Britain’s Greatest Battle; Tour of Kohima
04 – 12 October 2025

It was on Kohima Ridge in 1944, that the invasion of India by the Japanese Imperial Army was halted by the bravery of a small garrison of just 1500 British and Indian soldiers, who, although outnumbered by about 10:1, held out for 14 days, until relieved by the British 2nd Division. We are delighted to offer this tour, either locally escourted or working with Bob Cook of Kohima Musuem. With access to original maps, operational and personal accounts, the Battlefield tour will give you a view of the battle from the perspective of the soldier in the trench, to the battalion commander up to the Divisional and Corps commanders. We hope you will be able to join us on this tour.

Robert (Bob) Cook – Curator, Kohima Museum York

Retired as a Warrant Officer from the British Army after 34 years, Bob comes from a family with nearly 170 years of military service. Now a volunteer curator for the 2nd Infantry Division Kohima Museum Trust in York, he first visited Kohima’s battlefields in 2008. Since then, he has returned 10 times, leading military and civilian groups to explore what is arguably WW2’s most important unknown battle. With each visit, his knowledge of the battle deepened, along with his appreciation for the warm and welcoming Naga Hill people of Nagaland, Northeast India.

He has also recently stepped down  as a Trustee of the Kohima Educational Trust which aims to repay the debt of gratitude owed by the British veterans to the Naga Hill people for their unstinting aid and assistance against the Japanese Imperial Army. One of the ways of repaying this debt of gratitude is by sponsoring the education of the Naga children aged 14 – 16.

As a previous deputy chairman of the Burma Campaign Society which aims to improve and enhance the reconciliation between Japan and the U.K, he has also visited Japan in company with a British army veteran of the battle to visit and pay respects to Japanese veterans of the Burma campaign and visit the grave of Lieutenant General Kotoku Sato who commanded the 31st Japanese Division at Kohima.

The Kohima Museum

When the British 2^nd Division returned to the UK from Germany in 1982, they began to hold annual reunions in York for the men who fought and defeated the Japanese Imperial forces at Kohima in North East India and beyond into Burma. These veterans brought along artefacts and memorabilia from those times. Eventually these items were formed into a formal museum in 1992, which today is the only museum in the UK that commemorates and focuses entirely on the Burma Campaign. It is only one of two known globally to do this. The Kohima Museum is located within Imphal barracks in the beautiful city of York and is open to the public each Thursday morning and at other times by prior appointment. The museum consists of soldiers’ medals and awards and personal items as well as operational diaries and accounts; uniforms and a small reference library.

www.kohimamuseum.co.uk