The Road Past Mandalay

by John Masters Book 2 in the Masters Autobiography Trilogy series.

First published 1961

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4.6(306)

John Masters’s second memoir carries his military story into the Second World War, from staff and regimental service to the Burma theatre. Serving with Gurkhas and later with the Chindits, he records the physical strain of jungle warfare, the difficulties of command and the complicated relationships between British, Indian, American and Chinese forces fighting Japan.

The central episodes concern the 1944 Chindit campaign, including the isolated strongpoint known as Blackpool and the brutal decisions forced on 111 Brigade during withdrawal. Masters also gives sharply observed portraits of commanders such as Orde Wingate, William Slim and Joseph Stilwell, making the book both a personal account of combat and an examination of leadership under extreme pressure.