Flight by elephant
Subtitle: the untold story of World War II's most daring jungle rescue
By: Andrew Martin
Edition: Large print edition.
Series: Isis large print; Grantchester -- bk. 2
Publisher: Isis
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Oxford
Language: eng
Number of pages: 352
ISBN-13: 9780753153444
Subjects: World War, 1939-1945; Campaigns; Animals; War use; History; Elephants; Military campaigns
Description: 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 20 elephants. At the age of 53, Mackrell went into 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.
Notes: Adult.