Customer Reviews

Road Past Mandalay (Cassell Military Paperbacks)

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John Master's second volume in his autobiography details his time during WWII as a British officer in the Indian Army. Masters--an eloquent writer with keen insight--spent most of the war as a staff officer, with time in command of one of the Chindit Brigades. Masters provides details on what it takes to be a staff officer, but also to command high-quality troops under extremely difficult conditions. Pay particular attention to the part of the book where Masters writes about ordering the mercy killing of several of his troops. Masters was forced to make a horrifically difficult decision, and would have to live with it for the rest of his life.

This is a captivating and superbly written World War II chronicle that tells a remarkable story of how well trained soldiers from countries/cultures throughout the British Empire learned to work together as a tight knit team and fought under extreme conditions to defeat a ruthless enemy. One dimension of this book is about the intricacies and nature of leadership and how one leads to motivate individuals and organizations to do the impossible and win. These same skills can be applied to today's war time challenges and corporate global competitiion.

This story of British irregular forces in Burma is a great follow-on to the story started in Bugles and a Tiger. I highly recommend them to any students/those interested in military history