In May, the brigade was ordered to hold a position code-named 'Blackpool' near Mogaung in northern Burma. On the death of General Orde Wingate on 24 April, Lentaigne became the Chindits' overall commander and Masters commanded the main body of 111 Brigade. From March 1944, the brigade served behind the Japanese lines in Burma.

Even though they later married, there was something of a scandal at the time.Īfter passing the Staff College, Masters next served as brigade major in the 114th Indian Infantry Brigade before being 'poached' by Joe Lentaigne, another officer from the 4th Gurkhas, to be brigade major in 111th Indian Infantry Brigade, a Chindit formation. Here he met the wife of a fellow officer and they began an affair. In early 1942, he attended the Indian Army's Staff College at Quetta. Masters subsequently served in Iraq, Syria, and Persia with the battalion, before being briefly seconded as a staff officer in a Line of Communications HQ. During the Second World War his battalion was sent to Basra in Iraq, during the brief Anglo-Iraqi War. In early 1939, he was appointed the Adjutant of the 2nd battalion of the 4th Gurkhas. He later commented that whatever rank and decorations he was awarded, he was always known to the Gurkhas as 'The Sahib who shot the Bakloh tiger'. In 1938, he organised a hunt for a leopard reported to be roaming the depot at Bakloh, only to find himself facing a full-grown tiger (which killed one of the Gurkhas acting as beaters). He saw service on the North-West Frontier with the 2nd battalion of the regiment, and was rapidly given a variety of appointments within the battalion and the regimental depot. On graduating from Sandhurst in 1933, he was seconded to the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DCLI) for a year before applying to serve with the 4th Prince of Wales's Own Gurkha Rifles. He was educated at Wellington and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Masters was the son of a regular soldier, a lieutenant-colonel whose family had a long tradition of service in the British Indian Army. He also wrote three volumes of autobiography, which were positively received by critics. Masters is principally known for his historical novels set in India, notably Bhowani Junction, which was turned into a successful film. In World War II, he served with the Chindits behind enemy lines in Burma, and became the GSO1 (chief staff officer) of the 19th Indian Infantry Division. Lieutenant Colonel John Masters, DSO, OBE (26 October 1914 – ) was a British novelist and regular officer of the Indian Army.

John masters the road past mandalay