Last week, two brothers in the small border town of Moreh in the northeastern state of Manipur, India, were digging a pit in their backyard when their spades hit a spherical object.
It exploded, killing them instantly.
Videos by VICE
When local officials turned up to find out what killed Lalsangmuon and Lienkhogin Gangte, they made this discovery: The family had a World War II-era bomb sitting in their backyard for over seven decades, and nobody knew about it.
Over a hundred kilometres away, in the Manipuri capital of Imphal, Arambam “Bobby” Singh, who calls himself a “battlefield digger,” read about the explosion. “I wasn’t surprised,” he told VICE.
Long before the Indian government labelled Manipur a “disturbed area” – rife with human rights violations, military excesses and enforced disappearances – a global war had wreaked havoc on its land and people.
In 1944, during WWII, Manipur was a critical frontier battlefield where Allied forces – made up of Indian and British soldiers – clashed with Japanese troops. Japan lost the decisive battle in Imphal, which tipped the war in favour of the Allies, and thwarted Japan’s plan to invade India.
The National War Museum in the U.K. called the famous “siege of Imphal” Britain’s “greatest battle,” ahead of the more celebrated ones of D-Day and Waterloo.
In the state, too, museums and cemeteries are constant reminders of the wins – and the losses. With 12,500 lives lost, one British veteran said at the time, “The smell of death was everywhere.”
The Moreh explosion is not just a stark reminder of the war, but reiterates the adage that most wars never really end. In this case, even though the war has long ended, its remnants continue to ravage lives.
“In many parts of Manipur, people have a long tradition of discovering explosives that go back to World War II,” said Singh, who runs World War II Imphal Campaign Foundation with co-founder Yumnam Rajeshwor Singh, and documents relics, artefacts and remains dating back to 1944. “In many cases, they repurpose these to make crude bombs for fishing, or melt the outer shells to make tools.”
“In other cases, we hear of these bombs going off if people tinkered with them. Searching for these bombs and cutting them open has been a part of their lives for a long time,” he added.
Singh received videos of the aftermath of the Moreh explosion, where certain tools were found next to the Gangte brothers. “They probably were trying to cut it open,” he said.
The Moreh bomb was just one of over a hundred such “antique” ones that were accidentally discovered in recent times. In November 2020, at least 122 WWII-era bombs were recovered in excavations at a building construction site in the area. In 2017, 18 bombs and 600 bullets were found in the same town.
The WWII battles are a big part of Manipuri collective memory, and hordes of tourists visit its cemeteries and museums every year. Relic diggers have been collecting wartime artefacts, arms ammunition, and even warplane engines from the area for nearly two decades.
Singh said everyone knows of the famous battles fought on his land, but nobody knows where it all happened. “While growing up, I knew there’s a big treasure trove lying in our backyards waiting to be discovered.”
The son of an Indian Army officer, Singh first trained for engineering, but left his job seven years ago to do WWII research full time. Singh and Yumnam, along with their team, started off with researching archives and interviewing war veterans. The discoveries have helped them piece the forgotten history together.
When he heard the news about the bomb in Moreh last week, Singh traced it back to a chapter in the Imphal war when an Indian division under the Allied army was falling back as the Japanese advanced. “This was when the soldiers hurriedly buried these explosives in the ground,” said Singh. “Now, these bombs are scattered everywhere, and people built their homes over them without knowing.”
The group has 15 people in its core team and several volunteers across Manipur. Many of the team members, including the founders, know how to handle explosives. “Some of these bombs are unstable, but if you know the tricks, it’s okay,” said Singh, who said he learnt how to handle bombs on the job, and via training with the police. The team also works closely with the state police and bomb disposal squads to defuse unstable bombs.
In Imphal, the WWII battle lasted nearly five months, which means that large tracts of the former battlefield continue to turn up surprises at every expedition. “From hand grenades and mortars to tanks, field guns and aerial bombs, we’ve found them all,” said Singh.
A lot of the recovered bombs were found to be manufactured in Indian ammunition-making factories. “There are so many incidents of fatalities and destruction from them. So, sometimes, the bomb squads deem it safe to just bury the bombs back into the ground in a safer location,” said Singh.
The group also runs another mission to dig out the remains of soldiers who lost their lives during the war. For these excavations, the team travels across the Manipur countryside upon the request of people from the U.K. and Japan who have lost family members in the battle here.
In 2017, the team collaborated with the Japan Association for Recovery and Repatriation of War Casualties to look for Japanese soldiers’ remains. Over the years, they unearthed a few, but the association maintains there are still thousands of undiscovered ones out there. They also found personal belongings of soldiers like photos of loved ones and a water bottle that still had water in it.
“We don’t take sides in this process,” said Singh, who is also working on a book based on his research. “We’re not glorifying war or violence. But Manipur was greatly impacted by the war, and it’s important we keep these histories alive.”
Despite the discoveries being so commonplace, Singh said that locals – who often turn to them whenever they find relics in their backyard – still get shocked at what they find.
“Nobody knows where exactly the battles were fought, apart from village elders or veterans,” said Singh. “But the more we discover things, the more people are finding out about the war. It’s amazing how history keeps surprising us all.”
Follow Pallavi Pundir on Twitter.
