Kohima is the hilly capital of India's north eastern border state of Nagaland which shares its borders with Burma.  The British incursions into the Naga territory beginning in the 1840s met with stiff resistance from the independent loving Nagas who had never been conquered by any empire before. The stiffness of the resistance can be gauged from the fact that it took nearly four decades for the British to conquer a territory that is less than 10,000 square kilometers. 

In 1944 during World War II the Battle of Kohima along with the simultaneous Battle of Imphal was the turning point in the Burma Campaign. For the first time in South-East Asia the Japanese lost the initiative to the Allies which they then retained until the end of the war. This hand-to-hand battle and slaughter prevented the Japanese from gaining a high base from which they might next roll across the extensive flatlands of India like a juggernaut. 

The battle took place in three stages. From 3 April to 16 April, the Japanese attempted to capture Kohima ridge, a feature which dominated the road by which the major British and Indian troops at Imphal were supplied. By mid-April, the small British force at Kohima was relieved, and 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 May 16 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.

After defeat at Kohima, having lost a considerable amount of manpower and equipment and suffering from shortages in food and other supplies the Japanese were forced to retreat into Burma, where during the course of late 1944 and early 1945 the Allies launched a series of offensives that ultimately resulted in Allied victory in Burma.

Kohima has a large cemetery for the Allied war dead maintained by the Commonwealth Graves Commission. The cemetery lies on the slopes of Garrison Hill, in what was once the Deputy Commissioner's tennis court which was the scene of intense fighting. The epitaph carved on the memorial of the 2nd British Division in the cemetery

When You Go Home,
Tell Them Of Us And Say,
For Your Tomorrow,
We Gave Our Today