This book is engaging for those wanting to know more about how the British managed to bring a thin veneer of order upon a subcontinent, more successfully than Pakistan and the expeditionary forces of the USSR and USA have been able to do at the turn of the 21st C.
After WWII, John Masters became a very popular author of novels about the latter days of the EIC and the Empire of India, including one about the unsettled position in Indian society of the offspring of Anglo-Indian marriages. This is an autobiography of his career as a subaltern in the Indian Army (1933-1939), beginning with a combat skirmish in the NW Frontier (he is an able novelist!), and then his training in the UK as a cadet. His family had served in India since 1805 and his father was a retired LTC, residing in England on a small pension because he had cashed in half of it to educate his two sons to be gentlemen and officers, there always being places for such in the Empire. Masters considered other services but only the Indian Army paid sufficiently for a low-ranking officer to exist without private means.
Masters wins a position with the 4th Gurkhas who sometimes go into combat in the NW Frontier, but he details well the training of subalterns, of troops, and the society of the camp. The relations among the Indian Army and British regulars are explored as with the Nepalese officers and NCOs and the social life of both the Nepalese and the British exemplified. The Gurkhas are celebrated and honored by Masters.
Although there are several wish list requests, I am giving this copy to my friend (retired USMC NCO) as he will be interested in Masters' thoughts of leading men in skirmishes and patrols. This copy if well worn and would not please our discriminating PBSwap family but I found it well worth reading and thinking about, even though I was only going to read a chapter or two on the subway one afternoon.
After WWII, John Masters became a very popular author of novels about the latter days of the EIC and the Empire of India, including one about the unsettled position in Indian society of the offspring of Anglo-Indian marriages. This is an autobiography of his career as a subaltern in the Indian Army (1933-1939), beginning with a combat skirmish in the NW Frontier (he is an able novelist!), and then his training in the UK as a cadet. His family had served in India since 1805 and his father was a retired LTC, residing in England on a small pension because he had cashed in half of it to educate his two sons to be gentlemen and officers, there always being places for such in the Empire. Masters considered other services but only the Indian Army paid sufficiently for a low-ranking officer to exist without private means.
Masters wins a position with the 4th Gurkhas who sometimes go into combat in the NW Frontier, but he details well the training of subalterns, of troops, and the society of the camp. The relations among the Indian Army and British regulars are explored as with the Nepalese officers and NCOs and the social life of both the Nepalese and the British exemplified. The Gurkhas are celebrated and honored by Masters.
Although there are several wish list requests, I am giving this copy to my friend (retired USMC NCO) as he will be interested in Masters' thoughts of leading men in skirmishes and patrols. This copy if well worn and would not please our discriminating PBSwap family but I found it well worth reading and thinking about, even though I was only going to read a chapter or two on the subway one afternoon.
