Battle of the Tennis Court

Battle of the Tennis Court
Part of the Battle of Kohima during the U-Go Operation of the 1944 Burma Campaign in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II
The tennis court and terraces of the District Commissioner's bungalow in Kohima.
Date 8 April – 13 May 1944 Location Kohima, Nagaland, India 25°40′04″N 94°06′11″E / 25.66770°N 94.10297°E / 25.66770; 94.10297 Result Allied victory
Belligerents
XXXIII Corps	31st Infantry Division
Commanders and leaders
Montagu Stopford	Kotoku Sato
Strength
161st Indian Infantry Brigade 6th Infantry Brigade	31st Infantry Division
Casualties and losses
unknown	unknown

The Battle of the Tennis Court was part of the wider Battle of Kohima that was fought in North East India from 4 April to 22 June 1944 during the Burma Campaign of the Second World War. The Japanese advance into India was halted at Kohima in April 1944 and Garrison Hill, on a long wooded ridge on a high ridge west of the village, was, according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission the scene of "perhaps the most bitter fighting of the whole Burma campaign when a small Commonwealth force held out against repeated attacks by a Japanese Division".^[1] During the siege of Kohima, heavy fighting, including hand-to-hand combat, occurred in the grounds surrounding the Deputy Commissioner's bungalow, including the tennis court, beginning around 8 April and continuing until 13 May when the assaulting Japanese troops began withdrawing from the area.