A Face Like a Chicken's Backside: An Unconventional Soldier in South East Asia, 1948-71

In almost forty years in Asia without a home posting, British officer John Cross spent ten of them ‘under the jungle canopy’. He amassed a wealth of experience fighting against Communist Revolutionary Warfare, and training others to do so. As a result he was called upon to work in many formidable situations, and twice found himself on an army short—list of one for difficult tasks.

Cross focuses on five stages in his extraordinary army career. He spent eight years as a company commander with ...