The Kohima Educational Trust is delighted to present this webinar with Dr Robert Lyman MBE and guest speaker David Allison, historian and author of Fight Your Way Out: The Siege of Sangshak.
In March 1944, Japan launched its audacious overland invasion of India from Burma. British rear areas in the Manipur hills were dangerously exposed, with only the untested 50th Indian Parachute Brigade standing in the path of the advance.
After a series of sharp and brutal encounters, the Paratroopers withdrew to the isolated Naga village of Sangshak. There, cut off, short of ammunition and supplies, they faced repeated Japanese assaults in dense jungle and steep hill country. For several days the Brigade held its ground in fierce close‑quarter fighting before the survivors finally fought their way out through the hills and back to friendly lines.
Drawing on his book Fight Your Way Out – The Siege of Sangshak, David Allison examines this little‑known but pivotal battle — one of the first major engagements between Indian and Japanese forces fought on Indian soil — and its largely unrecognised impact on the wider Imphal–Kohima campaign.
To book your free place on this webinar, please click the blue button below:
Speakers:
Dr Robert Lyman MBE - Military Historian, Author and Trustee of KET Born in New Zealand in January 1963 and educated in Australia, Robert Lyman was, for twenty years, an officer in the British Army. Educated at Scotch College, Melbourne he was commissioned into the Light Infantry from the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, in April 1982. In addition to a business career he is an author and military historian, publishing books in particular on the war in the Far East. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Robert is married to Hannah, has two sons, and lives in Berkshire. For information about Robert's publications please visit his website: robertlyman.com
David Allison is a military historian and lawyer. Born in Perth, Australia, David has degrees in Law and Chinese Studies and has practiced as a lawyer in Australia, China and Hong Kong for more than 20 years. He has also served as an officer in the Australian Army (Reserve).
David is an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society whose primary research interest is the military history of Commonwealth forces in Asia from the Second World War to the present.
Sylvia May - Managing Trustee of The Kohima Educational Trust Sylvia May was born in New Jersey, USA in 1957. Her parents moved to England in 1963. Educated at High Wycombe School for Girls, she decided to pursue a career in the world of books. Sylvia worked for HarperCollins for 37 years, the last eleven of which she headed up their UK-based International Sales team. Sylvia May is the daughter of the late Gordon Graham, Founder and President of the Kohima Educational Trust. She is proud that her father has inspired many people to share his vision to commemorate those who fought and died in Kohima, and the wonderful Naga people who have done so much for the British in the past. She first visited India in 1994 with her husband Robert, and has returned on numerous occasions, staying in Kohima several times. In 2000, they followed the WWII route of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, her father’s regiment. The regiment’s first main engagement in this theatre of war was at Zubza shortly before the Battle of Kohima.
