Thursday, May 03, 2007

The Gurkhas by Byron Farwell

The Gurkhas by Byron Farwell describes the history of these mercenaries from Nepal. The book was published in 1987.

the history of the units is laid out with particular reference to their operations in the first and second world wars. For instance in the Middle East and France in the first world war, North Africa Burma and Italy in the second. There's also coverage of their participation in the various colonial wars during the 19th century and post-1945 operations such as in the Malayan emergency and Falklands.

The confusing and tragic independence of India and Pakistan is mentioned as well as the problems in transferring some of the Gurkhas to Indian and Pakistani control.

Unfortunately there are no endnotes but there is a bibliography of sources as well as a discussion of the different tribes and unit designations.

Highly recommended!

Is available through Abebooks.

70 million book, 1 click away

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