Friday, January 2, 2015

The Battle of Kohima


The wargaming  battle of Kohima was held in December 23 2014.  It’s important to mention that our wargame is only inspired from the historical event.   In no way, we can consider it as historically accurate.  In fact, that’s a mix of the battle of Kohima and Imphal.

Summary of the real battle of Kohima


Here a short reports of the BBC on the real Battle of Kohima.  An interesting three minutes which will put you in context.

 


You can read a good summary of the two battles in Wikipedia



 
« The Battle of Kohima, Nagaland, was the turning point of the Japanese U Go offensive into India in 1944 in the Second World War.

The battle was fought in three stages from 4 April to 22 June 1944 around the town of Kohima in north-east India. It is often referred to as the "Stalingrad of the East".

From 3 to 16 April, the Japanese attempted to capture Kohima ridge, a feature which dominated the road by which the besieged British and Indian troops of IV Corps at Imphal were supplied. By mid-April, the small British force at Kohima was relieved. 

From 18 April to 13 May, British and Indian reinforcements counter-attacked to drive the Japanese from the positions they had captured. The Japanese abandoned the ridge at this point but continued to block the Kohima–Imphal road. 

From 16 May to 22 June, the British and Indian troops pursued the retreating Japanese and reopened the road. The battle ended on 22 June when British and Indian troops from Kohima and Imphal met at Milestone 109, ending the siege of Imphal. 

In 2013, the British National Army Museum voted the Battle of Imphal and Kohima 'Britain's Greatest Battle'. »

 

The wargame of Kohima in pictures


The initiale set up of the british side included  a « redoute » on the top of the ridge and positions around the road.

 
Battle of Kohima
A view of the village of Kohima
 

Battle of Kohima
The road to Kohima from the west




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Battle of Kohima
THe "redoute" from the east




Battle of Kohima
The headquarter of british troops





Battle of Kohima
A british artillery position

Battle of Kohima


Battle of Kohima
British position made of sand bags
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The japanese attack was concentrated along the road and in the forest near by.  Both japanese troops and National Indian National army  troops  tried to overun the british positions. 

Battle of Kohima
Japanese soldiers attacking along the wood

Battle of Kohima
Indian national army taking a british post

Battle of Kohima
Heavy fighting around the headquarter



Battle of Kohima
Heavy fighting around the headquarter (con't)

Battle of Kohima

Battle of Kohima

Battle of Kohima
Banzai!  Let's go forward!
 

Battle of Kohima

Battle of Kohima

Battle of Kohima

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They were able to take control of the road but furious british counter-attacks finally broke the japanese offensive.  The british troops were a mix of Indian British army (Armies in plastic, Gurghas (Airfix), Aussies ( VVVV) and regular british troops (armies in plastic, Armies of the world)

Battle of Kohima

Battle of Kohima
Anzac troops fighting back


Battle of Kohima

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Battle of Kohima
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Battle of Kohima
British new troops going toward Kohima


Battle of Kohima
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Eventhough both sides have artillery and tanks, they didn’t play a big role in the battle.   The tanks were to few to do any difference and artillery was to weak particularly on the japanese side.  The 75 mm guns used  were not powerful enough to cover the troops nor to eliminate the british 25 pounders.   The battle of Kohima was essentially a fight between infantries. 



 

9 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Hi Steven. Thank for your question. We don't use dice like in traditional wargaming. We do have a couple of rules tough.

      -We use dart guns or balls depending on caliber for our artillery. It means that we shoot on troops or any targets like in the reality. Lucky shot could mean going forward easily and the contrary could means a lot of casualties among plastic men. One shot is allowed by gun by side by turn. In the case of tracted artillery, if you move, you cannot shoot. for gun of the tanks or self-propelled gun, you can do both.

      -We always inspire ourselves from a real battle. it gives us the winner and the loser. it means that we know in advance which side will win and we act accordingly. If we do Monte-Casino, the allies will win and we will provide them with what it's required. We often change side, My brother can begin with the Axis and I can take over later depending how things are going.

      -For the infantery fight, we do it the hold way (the childhood way). Each side calls their shot at the enemy troops and they fall (or not if my counterpart doesn't agree ;-) )

      -As you can see, it's a mix of full playing and some rules.

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  2. Fantastic Blog. I love the vehicles you have constructed, very creative. The battle of Kohima looks like it would have been a great game to play. Looking forward to more posts.
    Cheers
    Col

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Col. Looking forward to exchange on our favorite subject ;-)

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  3. Wonderful game. Love the White scout car.

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  4. I absolutely loved this post! Excellent war-game setup you have there. I have just one question: where did you get those British in blue? I know those figures but I didn't know that they came in blue.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! The british in blue are Armies of the world as you perhaps know. I bought them locally (In Canada). The color we use to know for those men is brown-yellow. My understanding is that the importer in Montreal ordered directly from China. They asked for a custom packaging and different colors. British in blue can be either British marine (they didn't see much action in WWII) or Free French (in North Africa, they had british uniforms and equipments)

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    2. Oh okay, that is very interesting that they ordered them in a different color. Thanks for clearing that up! :)

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