The Tennis Court Battle, Kohima and Imphal

[Smokeyrone]

Anyone familiar with the specific fight on the tennis court? 

Where they really on both sides of the court, firing through the net?

I wanna build it, and game it

[Cholmondely Percival IV]

All I can tell you is that there were frequent cries of "Out!"  lots of double faults, and many calls for "New balls, please".

[Smokeyrone]

All I can tell you is that there were frequent cries of "Out!"  lots of double faults, and many calls for "New balls, please".

You made me laugh!  Well done.

[Cholmondely Percival IV]

I couldn't resist it, in spite of my supposed maturity. Let's hope some more constructive content ensues.

[Storm Wolf]

I couldn't resist it, in spite of my supposed maturity. Let's hope some more constructive content ensues.

Indeed, you all left out "That ball was in!" 

[Cholmondely Percival IV]

You cannot be serious!

[Storm Wolf]

You cannot be serious!

[jon_1066]

Sounds like a good one for Chain of Command

[Jemima Fawr]

Doing a large Imphal demo-game at Bovington a few years ago, I got rather fed up of being asked "Is this the battle with the tennis court?"

(it wasn't; a mere 100 miles out)

I decided that when I next did a Burma demo-game it would be Kohima, just to be able to say "Why yes!  Yes, it is!" and not have to constantly restrain the reply "There was more than one f*@%ing battle in Burma!" from coming to the front of my brain and onward, out of my mouth...

[Cubs]

I mean, I know it's hardly a faultless oracle, and it seems obvious, but there's always Wiki.

Depending where you are, the Dorset Regiment Military Museum in Dorchester (cool place, I visited it with the family a while back and really enjoyed the 25pdr in the foyer!) has a display specifically on Kohima. One of the focuses (foci?) are how the Lee/Grant tank was dragged up a steep hill to sit right on the edge of the tennis court and proved vital to the defence.

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/battle-of-the-tennis-court.html

[Smokeyrone]

Lol, I still yell that when I get a bad call.   I actually play against Lendl from time to time, and he really laughs at that one

[Jemima Fawr]

I mean, I know it's hardly a faultless oracle, and it seems obvious, but there's always Wiki.

Depending where you are, the Dorset Regiment Military Museum in Dorchester (cool place, I visited it with the family a while back and really enjoyed the 25pdr in the foyer!) has a display specifically on Kohima. One of the focuses (foci?) are how the Lee/Grant tank was dragged up a steep hill to sit right on the edge of the tennis court and proved vital to the defence.

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/battle-of-the-tennis-court.html

That's just reminded me.  The son of a tank commander who was killed in an earlier action at the Bungalow/Tennis Court started a conversation in the comments section of one of my articles, which is worth a read.  The poor bugger was born after his father deployed and he never met him:

https://www.jemimafawr.co.uk/2020/08/28/the-forgotten-wargames-army-xivth-army-in-burma-part-5/

[TacticalPainter]

The key to understanding the battle over the tennis court is to grasp the topography of the area, only then does it make sense that a battle could have been fought over such a small area. Think of a series of steps up a narrow spur. The Japanese must attack from the lower portion at the narrowest point of the spur. The British are at a point higher up the series of steps and in particular in possession of a small mound that gave an excellent vantage point to dominate the lower areas by fire. The Japanese had to struggle up a steep slope to approach each level area, arriving at the top to be suddenly greeted by fire from a position they could not observe or bring under fire from lower down. If they crossed the open ground successfully then had to repeat the climb up to the tennis court and go through the same ordeal of fire again (this time also within grenade range of the British on top). To make it worse the tennis court was surrounded by a very high fence (to prevent tennis balls disappearing down the hillside and into the jungle). This was a significant barrier to movement but not to bullets. At all stages the Japanese had trouble bringing their fire to bear and were constantly repulsed. Understanding how this topography impacted fire and movement goes a long way to grasping how the fight over such a small area could have dragged on for as long as it did.

A tough one to game without recreating that topography on the table top.

[Smokeyrone]

Great stuff TacPaint!   Thanks.  I assume it was a red clay court?

[Smokeyrone]

I think we all agree that THIS GUY MUST do a tennis court battle!

(They call me the "Tossed Salad Man" on court)