The battles of Imphal and Kohima were one of the most decisive battles of WW2. In fact, British considered it one of the greatest battles fought by British Army.
Battle of Kohima broke out on April 3, 1944 when 15000 men of Japanese army with the assistance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's Azad Hind Fauj attacked a British garrison against just 1500 men. Outnumbered 1:10, British forces stood their ground and defended for nearly two weeks before reinforcements arrived.
The battle continued longer than the Japanese had expected. Running low on food supplies and incurring heavy losses from British reinforcements, they had to retreat back. The battle of Imphal was fought on an even larger scale than Kohima.
It waged for about five months and heavy losses were incurred on both sides, but Japanese incurred 2.5 times more losses than the allies. The defeat at Kohima and Imphal was the largest defeat in Japanese history.
The huge losses the Japanese suffered in the Battles of Imphal and Kohima crippled their defence of Burma. For Japan, the loss of South Asia marked the end of its era of aggression and the end of its imperialist ambitions.
