Gurkha Odyssey

It is 1814 and the Bengal Army of the Honourable East India Company is at war with a marauding Nepal. It is here that the British first encounter the martial spirit of an indomitable foe - the Gurkha hillman from that mountainous independent land. Impressed by their fighting qualities and with the end of hostilities in sight the Company begins to recruit them into their own ranks. Since then these light-hearted and gallant soldiers have campaigned wherever the British Army has served - from the North-West Frontier of India through two World Wars to the more contemporary battlefields of the Falkland Islands and Afghanistan's Helmand Province, with well over one hundred battle honours to their name and at a cost of many thousands of casualties. Seen through the prism of his own Regiment and service, General Duffell vividly recounts some of the history, character and spirit of these loyal and dedicated soldiers as well as his personal experience of campaigning with them. He has commanded Gurkha soldiers at every level from Subaltern to General while facing both operational and peacetime challenges. His service includes command of his Regiment and a Gurkha Brigade, as Major General of the Gurkha Brigade and as Colonel of his Regiment. He knows Nepal and its language well and has toured his Regiment's historic battlefields in India and France. AUTHOR: Lieutenant General Sir Peter Duffell KBE CBE MC was commissioned into the 2nd Gurkha Rifles in 1960. As a young company commander, he was awarded the Military Cross leading his Gurkhas in clandestine operations against Indonesia in the 60s. As the General Commanding British Forces in Hong Kong between 1989 and 1992 he served there during a challenging period for the Territory, before becoming the British Army s Inspector General. On retirement he worked for 20 years for an American company in London, New York, Beijing and Moscow. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and a Trustee of the Foyle Foundation, which supports the Arts. For several years he was a member of the Advisory Board of the School of Oriental and African Studies. He has lectured widely on the Gurkha soldier and Hong Kong