MIST ON THE RICE-FIELDS: A Soldier's Story of the Burma Campaign 1943 - 1045 and Korean War 1950-51

This is the story of a young officer in the Indian Army who commanded a company in the Burma Campaign of 1943 to 1945. It covers the part played by the author and his unit in the long campaign to recover Burma, starting with the fierce close-quarter fighting in the jungles and rice-fields in the Arakan in which the Japanese suffered their first major defeat. The story moves on to Kohima which was the scene of some of the bitterest fighting in the Burma War, and which saved India. For the author, however, the Burma War was a prelude to the bitter campaign in Korea (1950-51), where the author commanded a company of the Middlesex Regiment in the harsh conditions of extreme cold and snow, as part of the Commonwealth Brigade fighting in close co-operation with the Americans. [Elib]

The author served in two hard-fought campaigns in Asia. From 1943 to 1945 he was an officer in the British-led Indian Army. Shipster served with the 7/2nd Punjab Regiment in the Burma theater of World War II. The Punjabis fought in the fierce close-quarters actions at Arakan and Kohima, and the final advance to Mandalay and Rangoon.

Soldiering had undergone many changes in the five short years before the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. India was now independent and the last British officers and advisors were gone. Shipster had become a company commander in the Middlesex Regiment, a British army unit with a reputation as skilled machine-gunners. The Middlesex were sent from Hong Kong to Korea on short notice to aid U.S. and South Korean forces. The steaming jungles of Shipster's past experience were now replaced by two years of fighting, often in bitter cold, over a series of bleak hills.

The author served in two hard-fought campaigns in Asia. From 1943 to 1945 he was an officer in the British-led Indian Army. Shipster served with the 7/2nd Punjab Regiment in the Burma theater of World War II. The Punjabis fought in the fierce close-quarters actions at Arakan and Kohima, and the final advance to Mandalay and Rangoon. Soldiering had undergone many changes in the five short years before the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. India was now independent and the last British officers and advisors were gone. Shipster had become a company commander in the Middlesex Regiment, a British army unit with a reputation as skilled machine-gunners. The Middlesex were sent from Hong Kong to Korea on short notice to aid U.S. and South Korean forces. The steaming jungles of Shipster's past experience were now replaced by two years of fighting, often in bitter cold, over a series of bleak hills.