WIGNALL, Sydney.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Prisoner in Red Tibet. First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, "To: Tom and Jeanne Wrighton, with sincere good wishes from Syd Wignall." Wignall (1922-2012) led the 1955 Welsh expedition to the summit of Tibet's Gurla Mandhata, during which he secretly spied for the Indian Army. Captured by Chinese forces, he was imprisoned for two months."In what was then the pre-satellite age, Wignall managed to accurately estimate the strength of the secret Chinese army base at Jitkot, 17 miles from Tklakot close to the Nepal border. More importantly he was able to gauge that China's strategic highway from Lhasa would reach Tklakot within the next two years. And from General Chang [Kuo-hua] he heard how Beijing laid claim to India's Aksai Chin and NEFA regions, as well as parts of Nepal, Kashmir, all of Sikkim, all of Bhutan and parts of northern Burma" (Tribune India).

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