North East India's Commonwealth War Cemeteries - A tribute to the brave.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission had laid out its values and aims a hundred years ago i.e 1917 to ensure that the 1.7 million people who had died in the two world wars will never be forgotten. The CWGC commemorate the war dead by building and maintaining the cemeteries and memories to preservation of the records.

The CWGC owes its existence to the vision and determination of Sir Fabian Ware, support and recognition of the British Royals, designed and architect by Sir Edwin Lutyens, Sir Herbert Baker and Sir Reginald Blomfield with Rudyard Kipling as literary advisor for advising on inscriptions.

By preserving the memory of the dead with simple dignity and true equality irrespective of military or civil rank, race and creed,   the Commission hopes to encourage future generation to remember the sacrifice made by so many.

Today the Commission cares for cemeteries and memorials in 154 countries and the values and aims are as relevant as they were a hundred years ago.The commission operates through the financial support of the member states United Kingdom Canada Australia New Zealand, India and South Africa.

India is a home to many of the war cemetery maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commissions and incidentally four of them are located in the North Eastern part of India.

Kohima War Cemetery is a memorial dedicated to the soldiers of the 2^nd Division of the Allied Forces who died in the second  world war in April 1944. It is located in the city of Kohima, the capital of the Indian State of Nagaland. The cemetery is built in the same place where the Japanese 15^th Army attacked the British forces with an intent to prevent an attack on Burma by the English. The battle was fought fiercely resulting  in heavy casualties on both sides. In 2013 the British National Army Museum voted, based on a national survey  the Battle of Kohima and Imphal  as Britain’s greatest battle ever.

The cemetery consisting of 1420 burials of the Second World War, 1082 English, 330 Indian 3 Australians and 5 Canadian is built in peaceful surroundings with well manicured lawns in which roses bloom. The cemetery has been designed along a sloping ground consisting a series of terraces. These terraces contain stone markers distinctly visible with a white wash embedded with bronze plaques carrying the name of each Commonwealth soldier who died in the Kohima battlefield.

There are two memorial crosses, one at the upper end and other at the lower end of the cemetery. The upper memorial commemorates the name of the 917 Indian soldiers consisting of Sikh and Hindu soldiers who were part of the British Indian Army were cremated as per their religious rites.

The epitaph inscribed on the 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 lower end memorial is dedicated to the 2^nd Division of the British Army. The epitaph titled Kohima Epitaph reads “ When you go home tell them of us and say for your tomorrow we gave our today”, a world famous verse attributed  to John Maxwell and thought to have inspired by the epitaph written by Simonides to honour the Spartans who fell at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC .
           

During second world war the Japanese Army occupied Burma for defeating the Commonwealth forces. Burma became a launching pad to attack Manipur and Assam so as to contain the Chinese air operations across the Himalayas. The British knowing the strategic position of Imphal formed the 23^rd Indian Division to counter the attack of the Japanese.

Japan attacked Manipur in the spring of April 1944 and laid siege over Imphal for three months with the battle ending in June 1944 leaving thousands of soldiers dead from both sides.

Earl Lord Mountbatten described the battle fought in Imphal and Kohima as “ probably one of the greatest battle in history”.

In memory, the Imphal war cemetery was built and maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission located in Deulahland, 10 KM from the Imphal Airport. There are 1600 commonwealth burials consisting of 1300 English, 10 Canadians, 5 Americans, 220 Indians, 40 East Africans, 10 West Africans and 10 Burmese. Originally the Imphal War Cemetery was a burial site for 950 soldiers who died in the battle. Additionally the Army Graves Service brought in graves from other burial sites.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has also built war cemetery near the Oil Township of Digboi in the Indian State of Assam mainly for burial from the hospitals or graves from Panitola, Jorhat, Marghetia, Tinsukia and Ledo where permanent maintenance of graves could not be assured. The US Military at Shinguvoiyang in Burma also has its contribution of graves. 

The burials at the Digboi war cemetery consists of 197 from commonwealth countries, one Italian one American and one Belgian buried during the second world war.

The war cemetery nestled in the foothills of Nabagarha, Silphukhuri, Guwahati in the Indian State of Assam is another cemetery built and maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for burials mainly brought from various military hospitals in the area.

Presently burials are for 486 Commonwealth servicemen, 24 Chinese war graves, 25 unidentified and 2 non war graves. Guwahati was the only commonwealth cemetery till 2012 that had graves of Japanese soldiers, the victors and the vanquished laying side by side in harmony. The eleven graves of Japanese were exhumed in 2012 and the remains flown to Japan for a formal burial in their native country.

The historic sites are visited by locals , tourists and war veterans to pay homage to the brave and indeed is a lasting tribute to these brave men who gave their lives so distant from their homeland.