Japanese halted at Sangshak

23rd March 1944: A Japanese account of being surprised by the strength of resistance as they encounter Indian and Gurkha parachute troops

Japanese troops crossing a river as they advanced through Burma to attack India.

In Burma the 13,000 men of the Japanese 31st Division were now threatening the British lines in northern Burma and into India. They had carried all their equipment and ammunition through the jungle, with each man carrying loads of 40-50 kilos. It was hoped they could make a surprise attack but unknown to them, despite every effort at concealment, they had been spotted crossing the Irrawaddy river. The British were hastily re-inforcing their positions. On the approaches to the main base at Kohima they had established a strongpoint outside the village of Sangshak.

Captain Shosaku Kameyama¹ was with the 3rd Battalion, 58 Infantry Regiment. He and his troops had endured the trek over the Arakan mountains and began their attack on the British outpost near the village of Sangshak on 21st March.

A rare photograph of Japanese infantry mounting a section attack during Operation U-GO.

They quickly discovered that they faced a more formidable enemy than the ill-trained and poorly equipped Chinese troops that they had previously fought. They were beaten off with heavy casualties and tried again on the night of the 22nd/23rd:

From our experience in China we were confident of the success of the night attack, but we had to expect that a mass of bullets from the overwhelming enemy automatic weapons would result in much greater casualties.

When 8th Company broke through the enemy front line, 5th and 6th tried to advance, but very fierce enemy firing made their progress impossible. Under a strong counterattack, the commander and most soldiers of 8th Company were killed or wounded. Though we wanted to advance, we could not even lift our heads because of the heavy fire, which we had never before experienced.