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The Road Past Mandalay

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The Road Past Mandalay

By: John Masters
Narrated by: Roger Davis
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About this listen

The second part of the best-selling novelist's dramatic autobiography about his time in the Gurkhas during the Second World War.

This is the second part of John Masters's autobiography: how he fought with his Gurkha regiment during World War II until his promotion to command one of the Chindit columns behind enemy lines in Burma.

Written by a best-selling novelist at the height of his powers, it is an exceptionally moving story that culminates in him having to personally shoot a number of wounded British soldiers who cannot be evacuated before their position is overrun by the Japanese. It is an uncomfortable reminder that Churchill's obsession with 'special forces' squandered thousands of Allied lives in operations that owed more to public relations than strategic calculation.

This military and moral odyssey is one of the greatest of World War II frontline memoirs.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 John Masters (P)2023 Weidenfeld & Nicolson Armed Forces Military Military & War Special & Elite Forces World War II War
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Right, so, let me begin this by saying that this is a brilliant and honest view of the British Empires Indian Army at war, most see the Indians of this time as an oppressed entity under the British boot, so be prepared to be shocked, because that wasn't entirely the case, many Indian, Gurkha, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, fought proudly in the British army uniform, they loved their British officers and their officers loved them, some people will find ways to argue with this man's point of view, but please let me remind you, this man was there, living it, so instead of judging the old ideas and view of 1933 to 1946 by the standards of 2025 perhaps some of us could get of our g
high horse, admit times were different, the British weren't evil they were just living in the time they found themselves in and doing their best by the standards of their time! I can guarantee that if you were to remember these things and accept that those men that so many argue over Aretha ones who laid the road to the changes of opinions we've seen, and also remember that we all need to be grateful that the British Empire existed at that time, because if it hadn't and there was no large powerful force, spread across the globe able to face Hitler and carry on alone against such an unstoppable Nazi force, the war would have ended in 1940 and we'd be living in a different world today! one much worse.. Buy the book, enjoy it, try to not think so much and you won't be disappointed..

And this is where the "but" comes in, this book is brilliant, it covers the huge change in military ideas that the Chindits first thought of and perfected, it attracted the types of leaders who were able to think outside the box, think beyond their military training and Mr Masters mentions in this book a few of those brilliant men, regardless of the controversy that befell some of them, their war record is still amazing and they also wrote brilliant books, books better and more exciting than Mr Master, and even the ones that aren't better still cover part of the Chindit campaign that Masters does not, such as 16 Brigade and 77 Brigade, who fought huge battles against the Japanese, Bernard Fergussons Beyond the Chindwin and Mike Calverts Prisoners of Hope both deserve to be released by Audible, Frank Baines A Chindit Affair is another, all these men released their own stories about their Chindit adventures and all were men Jack Masters looked up to or loved, and if Mr Masters was an exceptional man, what must these men have been to be admired by him? I hope Audible does the right thing and gets these men's stories narrated, God knows I have sent Audible Content Requests enough emails and have even spoken to Al Murray about narrating one of them, which he would do, so come on Audible, do the right thing, get Jack Masters comrades books read! We promise to remember them every year after all.. Let's practice what we preach.

I adore this book, but..

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I thoroughly enjoyed this biographical account but the voice and pace took a little getting used to, including increasing narration speed to x1.15.

Fascinating story, narrator is a little robotic

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