Kohima War Cemetery: The Battle Under the Cherry Tree

The Kohima War Cemetery was built in memorial of the Commonwealth soldiers from the second world war who lost their lives protecting their base camp of supply from the hands of the Japanese troop in year 1944. The cemetery has in total 1420 burials including English, Hindu and Sikh soldiers. The burials are divided in upper and lower end in the cemetery.

The sight of the burials in the cemetery  takes one into the journey of history, giving a thrilling sense of feel and experience of the gruesome battle which took place in the Garrison hill, turning the residence complex of the then English Deputy Commissioner into a battlefield with dead bodies drenched in pools of blood.

Two stone memorials are erected in the upper and lower end of the cemetery. The inscription in the upper stone memorial reads:”Here, around the tennis court of the Deputy Commissioner, lie men who fought in the battle of Kohima in which they and their comrades finally halted the invasion  of India by the forces of Japan  in April, 1944″

The inscription in another 15 feet stone memorial installed in the lower end, titled, the “Kohima Epitaph” reads: ” When you go home tell them of us and say for your tomorrow we gave our today”

The Kohima War Cemetery, now a historical site and popular among the locals and tourists was established in the year 1946. Since then the cemetery has been maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.