Kohima's historic war cemetery

Here lie the remains of those soldiers who died fighting in the infamous 'Battle of Kohima' during the 2nd World War. The Kohima War Cemetery is built on the slopes of Garrison Hill where the final battle was fought till reinforcements arrived. It is a large cemetery carefully maintained under the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Don't miss out the famous epitaph by John Maxwell Edmonds (1875--1958) which reads "When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today".

Kohima is the land of the Angami Naga tribe. The name, Kohima, was officially given by the British as they could not pronounce the Angami name Kewhima or Kewhira (Tenyidie for "the land where the flower Kewhi grows"). It is so called after the wild flowering plant Kewhi, found in the mountains. Earlier, Kohima was also known as Thigoma. Kohima is located south of Kohima District and has an average elevation of 1261 metres (4137 feet).The town of Kohima is located on the top of a high ridge and the town serpentines all along the top of the surrounding mountain ranges as is typical of most Naga settlements.

According to Reuters, the Battle of Imphal/Kohima, when British troops fighting in horrendous jungle conditions turned the tide against the Japanese army in World War II, has been chosen as Britain's greatest battle.

Kohima was picked over the more celebrated battles of D-Day and Waterloo in a contest organised by the National Army Museum.

Rorke's Drift in the 1879 Zulu War and the Battle of Aliwal in the Anglo-Sikh War in Punjab in 1846 brought up the rear.

"Great things were at stake in a war with the toughest enemy any British army has had to fight," historian Robert Lyman said, making the case for Kohima in a debate at the museum.

If Lieutenant General William Slim's army of British, Indian, Gurkha and African troops had lost, the consequences for the allied cause would have been catastrophic, he said.

The contest's criteria included a battle's political and historical impact, the challenges the troops faced, and the strategy and tactics employed.

Waterloo had topped an online poll which produced a list of 20 land battles fought since the English Civil War. The top five were debated on Saturday before going to an audience vote."

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