We make and we break. They were the forward scouts, the mine clearers, the bridge builders, and the tunnel rats. They were frequently not just on the front line, but right at the sharp end of the action. They were the legendary Aussie Sappers, the army engineers, who were literally everywhere in the fighting against the Vietcong. This special breed of soldier lived hard and played hard. They were there at the beginning of the war; they were also among the last to leave. And along the way, they fought with their mates in the infantry and in the tanks to bear the brunt of the Vietcong's revenge. To the rest of the world, Vietnam was a conflict of ideologies. On the ground it was a battle of wits and the sappers were at the forefront. This is their story.
The memoirs of Sir James Willcocks stand apart from other diaries and recountings of senior British Officers on the Western Front during the First World War; although a British Gentleman, his heart had long been taken by charms of India. Willcocks was a long serving officer in the Indian Army and led his men all the way from Nepal, Scinde, the Punjab and Bengal to the mud and blood of the trenches in Northern France and Belgium. The fighting prowess and sacrifice of these brave Indian soldiers has often been forgotten tale, but their commanding General tells of their efforts and victories with justified pride throughout his work which covers the early months of the war until his resignation in late 1915. The Indian Corps was heavily engaged throughout at la Bassée, Messines, Armentières, Neuve Chapelle, Aubers Ridge and Festubert and finally at the brutal blood-letting during the battle of Loos.
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