Flight by elephant : the untold story of World War Two's most daring jungle rescue
Martin, Andrew, 1962-2013
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The incredible story of Gyles Mackrell and his Burmese, elephant-assisted wartime rescue mission. In the summer of 1942, Gyles Mackrell - a decorated First World War pilot and tea plantation overseer, performed a series of heroic rescues in the hellish jungles of Japanese-occupied Burma - with the aid of twenty elephants. At the age of 53, Mackrell went into the 'green hell' of the Chaukan Pass on the border of North Burma and Assam. Here, Mackrell and a team of elephant riders rescued Indian army soldiers, British civilians and their Indian servants, from the pursuing Japanese, directing the elephants through jungle passes and raging rivers, and territory infested with sand flies, mosquitoes and innumerable leeches. Those he saved were all on the point of death from starvation or fever: that summer was spent in a fight against time. Now in Andrew Martin's hands this never-before-told tale of heroics is given the shape of a suspenseful adventure, a wartime rescue whose facts are the stuff of fiction. 'Flight By Elephant' is a gripping chronicle of war and survival, starring everyone's favourite animal - the powerful, exotic and hugely loveable elephant.
Main title:
Author:
Imprint:
London : Fourth Estate, 2013.
Collation:
xiv, 322 p. : maps ; 23 cm.
Notes:
Includes index.Bibliography: p. 309-310.
Contents:
Machine generated contents note: Millar and Leyden: The Men Without Elephants -- The Languorous Dream -- The Dapha River -- The Red-Hot Buddhas -- The Man in the River -- Beyond Mandalay -- The Railway Party -- The `Chaukan Club' Sets Off -- The Footprint -- The Man With Elephants -- The Boy Who Took Acidalia trigeminata -- Sir John Meets the Commandos -- The Wizard's Domain -- A Bad Start for Mackrell -- War And Tea (Part One) -- War And Tea (Part Two) -- Captain Wilson Sets Out -- Elephant Trouble for Ma ckrell -- Mackrell Reaches the Dapha River -- Sir John Encounters His Principal Enemy -- The Man in Sunglasses -- Mackrell Consolidates at the Dapha River -- Captain Wilson Arrives at the Dapha -- Havildar Iman Sing -- The Commandos Despair of Reaching the Dapha -- Grand Tiffins and the Squits -- The Drop -- Momentous Decisions -- Mackrell Returns Temporarily to Civilization -- Mackrell in Shillong and Calcutta -- The Society of Tough Guys --Contents note continued: A Face Like Wood: Dharramsing Decides -- A Delivery of Mail -- A Long Wait -- Subsequendy (Part One) -- Subsequently (Part Two) -- Late Period Mackrell.
ISBN:
0007461526 (hbk)
Dewey class:
940.542591
Language:
English
Subject:
BRN:
16645