Book review: Forgotten Voice of Burma

Published on Friday 17 September 2010 20:07

Forgotten Voices of Burma **** BY JULIAN THOMPSON (Ebury, £7.99) HHHH

This is the story of the Burma Campaign – the war between the British and Japanese in the Second World War. It's told using interviews with British soldiers. There is heat and dust, humidity, jungle and foot rot. There is the surprising moment when soldiers first see their foes. "I killed the chap," says one. Men inside a tank are "roasted". There are lice. A group of soldiers shoot, and eat, a buffalo. They show great respect for the Japanese, whom they see as the fiercer fighters. Compelling.