Flight By Elephant: The Untold Story of World War II’s Most Daring Jungle Rescue 9780007468805, 0007468806
The incredible story of Gyles Mackrell and his Burmese, elephant-assisted wartime rescue mission.
496 131 10MB
English Pages 320 [344] Year 2013
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PALM BEACH COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM
R00520 28957
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In 1942 the Japanese invaded the British colony of Burma. Thousands of soldiers and civilians were forced to flee, hindered by the bombing of crucial ports. Those left behind travelled on foot, through the northern jungles to the safety of Assam, India. Many did not make it. A variety of dangerous routes were attempted, with a small minority braving the most treacherous - the Chaukan Pass; an insect- and leech-infested ‘green hell’ of nearimpenetrable forest, sheer drops and torrential rivers. Step forward Gyles Mackrell. A decorated veteran of the Royal Flying Corps, Mackrell was a tea plantation overseer in his mid-fifties, with a taste for adventure. Hearing that the Chaukan party was stranded by the monsoon, he knew of only one way to save the fever-weakened and starving refugees. ‘I collected some elephants,’ he wrote and with the aid of these twenty animals and their mahouts, Mackrell undertook a rescue mission given no chance of success by the authorities. Pieced together from the diaries of those involved, this overlooked tale of wartime heroism is now retold by Andrew Martin as a suspenseful adventure. Flight by Elephant is an incredible story of war and survival, in which a herd of elephants played a starring role.
£16.99
Date: 3/26/14 940.5425 MAR Martin, Andrew, Flight by elephant: the untold story of World War Two's
PALM BEACH COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM 3650 Summit Boulevard West Palm Beach, FL 33406-4198
FLIGHT BY ELEPHANT
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FLIGHT BY ELEPHANT The Untold Story of World War Two's Most Daring Jungle Rescue