ABSTRACT
It was the early spring of 1942. A strange air of uncertainty, fear and restlessness gripped the settlements of India, as news of an imminent invasion circulated around. The war had reached the borders of India, but it was not from the zealously guarded frontiers of the North West. Instead, the war lurked surreptitiously and unexpectedly from the uncharted borders of North Eastern India—hitherto unguarded, ignored and assumed to be so impassable by the sheer nature of its terrain that no serious measures had ever been undertaken for its defence. 1 The sudden appearance of the Japanese army at India's doorsteps left the military command, administration and the people unprepared for the crisis ahead. 2
