The story begins with soldiers of the British Indian Army fighting a heroic rearguard action against the invading Japanese down the Malaysian peninsula, loyally holding out until the fall of Singapore, and ends with many of these same soldiers defeated in their effort to invade India as allies of Japan. Peter Ward Fay intertwines powerful descriptions of military action with a unique insight into how the INA was formed and its role in the broader struggle for Indian Independence. The author incorporates the personal reminiscences of Prem Sahgal, a senior officer in the INA, and Lakshmi Swaminathan Sahgal, leader of its women's regiment, to help the reader understand the motivations of those who took part. Their experiences offer an engagingly personal element to the political and military history of the Indian struggle for Independence.