The Kohima Museum is located in Imphal Barracks, York.
To enter the barracks & access the museum, you need photo ID.
The Museum is open every Thursday, 10.00 until 13.15. Visits can be arranged at other times by contacting the curator at kohimamuseum@yahoo.co.uk
Originally, The Kohima Museum concentrated almost exclusively on the British 2nd Infantry Division & its part in the Battle of Kohima. However, the scope of the museum has since been broadened to encompass more of the Burma Campaign of WW2.
The Kohima Museum is the only UK Museum that focuses entirely on the Burma Campaign.
Chindit Exhibition 2026
Kohima Museum currently has an exhibition about the Chindits, which opened on June 28.
Centrepiece of the exhibition is a piece of wreckage from the plane crash that killed Orde Wingate.
There are seven cabinets filled with Chindit material. Most of this has been loaned or donated by relatives of Chindits.
Two cabinets contain artefacts from Chindits who took part in Operation Longcloth. These include Frank Berkovitch, who had been Orde Wingate’s batman. He was captured during Operation Longcloth & spent two years as a POW. There is a very kind letter to Frank’s mother from Wingate, offering support.
There is a cabinet filled with pictures & objects belonging to Chindit legend Walter ‘Scotty’ Scott, who earned an MC in Operation Longcloth for organising the first air evacuation of Chindit casualties.
In Operation Thursday, ‘Scotty’ led the 1st King’s Regt (Liverpool) in the glider landings at Broadway. Military artist David Rowlands painted a picture of these landings, with Scott in the centre. A print of this is displayed in the Exhibition, with Scott’s medals beneath, including a DSO that he earned at Broadway.
Four cabinets display pictures & objects from Operation Thursday.
There is also a print of a picture by David Rowlands depicting the Battle of Pagoda Hill, where Brig Calvert led a bayonet charge against enemy threatening the White City stronghold. Beneath this is a photograph of the artist with Calvert himself, who was consulted extensively when the picture was painted.
Inside Some of the Cabinets
Below are photographs of artefacts in the museum that are not part of the Chindit Exhibition.
Some of the items from the museum’s collection are described in more detail here
Views Around the Museum
Summer Exhibition 2025
A summer exhibition in 2025 told the stories of twenty of the Victoria Crosses that were won during the Burma Campaign, including the two won at the Battle of Kohima.
The centrepiece was the Victoria Cross won at Kohima by Captain Randle, which was kindly loaned by his son, John Randle, who has generously donated several of his father’s artefacts to the Kohima Museum, including a flag captured from the Indian National Army.
Webinar
A webinar by Curator Bob White about the Kohima Museum collection can be watched by clicking here
