Gurkha

Better to Die than Live a Coward: My Life in the Gurkhas

By: Captain Kailash Limbu

Narrated by: Homer Todiwala

In the summer of 2006, Colour-Sargeant Kailash Limbu's platoon was sent to relieve and occupy a police compound in the town of Now Zad in Helmand. He was told to prepare for a 48-hour operation.

In the end he and his men were under siege for 31 days - one of the longest such sieges in the whole of the Afghan campaign. Kailash Limbu recalls the terrifying and exciting details of those 31 days - in which they killed an estimated 100 Taliban fighters - and intersperses them with the story of his own life as a villager from the Himalayas. He grew up in a place without roads or electricity and didn't see a car until he was 15.

Kailash's descriptions of Gurkha training and rituals - including how to use the lethal Kukri knife - are eye-opening and fascinating. They combine with the story of his time in Helmand to create a unique account of one man's life as a Gurkha.

©2016 Kailash Limbu (P)2016 Hachette Audio UK

Critic reviews

"I was completely bowled over by Kailash's book and read it with a beating heart and dry mouth. I felt as though I was at his side, hearing the shells and bullets, enjoying the jokes and listening in the scary dead of night. The skill with which he has included his childhood and training is immense, always discovered with ease in the narrative: it actually felt as though I was watching, was IN a film with him. It brought me nearer than I have ever been not only to the mind of the universal soldier but to a hill boy of Nepal and a hugely impressive Gurkha. I raced through it and couldn't put it down: it reads like a thriller. If you want to know anything about the Gurkhas, read this book, and be prepared for a thrilling and dangerous trip." (Joanna Lumley)

outstanding

this was a great book with a great performance by the narrator. get it.

Britsh Mercenary Soldiers From Nepal

This was a very interesting and well-written book. I have always been curious about them and their training. This story is about how a person from Nepal who applies to get into the British Gurka selection leading up to becoming a Gurka. Kailash Limbu chronicles his combat against the enemy in Afghanistan.
I was hoping to find something about the Gurka fighting the Japanese during WW II, but this book is strictly a modern work. I found it interesting that as Kailash Limbu was being accepted into the Gurkas that he had received a number of marriage proposals. I assume this has something to do with the money should they die while in the Gurkas or received a retirement. I had once read that when a Gurka dies in the service of the British Crown, their family would receive $100,000.00. So there must be some motivation. And probably today it must be a larger sum.
My impression has been that they were shock troops, people who fight their way in like Army Rangers or US Marines. I could see they are a highly disciplined, highly trained, and highly reliable fighting force.
When the British send them in, the British mean business.

RECOMMEND

Interesting for people who have heard about the Gurkhas and want to learn more about these amazing soldiers. It was nice to hear the author describe Tibet and parts of his childhood. The narrator mr. Homer Topiwala was the right person for this book. Thank you Audible for making this book available to us, JK

Must read for a non US military perspective in the Afghan war.

This book really brings you into the Gurkha culture, history and current roll in modern war. Totally worth your time.