Allan Mallinson served for thirty-five years in the army. The thirteenth of his Matthew Hervey novels, The Passage to India, was published in May. His 1914: Fight the Good Fight: Britain, the Army, and the Coming of the First World War (2013) was runner-up for the Duke of Westminster Gold Medal, and won the Army Book of the Year Award. Too Important for the Generals: How Britain Nearly Lost the First World War, a provocative critique of the allied high command, was published in 2016. He is The Times chronicler of the First World War. A compilation of his monthly Times narratives, Fight to the Finish, is published in October.