ABSTRACT
Brigadier Willie Goschen and Lieutenant-Colonel Hedderwick now lie side by side in the Commonwealth War Cemetery at Kohima, just about where the front garden of the Deputy Commissioner’s bungalow was before the battle. They died together in the monsoon mud on Kohima Ridge in May 1944. Goschen was a brigade commander in the 2nd British Division, which was then engaged in a hard battle to drive the Japanese from Kohima. Despite its superiority in mechanisation, artillery, armour and air power, the division was having a difficult time overcoming skilfully sited and stubbornly held Japanese defences. Goschen had led his 4th Infantry Brigade on a ten-day outflanking march through the mountains to attack the Japanese flank positions on Kohima Ridge at the foot of Pulebadze Mountain. After some early success, the brigade was held up by strong Japanese defences, and stalemate threatened.
