Riding to war

By Gerald Uloth

Subjects: First World War Campaigns-Persian Afghan border, First World War, First World War-personal narrative, 28th Light Cavalry Indian Army

Description: This book is about a First World War Campaign far from Europe but of considerable importance-- the prevention of German and Turkish forces from infiltrating Afghanistan and thence India to open a new theatre of war. "It is about the daily life from 1915 to 1920 of an officer of the 28th Light Cavalry of the Indian Army who rode from India to Russia and back and up and down the Persian - Afghan border, mostly on horse-back but also by camel and Model T Ford van. The book is based on weekly letters which he wrote to his mother and which she had the wisdom to save. From these he was able to compile, many years later, descriptions of the campaigns, the people and the country over five years of active service. It is a literary rarity, combining the freshness of the instant descriptions made by the writer as a young man in his twenties with the perspective of the same author fifty years on. The great distances covered on horse and camel amply justify the title 'Riding to War' and to quote General Sir Peter de la Billière in his Foreword: "it will give great pleasure to a variety of readers: those whose interest lies with the former Indian Army of the days of the Raj and how it operated through the officers and men in its service: those curious to know what it is really like to travel immense distances in remote places on the back of a horse or camel: those of us - and there are many - interested in a region of the world that since this book was written has become so geo-politically significant." Quoting from a seller description on AbeBooks from Charles Bossom, Ely, Cambs, United Kingdom.