Then a few days later, disaster struck when one of the officers, Captain John Gibson, triggered a booby trap. Shrapnel from the blast tore into him, leaving 20 wounds stretching from his left shoulder down to his left heel. Adding to their woes, it was clear the Japanese had launched a major offensive against India, and Allied forces were retreating fast. Even their experienced commander, Major Edgar Peacock, a man who had lived in the Burmese jungles for 18 years before the war, was suffering from severe heat stroke. Nerves were fraying as the men faced the grim reality of...