Sound the Retreat by Simon Raven

"In 'Sound the Retreat", Simon Raven details the hectic death throes of the Indian Empire, when tradition and honor were giving way to riot, nationalism, and hatred. The second part of Simon Raven's acclaimed Alms for Oblivion series begins in 1945, at the end of World War II. British colonial rule in India is slowly disintegrating. Peter Morrison arrives at the Officer Training School as one of a batch of one hundred Indian Army Infantry Cadets during turbulent times, just as the army leadership is turned over to the Indians. With the Empire's demise at hand, only a few of the cadets will ever be officers in India or anywhere in the Far East."