This monumental work covers all aspects of India's contribution to the Allied cause between 1939 and 1945. The narrative is packed with a huge amount of information regarding even the smallest fighting, logistical and medical units and sub-units, and yet it remains eminently readable throughout.

After the end of World War II, the Government of India formed a Historical Division in the Ministry of Defence. This office was tasked to produce History of the Second World War, with special reference to the part played by soldiers of the British Indian Army, based on the official war diaries, reports and other documents held by the Division, as well as in consultation with a few actual participants.

The Retreat from Burma narrates the circumstances under which Burma was lost to the Japanese in 1942. In the main, however, it is an account of the fighting of the troops who struggled against all odds and saved themselves from the prospect of extermination which confronted them. The retreating Indians finally settled on the eastern border in Kohima-Imphal region. The early reverses, however, encouraged the Indian Army to make vigorous preparations to fight the Japanese successfully.