Tigers, Mountains and Pagodas

The story of a special and adventurous life

Stanley C Robbins, Philip Robins

• Publisher: Grosvenor House Publishing
• Year: 2023
• ISBN:
  9781803815152
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military Biographies
• Index: History

Tigers, Mountains and PagodasThe story of a special and adventurous lifeAt the end of 1923 Stanley Robins passed out of Sandhurst as a prize-winning cadet. He was commissioned into the North Staffordshire regiment, at the time based in British India. Stanley was "thrilled" at this posting as he saw army service in India as the gateway to a "special and adventurous life"; and so it turned out to be.In India Stanley became an expert and highly knowledgeable big game hunter, especially of tigers, including man-eaters and gained a deep affinity with the Indian Jungle and its wildlife. He became a lifelong friend of Jim Corbett; the greatest of the big game hunters. Like Jim he was to be an advocate for wildlife conservation and condemned post World War II hunting methods, especially in Africa.Army postings sent Stanley to the dangerous and volatile North-West Frontier, where "no man's life was safe". He was decorated for gallantry in one of the hardest fought operations on the Frontier. Despite the dangers of nearly constant action against the war-like border tribes he gained a deep knowledge of its people, the country and the culture.Whenever military postings allowed he was keen to visit and learn about the India that had put a "spell" on him; its varied peoples, culture and history and to visit the areas of India rarely seen by most Europeans.As international tensions grew in the late 1930s Stanley was transferred to what became the 14h Army in Burma, playing a vital part in the Allied fighting withdrawal from the "Land of Pagodas" and was decorated for his distinguished service. He was the last man out of Rangoon and the first through the Taukkyan Roadblock, by which the Japanese army hoped to trap Allied forces in Burma, in their lightning campaign.During the Allied liberation of Burma Stanley was personally selected by General Slim, commander of the 14th Army, to ensure effective, critical and growing logistical support for Allied forces, US, Chinese and British, in their advance against the Japanese.At Indian independence Stanley's actions and decisions on that day prevented what might have been a massacre of Europeans and loyal Indian Army soldiers at Nagpur.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Editor’s Note
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Early Days and Life at Sandhurst
• Chapter 2 A Subaltern in India
• Chapter 3 The Shimla Hills and Calcutta
• Chapter 4 Tiger Shooting in 1927
• Chapter 5 Tales of Chowringhee (Life in Calcutta), Marriage to Edna
• Chapter 6 There’s a regiment a-comin’ down the Grand Trunk Road
• Chapter 7 The Honeymoon Tiger
• Chapter 8 Heading towards the Khyber
• Chapter 9 Motoring across a Continent
• Chapter 10 Belzona
• Chapter 11 Peshawar and the Loot of Kabul
• Chapter 12 Kashmir 1930
• Chapter 13 Mountain Interlude
• Chapter 14 Back to Tiger Land
• Chapter 15 The Phantom Mughals
• Chapter 16 The Tiger that got away
• Chapter 17 Return to India
• Chapter 18 The Wild Borderlands
• Chapter 19 Kashmir 1936
• Chapter 20 The Faqir of Ipi [Haji Mirzali Khan]
• Chapter 21 War in the Mountains
• Chapter 22 On the Road to Mandalay
• Chapter 23 The Land of Pagodas
• Chapter 24 Lords of the Sunset
• Chapter 25 Golden Sands and Tropic Seas
• Chapter 26 The Japanese Strike and Rangoon is Ravished
• Chapter 27 The Japanese Advance in Burma
• Chapter 28 The Long Retreat Begins
• Chapter 29 The Last Days in Northern Burma
• Chapter 30 From Mandalay to Manipur
• Chapter 31 The End of the Retreat
• Chapter 32 The Paradise on Earth
• Chapter 33 Back in Harness
• Chapter 34 Lifeline to China
• Chapter 35 The World’s Greatest View
• Chapter 36 England’s Shores Once More
• Chapter 37 The Last Days in India and the End of the Raj
• Appendix A Lt. Col. S.C. Robins, Military Honours, Decorations and Medals
• Appendix B Lt. Col. S.C. Robins, Record of Service
• Appendix C Lt. Col. S.C. Robins, Shikar Club entry (1974) of big game hunting
• Appendix D Administrative Map of India Prior to 15th August 1947
• Appendix E Outline Map of Waziristan in 1930s
• Appendix F Outline Map of Burma 1941
• Appendix G Japanese Advance in Burma, 20 January – 19 March 1942
• Copyright