Edinburgh's Lauriston Castle will see Royal Scots commemorate forgotten army of the Far East

It was one of the defining battles of the Second World War and at 10.30am on Saturday, June 29 The Royal Scots Regimental Association will lay wreaths and conduct a memorial service at Lauriston Castle to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Kohima and the regiment’s role in it.

Regimental records show that between April 4 and June 22, 1944 the 1st Battalion The Royal Scots lost a total of 89 men – their names will be read out during the ceremony – with a further 200 wounded, many seriously, in the intense fighting around Kohima.

The Royal Scots Memorial Garden at Lauriston Castle. Picture: Royal Scots Regimental Association. | Royal Scots Regimental Association

The battle was one of the most bitterly fought of the war and a pivotal moment in the conflict with Japan in the Far East. The success of the British 2nd Division (including the Royal Scots) and the Indian 5th Division ensured the safety of British India and turned the tide against Japanese forces in South East Asia.

On Saturday The Royal Scots contingent will form up in Lauriston Castle car park at 10.30am and will march the short distance to the Royal Scots Memorial Garden behind a piper and their Association Standards. All others are welcome to congregate at the garden. The service will commence at 10.50am and will be conducted by Reverend Ian May, the Padre of The Royal Scots Regimental Association. The wreath laying will be led by Brigadier George Lowder, President of The Royal Scots Regimental Association.

On the road to Kohima - Major Howard, second in command, with Captain Currie, Adjutant. Picture: Royal Scots Regimental Association. | Royal Scots Regimental Association

Malcolm Warrack, son of Lt. Col. Morren Warrack, who fought at Kohima with the regiment, said: “A group of Royal Scots veterans felt very strongly about the lack of some form of local memorial specifically for their fellow soldiers who did not come back from the Burma Campaign and Kohima in particular.

“George Rogers, Ian Henderson and Morren Warrack co-ordinated the preparation and creation of this Memorial Garden in the 1990s. They spoke often about the ‘Forgotten Army’ in the Far East so it is particularly fitting that 80 years later we remember them.”

Naga village where some of the bloodiest fighting of Kohima took place | contributed

Brigadier Lowder added: “The Royal Scots feel very strongly that we should mark the battle of Kohima which witnessed some of the fiercest fighting of the war. Some Royal Scots who took part in crucial battles to delay the German advance to Dunkirk in May 1940 subsequently found themselves in the Far East where the war continued for a further three months after victory in Europe was declared in May 1945. Many made the ultimate sacrifice; we will remember them.”

The garden and memorial stone in the grounds of Lauriston Castle commemorate the service of the 1st Battalion The Royal Scots and, in particular, its Carrier Platoon in Burma between 1943 and 1945. There are 14 trees planted in the grounds of Lauriston Castle as individual memorials to the 14 members of that platoon who were killed in Burma.

The Kohima Memorial dedication. Picture: Royal Scots Regimental Association. | Royal Scots Regimental Association

The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the regiment both saw significant service and sacrifice in the Far East from 1941 to 1945. A total of 496 Royal Scots were killed or died when prisoners of war (POW). A further 707 were wounded or were recorded missing, giving a total of 1203 casualties.

The Battle of Kohima, indeed the campaign in the Far East, is less well known than many Second World War battles in the European theatre but there is one link that may be familiar to many.

The 1st Battalion The Royal Scots Kohima Memorial Stone Picture: Royal Scots Regimental Association. | Royal Scots Regimental Association

The memorial erected to the 2nd Division at Kohima after the battle incorporates a verse that was originally composed by John Maxwell Edmonds (1875-1958) after the First World War. He is believed to have been inspired by the epitaph written by Simonides of Ceos to honour the Greeks who fell at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480BC.

That verse is now inextricably linked with wider Remembrance events each year where it has become known as the Kohima Epitaph;

When you go home, Tell them of us and say, For your tomorrow, We gave our today.

The 1st Battalion The Royal Scots (1RS) had been part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) deployed to France in 1939 and had been heavily involved in the heroic actions defending the perimeter of Dunkirk. Less than 50 Royal Scots were among those taken off the beaches in 1940.

In April 1942 they sailed from Glasgow to join the defence of India against the Japanese who were by then advancing up through Burma. Through much of 1943 and early 1944 the battalion was engaged in jungle training in preparation for the coming fight. While the naval war in the Pacific arguably began to turn during 1943, Japanese territorial expansion in South East Asia continued such that, by the spring of 1944, Japanese forces had captured almost all of Burma and threatened British India.

In the preceding months the British and Indian 14th Army, under the command of General William Slim, had been preparing for an offensive into Burma. Meanwhile, the Japanese 15th Army received orders in early 1944 to put a stop to these preparations and launched an offensive to destroy the British/Indian forces at Imphal, Naga Hills and Kohima.

In the aftermath of the battle a Divisional Memorial was erected to those of 2nd Division who had fallen in the epic struggle to relieve Kohima. 1st Battalion The Royal Scots were equally determined to commemorate their own. A memorial was designed and constructed of local stone and wood by The Royal Scots themselves at Kennedy Hill, on the Aradura Spur where the regiment had seen some of its fiercest fighting. It was unveiled on November 25, 1944 and the memorial is now overseen by The Commonwealth War Graves Commission.