The Ravi Lancers

"The Ravi Lancers" (1972) is a novel by John Masters, part of his series of novels portraying the British Raj through the experiences of members of the Savage family.Many of the incidents portrayed are based on the reminiscions of family-members and veterans in his Ghurka regiment.

Plot summary

The story concerns an Indian regiment which is sent to Western Front of the First World War, centers on the conflict developing between the regiment's British commander (a member of the Savage family, though with a different family name) and his Indian second-in-command. The young Indian, originally a naive admirer of the British Empire, increasingly discovers its seamy side and his own Indianess, becoming an ardent Indian nationalist; the British commander, originally liberal, becomes more and more of a tyrannical, paranoid martinet; and the two come to a shattering head-on clash in the very midst of a devastating attack on the German trenches.