Exodus Burma: The British Escape Through the Jungles of Death 1942

In 1942 the battle-hardened troops of the Japanese Army overran Burma with frightening speed, sweeping a tide of refugees before them. For five months British and Indian troops tried to stem the invasion, but with inadequate equipment and numbers they were no match for the enemy. This unexpected invasion triggered an exodus of half a million people who abandoned their homes and set off on foot for India. From all sectors of society, the mass of people was ill equipped and ill prepared for such a journey and many thousands died of disease, starvation and exhaustion, while the survivors had to live plagued by their memories. For the first time using first- person accounts, author Felicity Goodall retraces the routes taken by the refugees and provides a unique perspective on what it is to be part of such an exodus. AUTHOR: Felicity Goodall is a writer and broadcaster, and the author of several popular history books. She is particularly interested in the human cost of war, and has written on conscientious objection in the First and Second World Wars, as well as the Home Front in 1939 45. She has also written and directed a Radio 4 play about the first woman to be accredited as a war correspondent by the British Army. SELLING POINTS: . Updated with a new intro and outro, as well as previously forbidden, unpublished images . Timely publication 75 years after the exodus of 1942 43 . The definitive, complete story of the military and civilian British escape from Burma . Includes the incredible tale of refugees being rescued on a herd of elephants . Over 500,000 refugees fled Burma, one of the only times in history the British have been refugees en masse . Ties into current affairs given the refugee crisis . Author very active 130 b/w illustrations