Trial by Battle

Imperial War Museum Wartime Classics

By: David Piper

Narrated by: Richard Burnip

October 1941. Twenty-one-year-old Alan Mart is posted to India and taken under the wing of the dogmatic, overbearing Acting-Captain Sam Holl. Following the Japanese advance on Singapore, the men are deployed to Malaya. What follows is a quietly shattering and searingly authentic depiction of the claustrophobia of jungle warfare and the indiscriminate nature of conflict.

Based on David Piper's own wartime experience in South East Asia, this new edition of a 1959 classic includes a contextual introduction from IWM which sheds new light on the dramatic true events that so influenced its author.

©2019 David Piper, Imperial War Museums (P)2019 Headline Publishing Group Ltd

Excellent story, Perfect narrator

This book was a concise but very clear story of a young man's wartime experience. This book is based on David Piper's wartime experiences in Southeast Asia. Alan Mart is a young Second Lieutenant, unsure of himself and being thrust into war with lightening speed. But it's human nature at its core, bouncing between fear, bravado, and confusion all in the space of a few paragraphs. It's a compelling most compelling listen. And it's clear without knowing beforehand the author knows what he is writing about.