Road of Bones: The Epic Siege of Kohima 1944

(Paperback)

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Winner of the British Army Military Book of the Year 2011

The story of one of the most brutal battles in modern history fought at a major turning point of the Second World War.
Kohima. In this remote Indian village near the border with Burma, a tiny force of British and Indian troops faced the might of the Imperial Japanese Army. Outnumbered ten to one, the defenders fought the Japanese hand to hand in a battle that was amongst the most savage in modern warfare.

A garrison of 1,500 fighting men, desperately short of water and with the wounded compelled to lie in the open, faced a force of 15,000 Japanese. They held the pass, preventing a Japanese victory that would have proved disastrous for the British. Another six weeks of bitter fighting followed as British and Indian reinforcements strove to drive the enemy out of India. When the battle was over, a Japanese army that had invaded India on a mission of imperial conquest had suffered the worst defeat in its history. Thousands lay dead, while tens of thousands more starved in a catastrophic retreat eastwards. They called the journey back to Burma the Road of Bones.

Fergal Keane has reported for the BBC from conflicts on every continent over the past 25 years. He brings to this work not only rigorous scholarship but a raw understanding of the pitiless nature of war. Based on original research in Japan, Britain and India, Kohima is a story of extraordinary courage and the folly of imperial dreams.

Reviews

I found myself, on one or two pages towards the close, caught in a choking emotionthe evidence is meticulously gathered and the writing so powerful that it turns a book about a battle into a book about human beings, their existence, their end Guardian

With this electrifying and heart-rending tale BBC foreign correspondent Fergal Keane has catapulted himself into the top rank of our military historians Daily Express

In his sweeping account of the battle in Kohima in 1944, Fergal Keane does justice to the memory of the men who fell and who surviveda vivid account which brings to life the brutality of that waran engrossing narrative of ghastly battle Independent

A profoundly tragic book by an eminent humanitarianFergal Keane is not a man for triumphalismhe is really writing a passionate elegy for all battlesit is a noble book that Keane has writtenits grandeur lies in its essential vision decent forgiving, pitying and always regretful The Times

Along with his war correspondents feel for action, Keane brings to the task an eye for detail and a gift for describing what it is like to be in a battle at the lowest levelalthough Generals may command, plot and plan, in the end the success or failure will rest on the courage, motivation, training and fortitude of ordinary menRoad of Bones captures this superlatively Literary Review

Author Bio

Fergal Keane was born in London and educated in Ireland. He is one of the BBC's most distinguished correspondents and an award-winning broadcaster and author. He has reported for the corporation from Northern Ireland, South Africa, Asia and the Balkans. He has been awarded a BAFTA, been named reporter of the year on television and radio, winning honours from the Royal Television Society and the Sony Radio Awards, most recently for his Radio 4 series Taking a Stand. Keane has won the George Orwell prize for literature, the James Cameron Prize and the Edward R. Murrow Award from the US Overseas Press Association. He is the author of a number of bestselling books including Letter to Daniel and his memoir All of These People. He lives in London with his wife and two children.