The Battle Of Garrison Hill

Now don't get the wrong idea here!

We're not battling anyone except ourselves, sometimes, and this is not a call to arms.

LOL

You'll get part of the point towards the end of this piece here.

We only joke because that's what we do,
and we are not actually joking as such.

The Battle of Garrison Hill, formally known in the records as the Battle of Kohima, is not just recognized, but acknowledged, as the greatest decisive battle of WWII and one of the greatest battles of all time.

It occurred in 1944, beginning April, in Kohima North East India, when 1 infantry brigade (1500 men) of the British India Army, took on and destroyed an entire Division of 20,000 fully-armed, well-supplied, seasoned soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army.

This is the greatest battle of World War II. And you've probably never heard of it.

The youngest Victoria Cross recipient - Junior Officer Abdul Hafiz Khan - was awarded the VC for executing his orders to cross an open uphill slope against machine gun batteries with his platoon, in daylight (and then at night again once he had begun to succeed).

Wounded himself twice, the second time eventually being a fatal wound, he personally led the charge, shouting the Mohammedan cry, and took out both main batteries himself before returning to his men and rallying them that they were invincible and would secure an absolute victory against the odds. 

At nightfall they discovered that a spring of fresh water had appeared on one side of the hill, though it was not practicable to access it during the day...

Kohima, today.

The machine gun batteries were eliminated and the hill taken -, although being open slopes on all sides, it was impossible under the mortar rounds during the daylight hours, to go up and down to retrieve supplies of fresh water for the rest of the brigade.

The summit of the hill was fortified and a manned British India battery placed in position, though still under heavy shelling during the daylight hours.

The brigade itself below had begun to be completely surrounded by vastly superior numbers, with no supply lines available and the prospect of death by starvation, shelling, disease and thirst.

Unbeknownst to the Japanese closing in, fresh water was being made available by soldiers under the cover of darkness at night, back to the brigade below.

In the ultimate reckoning, 7000 combat deaths were incurred by the Japanese, with 300 wounded men extracted - still under shelling in open country - on the British India side when the brigade was joined by reinforcements.

Our respects to the great military historian
Len Deighton, at a time when 'small' things
mattered.

Since even the medical tents were out in the open, many wounded men were hit again while receiving medical attention.

In the event however, the Japanese Division was completely routed.

The spring exists to this day.

We ourselves today live under difficult circumstances, with no meaningful supply lines, surrounded on all sides by overwhelming forces arrayed against us, and battling against these seemingly impossible odds.

Madness grips the minds of (many) people.

For those with eyes to see...

All we have is the shirts on our backs.

The Japanese are not our enemy and they never really were - not the humans, not the individuals. Not even the Generals and the Commanders.

They had nothing. We have nothing.

But the pen.

What waters of life will spring from here.