Immediate Consequences of the Battle of Imphal, 1944

Manipur was dragged into the Second World War in the form of the Battle of Imphal in 1944. The Battle of Imphal which broke out in 1944 was a part of the Burma Campaign of the British 14th Army against the Japanese 15th Army and the Indian National Army. The Battle of Imphal was considered as one of the greatest battles ever fought in the history of modern warfare. Manipur was turned into a battleground when the Japanese and the Indian National Army came and invaded Manipur, which was under the protection of the British from March to July in 1944. As a result of the Battle of Imphal, the whole of Manipur suffered to the extreme. Most of the people had no food to eat nor houses to shelter themselves. Food was rationed by the British who were in Manipur in order to supply to the armies that were fighting against the Japanese and the Indian National Army. The British also destroyed and burned local food storages after the villagers were evacuated so that the Japanese and the Indian National Army would not find any food as and when they enter these villages. The Japanese and the Indian National Army on the other hand sent out as many food foraging parties to as many villages they could in order to supply themselves since they received no food supply from during the Battle from the captured villages. Houses were also requisitioned by both the opposing armies. The situation became worst when the Battle ended because the villagers could not cultivate their fields during and immediately after the Battle which resulted in famine like situation in most of the villages. Many villages that were destroyed during the Battle could not even find timber or thatch to re-establish their villages again. In addition to that, the British were still requisitioning houses even after the Battle ended because they were planning to attack and recapture Burma which had fallen to the Japanese in 1942. All these factors had a great consequence to the people of Manipur.