whilst his adjutant kicked the other away. Ninety of the 120 Japanese in this attack were killed, but they clung to the territory they had gained. The defenders sustained forty casualties.
March 24. Well done indeed
Lieutenant Kameyama Shosaku recalled:
“We attacked every night from the 22nd to the 25th & every night many soldiers were killed. Despite that, we went forward.” (3)
The defenders were under strict orders to stay still at night, so that any movement could be recognised as hostile & fired upon. A critically-wounded Gurkha filled the darkness with screams for his mother, before dying just before his comrades could reach him at dawn.
Major Harry Butchard of 153 Battalion:
“Conditions on the plateau soon became pretty grim – bodies lying about, human & animal, decomposing rapidly. Snipers were a constant nightmare – one morning I was speaking to two officers of 152 battalion, & when I returned a few minutes later, I found them both lying dead, in exactly the same place – shot through the head”.
Water had become extremely scarce & was tightly rationed. Eyes were bloodshot through sleep deprivation & nerves frayed. Scuffles broke out between men searching for water.
High ground around the church was key to the whole position & under almost continuous attack. If captured, the Japanese could sweep the area with fire. Several times they reached the church, but were eventually driven back with heavy casualties after Lieutenant Alan Cowell used hand grenades to clear infiltrators from the church. Cowell continued to lead the defence of the sector after sustaining a wound to his shoulder. He was awarded a Military Cross.
A message of encouragement was received from HQ, saying
“Well done indeed. Of greatest importance you hold your position. Will give you maximum air support. Convey to all ranks my greatest appreciation of what you have already achieved & confident you will deal equally thoroughly with any further attacks.” (21)
This glib optimism provoked some sarcastic comments.
March 25. None of us expected to get out alive
At 0400 hrs on March 25, after heavy artillery & mortar fire, a large Japanese assault broke into the church position, but was driven out. This was repeated with fresh troops several times over the next few hours, fighting continuing inside the church, until all its defenders had fallen.
The Japanese were now established on the highest ground within the defensive perimeter, setting up their machine guns in the Indian’s trenches & gun pits. Captain John Sanderson of 152 Battalion described his part in this desperate combat:
“My men & I were fighting for our lives, hand to hand, when a grenade exploded & knocked me out. A fellow soldier’s body fell on top of me. The Japanese came through bayoneting our men, but they must have thought I was dead. A counter-attack finally drove the Japanese back again. When I regained consciousness, I found I was the only one left alive. The weapon pits were a shambles of dead & dying, both our own & Japanese. It was impossible to be certain who was still alive. Major Smith & Major Lock commanding the Mortar & Gun batteries were both killed, fighting gallantly in counter-attacks to save their battery positions.” (7)
All the company commanders of 152 Battalion had been killed or badly wounded. Ordered to retake the church area, Lieutenant Robert de la Haye of the 152nd, calmly checked his equipment & combed his hair, before leading his men forward to fight their way up to the church with bayonet & kukri, but they were shot down in minutes. Some positions were retaken by further counterattacks, but could not be held because grenades had run out.
Captain Dicky Richards, 152 Indian Parachute Battalion:
“We continued to fight by day & night. The position became utterly gruesome & macabre. The perimeter was littered with corpses, which could not be buried, & there were mule carcasses everywhere. Some went into the cooking pot, but others very quickly rotted in that climate – and there were Japanese bodies, our own bodies, & excreta everywhere. It was impossible to construct properly dug-down trenches, dysentery became rife & the situation was almost intolerable. We were getting weaker by the hour – our men were getting killed off one after the other, we were running out of ammunition & food & some men were almost delirious after many days without sleep. Some of us would drop off for a few minutes in mid-conversation. The situation was desperate & by 25 March none of us expected to get out alive. But somehow that didn’t seem to mean anything, either – we just went on, relentlessly. I never heard a single man complain.” (3)
March 26. Fight your way out
Fighting reached a new frenzy on March 26, with 50 Brigade losses exceeding those of all previous days of the battle.
At 04.00, attacks were launched from the north & west against the Indians of 152 Battalion in the sector with the church. By dawn, the defenders had been overwhelmed & their trenches occupied by Japanese of 58 Regiment. 152 Battalion’s CO gathered every able-bodied man he could find & lead a counterattack, until he too was wounded by a grenade. They set fire to the church with phosphorus cartridges from a signal pistol, but then were forced back.
The high ground taken by the Japanese was swept by fire from two of 50 Brigade’s mountain guns, just sixty yards below. But a shell exploded in one of the gun pits & the Japanese surged forward. The impact of their charge was met by an unflinching Indian gunner wielding a ramrod against his assailants.
Hope Thomson ordered another counter-attack, this time from A Company of 153 Battalion, led by Major Jimmy Roberts. The ground they needed to recover was too close to use mortars or artillery, so the Gurkhas gathered all the grenades they could find. Roberts moved amongst his men, calm & oblivious to danger, inspiring them by his nonchalance. A crisis moment came when the reserve of grenades was found to be unprimed & deficient in detonators.
As the melee ebbed & flowed, the Japanese raised an eerie howl, accompanied by bugles & cymbals, which was countered by hunting horns carried by two Gurkha officers. In the bedlam & cacophony, Captain Hutton of the Mortar Troop urged his men to break into a hearty song, which bolstered their determination. Robert’s attack succeeded, but at a heavy price. The Centre Platoon of A Company suffered 32 casualties out of the 36 men in the assault.
The Japanese company that had fought to hold the contested ground finished with only eight men unwounded, from 120 in their attack. Warrant Officer Isamu Yamamoto of 2/58 Battalion later recorded his experience of the struggle:
“We had completely occupied the corner of the enemy’s position. Now came the enemy’s counter-attack, supported by heavy fire from machine guns & mortars. The Gurkhas, famous for their courage, rushed on & on, though many had fallen, screaming as they advanced, despite their wounds. Hand-to-hand fighting was everywhere & hand grenades flew all around. Our comrades cheered us on, the enemy screamed at us. The top of the hill turned to a hell on earth. There my good friend Kanekichi Hosaka fell with a thud & a groan. I raised him in my arms. ‘Get a grip on yourself,’ I said. Which is the east?’ he asked me, gasping. ‘Here is the east, this way,’ I said, turning his head towards it. He slowly raised both arms & whispered: ‘Long live the Emperor!’ Lowering his arms, he died.” (21)
By now, the Right Column of 15 Division had made its belated arrival at Sangshak. Two of its 75 mm mountain guns began taking a heavy toll of defenders, exposed in their shallow & densely-packed trenches. A battalion of 15 Division’s infantry attacked from the southwest, but was repulsed. Further attacks were angrily blocked by General Miyazaki, who wanted 58 Regiment to take full credit for the victory. The 58th’s colonel was to lead a night assault by two battalions, carrying the regimental flag himself. Miyazaki sent a message to 15 Division: “If we take Sangshak tonight, I’ll let him have as much booty as he wants, ammunition, rations, the lot. But if we’ve not captured it by 6 am, he can assume that 58 Regiment has been annihilated”. (15)
It snowed on the battlefield that night. 58 Regiment came from a region of northern Japan where snow was common & they felt homesick as they waited to attack. But when the assault was launched, it met with no resistance. The defenders had vanished, leaving only those wounded who were incapable of moving.
Whilst the Japanese were preparing their attack, 50 Brigade had received an order to escape. Major Maurice Bell of Brigade Signals Section:
“At 17.45 on the evening of 26th March, the signaller noted down a message received over the crackling radio from Major General Roberts: ‘Fight your way out. Go south then west. Air & transport on lookout. Good Luck. Our thoughts are with you.’
I could barely believe my ears or the accuracy of my morse reading! A moment of bliss as there dawned the possibility – however slim – of a future life.
Then came the doubts. Firstly, was this a genuine message or something sent by the enemy? Secondly, had the Japs intercepted the message? We had destroyed our code books early in the battle to prevent them falling into Japanese hands & had been communicating ‘in clear’ ever since. On the first issue, we asked for information on personnel in Brigade Signals. This was personal stuff, unlikely to be known by Japanese intelligence & included such details as the nicknames of various signallers. All the questions were answered promptly & correctly & we were reassured that the message was genuine.
On the second issue we could do nothing. I told the two operators to keep the news to themselves & took the message to Brigade HQ, wondering on the way how we would cope with the many wounded in the field hospital.” (7)
There were over 450 wounded, including about 150 who could not be moved. Everyone knew that the Japanese routinely murdered such men, remembering the massacre of wounded in the Admin Box in February. “Much discussion & heart-searching” (8) preceded the decision to abandon the wounded. They were sedated & left in an opiate stupor. Requests by medical staff to stay with them were emphatically refused by Hope Thomson.
At 22.00, the paratroops’ guns & mortars fired off all their remaining ammunition, to feign an imminent attack. At 22.30, in moonless pitch darkness, the survivors of 50 Indian Parachute Brigade crept away in small groups, the 4/5 Mahrattas providing the rearguard. Most were lucky & passed unnoticed between the surrounding Japanese, although a hundred Mahrattas were captured.
Looking back at Sangshak from a mile away, having descended a thousand feet, Lieutenant Harry Seaman of 153 Battalion could see torches moving atop the plateau. Although shouting was audible, he was relieved that there was no shooting. His emotions were mixed; relief at having escaped & anguish for the men left behind.
Escape
They made their way back to Imphal, a 30-mile trek that demanded climbs of around 4,000 feet & took the exhausted men at least 3 days, subsisting on minimal rations & water from streams.
Brigadier Hope Thomson was concussed after falling on the way to Imphal & was admitted to hospital on arrival. He was diagnosed with a nervous breakdown & sent back to Britain, but he recovered to hold five active commands & win the DSO in North-West Europe.
Lieutenant Kynoch-Shand of 153 Battalion was captured on March 27 as he made his way towards Imphal. He was searched, beaten over the head & questioned whilst being threatened with a bayonet. As he refused to answer, he was bound with his hands behind his back & a rope running from his neck to his tied-up feet & then left in front of a large fire through the night.
Early on March 28, his captors marched off & took Lieutenant Kynoch-Shand with them. As they passed along a track cut in a steep hillside, Kynoch-Shand threw himself over the side. His guard fired & then searched for him, but he had fallen far enough to escape. For three days he avoided re-capture, with his hands still bound behind his back, until he met a Naga who cut the rope. He reached Imphal next day & was able to relay valuable information concerning enemy locations. He was awarded a Military Cross for this remarkable courage & fortitude.
Weeks later, a wounded paratrooper on a stretcher was carried into Imphal by Nagas, who had discovered & nursed him, until he was strong enough to survive the journey.
The wounded left at Sangshak were spared because of the discovery that a popular Japanese officer, slain during the battle, had been wrapped in a blanket & buried. Lieutenant Shosaku Kameyama recorded that
“Our men were all moved by this. As the enemy treated our company commander respectfully, our regimental commander ordered that enemy wounded should … not be killed.” (8)
They were sent to Japanese field hospitals with orders to treat them mercifully. Amongst the wounded was Havildar Khan Zaman of 152 Battalion, who later led a successful escape party of eleven, once they had recovered sufficiently. For this & his conduct during the battle, he was awarded the Indian Distinguished Service Medal.
Battle of Sangshak: The reckoning
Of the two thousand defenders at Sangshak, 850 were killed, wounded or taken prisoner. Worst hit was 152 Indian Parachute Battalion, which suffered roughly 80% casualties from its initial strength of 600. The Machine gun Company & Brigade Defence Platoon lost 75% of 120 men & 153 Gurkha Parachute Battalion lost 35% of 390 men.
The Japanese gave a casualty figure of 580 at Sangshak, of whom nearly half were killed. This included a disproportionate number of platoon & company commanders, which blunted the effectiveness of 58th Infantry Regiment. Estimates based on the quartermaster’s records suggest that losses may in fact have approached one thousand.
The Japanese acknowledged that their losses would have been less severe if they had not approached 50 Brigade with the tactics that had served them well in China, where their opponents were less well armed & trained.
More importantly, Miyazaki’s arrival at Kohima was delayed by six days, buying time for the Allies to rush in reinforcements. Had the 58th Regiment arrived before the Royal West Kents, it is likely that Kohima ridge would have fallen in early April.
Lieutenant General W. J. Slim, Commander of 14th Army, wrote later:
“To the officers & men of the 50 Parachute Brigade I send my congratulations. Your Parachute Brigade bore the first brunt of the enemy’s powerful flanking attack, & by their staunchness gave the garrison of Imphal the vital time required to readjust their defences.”
Two webinars about the Battle of Sangshak are free to watch.