With the Madras European Regiment in Burma. The British Empire's first Jungle war. This is a fascinating book. It is the first-hand account of an officer of the Madras European Regiment of the Honourable East India Company's Army - which is a rarity in itself. It concerns the First Burma War - a subject of much interest to students of Indian military history, about which virtually nothing is currently available. The war was a bloody and savage business of pitched battles, ambushes, sieges and the storming of timber stockades; it was a war of gunboats against war canoes - and always there was the impenetrable, nightmare jungle, a formidable opponent in its own right. Butler's text is supplemented by a history of the Indian Army at this time to provide background and context to this remarkable account.