First in, last out - J. P Cross

This is an account of two episodes in the unconventional career of John Cross, a retired Lt Col of the Brigade of Ghurkas. After the end of World War II he was one of the "first in" in the counter-insurgency operations against the Vietminh, commanding a battalion of the very Japanese troops he had been sent to disarm. This story provides the backdrop to his return to Indo-China as British Defence Attache to Laos between 1972 and 1976, where he became doyen of the Corps of Attaches, itself a source of intrigue and national rivalry. His mastery of the main languages of the region gave him access to high Laotian political circles.;Cross uses his personal photographs to shed light on the conflict in Laos - a little-known sideshow to the war in Vietnam. His observations - often acerbic and highly uncomplimentary - provide insights into a diplomatic community and a narrative on the course of events in Vientiane, as communist supremacy was asserted over the whole region.