Battle of Kohima

The Battle of Kohima took place in the summer of 1944 during the Far East Campaign, in the Pacific War of World War II.

The battle saw a huge clash at Kohima between British and Indian forces against the Japanese and the collaborators in the Indian National Army led by Subhas Chandra Bose. The aggressors fought hard but ultimately suffered many casualties and were soundly defeated.

Prem Barsar heard news of the Allied victory at Kohima while he was fighting in Italy. In a letter dated 1 July 1944, Prem wrote to Umbreen that he believed the battle would not put an end to Japanese incursions, as they were "too smart, too good, too proud" to back down completely, but the victory nevertheless represented the momentum in the war moving over to the Allies.

While also no supporter of the Indian National Army, Prem was distressed to hear about Indians fighting other Indians. He feared that his friend Ram, a Bengali who was captured by the Japanese in 1942 at the fall of Singapore, was likely to have joined the Indian National Army. Prem hoped, if that was the case, that Ram had survived and was able to surrender to another Indian instead of a Brit. (PROSE: Letters from the Front)

Prem's distress was later made manifest, when internal divisions in his home country led to the violence of the Partition of India on 17 August 1947. There, Prem himself was murdered by his own brother, Manish. (TV: Demons of the Punjab)