Customer Reviews

Quartered Safe Out Here: A Harrowing Tale of World War II

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George MacDonald Fraser, who has written many successful fiction books based on well researched history quite often starring his very British Flashman character, writes a chronicle of his own personal experiences in the final stages of WWII fighting the Japanese as a 19 year old member of a rifle company that is composed of a handful of men run by a sergeant and a corporal. Fraser, who just recently passed away, writes of his first hand experiences in a very descriptive personal way, capturing the various English dialects of his fellow citizen soldiers expressing all their frustrations of life in harsh conditions in the jungle dealing with swamps, leaches, mosquitoes, questionable orders but generally good leadership although sometimes well questioned by the troops. Fraser gives you an excellent description of what it was like in the field, mixed with the real humor from the men who bonded close together, although having their differences with occasional culture clashes; they generally endure their punishment with a delightful sarcasm. And Fraser gives you the full flavor of the different troops in the field such as the courageous Gurkha soldiers, Indians and native tribesmen that fight with the British while also interacting with the tribes inhabiting the Burma jungles often caught between the two sides. Fraser does not write a political correct book and he is quite clear about that, which makes the book a realistic read, he echoes what the troops in the field really felt and he makes no bones how they felt about their enemy. An excellent picture of very young and veteran soldiers in the field that gives you the feel for the tremendous challenges and conditions they faced.

2001's "Quartered Safe Out Here" is George MacDonald Fraser's superbly written and moving recollection of his service wtih the British 14th Army in the Burma Theater at the close of the Second World War.

Fraser was a 19 year-old private, fresh from a "public" school education and assigned to an infantry section full of seasoned veterans in one of the most dangerous combat zones of the war. A journalist and novelist later in life, Fraser didn't get around to writing about his wartime experiences until half a century after the fact. As a result, his narrative is admittedly episodic. Fraser makes an effort to place his often vivid recollections in context provided by the official history, but this account is in no way meant to be a unit or campaign history.

Fraser is that unfortunately rare type, an infantry private with real writing skills. His section mates become living, breathing characters to the reader. His impressions of the jungle, the heat, the monsoons, and combat with the Japanese are heartbreakingly real. The respect of the 14th Army for its commander, future Field Marshal Bill Slim, shines through. Fraser's portraits of British, Indian, and Gurkha soldiers are by turns funny and awe-inspiring in capturing their stoic professionalism under conditions of boredom and terror. His observations of the attitudes and expectations of his fellow soldiers provide some pungent perspective on just how much the world has changed since 1945.

"Quartered Safe Out Here" is very highly recommended as a superbly written and brutally honest account of a forgotten theater of World War II, a reading experience for the casual reader and the student of history alike.

The author of the Flashman chronicles has produced a vivid account of what it was actually like to be a young soldier in Burma in the later stages of World War II. Refreshing & politically incorrect.

Well-written account of fighting in Burma. There is a lot of honesty about war in this book - he doesn't sugarcoat either side. An honest book about a tough fight in a brutal war.

This memoir reads as though you're eavesdropping on a winding, beer-fueled monologue at the local VFW, or whatever the British equivalent is.

George MacDonald Fraser became an accomplished author in the post-war years, but began his adult life as an infantry man in Burma in the final six months of the Second World War. He waited a full half-century before penning his reminiscences. It is highly entertaining, a wonderful portal into common life in the British army, and all told with a curmudgeonly punch, reminding me of Dana Carvey's 1990s SNL character "Grumpy Old Man" (e.g. we marched uphill in the rain under constant mortar fire from the Japs...and we liked it!).

For students of military history - or the Second World War, specifically - "Quartered Safe Out Here" has several things to offer. First, it puts classic, narrative military campaign histories in perspective, with Fraser stressing that when you read "X division encountered slight resistance" it may have been the most eventful and terrifying experience of the entire war for some group of young men who engaged in that resistance. It also shines a light on a forgotten front at a time when most were celebrating the defeat of Hitler and hardly gave the Japanese much thought, further demonstrating that all war experiences at the grunt-level is personal and intimate. It occurred to me that Fraser would probably strongly endorse the arguments made by Jonathan Shay in "Achilles in Vietnam," a penetrating look at small unit dynamics during extending close combat experience.

Second, the author clearly wrote this book, in part at least, as a response to what he sees as contemporary revisionism on the war and specifically the feelings and motivations of those who fought it. Fraser, for one, is unreconstructed - and proudly so. Even fifty years after the fact, he still refers to the Japanese as "Japs" and candidly admits that he doesn't like sitting next them on airplanes and refuses to buy their cars. Moreover, he feels no remorse or pity for anything the Japanese may have suffered during the 14th Army's roll through Burma, and that lack of war guilt extends to the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Fraser seems keen to leave this powerfully written testament for current and future academics to wrestle with the next time they want to reinterpret how "the greatest generation" got on during the horror of the Second World War.

Finally, Fraser writes with rare skill and clarity, especially his ability to capture the tone and vernacular of his unit mates, nearly all of whom were Cumbrian (the author is Scottish and was thus known as "Jock" by the men). I'm writing this review from southern Afghanistan where I'm serving mostly with British soldiers, so this aspect of the book resonated strongly with me. In fact, I'm not sure I would have even been able to read MacDonald's phonetic spelling of the Cumbrian patois if I hadn't been immersed in a sea of working class British accents myself.

Depending on your politics, this book may not be for you. But if you love war memoirs, "Quartered Safe Out Here" is not to be missed.

If you're looking for history that lives, for a first-hand account of what war is really like - or can be - or for an often poignant, often entertaining, occasionally shocking reminder of the bravery and courage of soldiers who have barely escaped childhood, you'll have to look long and hard for better than this.

Fraser gives us 'the other side of the coin' - there's no chest-beating 'War Is Bad' sentimentality here, no complaining, no self-pity. He brings vividly to life a group of comrades who fought because they believed in something, who would have carried on fighting if asked to, and who died, forgotten or demeaned through revisionist histories, for the freedoms and rights that we enjoy today.

But he gives us even more: as you'd expect from such a classy best-selling author, he gives us a riviting, fast-paced soldier's tale, something that were it not true would easily sit with any novel on the shelves of your local bookshop. He gives us something which, when all's said and done, is absolutely readable. And for that, as much as anything else, you should want to buy this book.

It is not often you see this many reviews all of which are 5 stars so when one does you pretty much know that this is a special book. All the reviews for the book are spot on. It rings of authenticity, something that it is usually difficult for a writer do but when you finish this book you have a feeling about this man and his experiences with Nine Section that, at least for me, I never felt before and I have read many military history books. Nine Section is 10 men, like an American army squad led my a non-commissioned officer who is more of of the men rather than an officer. There is no big picture here, just what faced this one small group of men in a very difficult time and place.

Fraser's description of the 50th anniversary of VJ Day and his reluctant participation was very moving.

His commentary on the "spirtual hypochondria" of the modern world was absolutely accurate. (pg. 89-90) I loved his comment on intrusive modern television journalists when he said, "I can regret, though, that there were no modern television "journalists" transported back in time to ask Grandarse (a Nine Section soldier): "How did you FEEL when you saw Corporal Little shot dead?" I would have like to his his reply."

Even when you want them too...

Ok, just kidding. But that is the sort of cynical joke old Fraser would appreciate.
Old soldiers tales are a neglected genre but one thousands of years old, a genre that has produced such classics as Anabasis, and Seven Pillers of Wisdom. While Quartered Safe Out Here does not rise to that level, it is a gem in it's own right.
If there is one word that describes this book, it is authenticity. Fraser sounds like an old soldier. The book reads, not like an intellectual telling of the strange customs of His Majesties Servants, but like what you would expect a veteran telling tales at a pub to sound like. A comparatively well educated, Old Soldier, but an Old Soldier nonetheless and no different from others.

In this book, Fraser tells of his service with the Border Regiment. These are as he puts it, "A martial race of men"; with the fatalistic acceptance of bloodshed, grimly practical outlook on war, and piratical spirit of the Anglo-scottish frontier brigands of yore. As well as the constant grumbling which sounds most soldierly. Fraser mixes with his comrades well. He is often harsh in his outlook, but he does not glorify war and certainly does not pretend it is enjoyabale. Nor does he display the fashionable horror at war which in some writers seems to be an obligatory assurance to the reader rather then an expression of a writer's true outlook. War is a job to Fraser and it was as well that it be done right. He seems to have a rather grim personality and a cynical sense of irony which may grate on some, but sounds like one made coarse by the stress of battle. In other words he sounds believable. His means of narrative is also believable. He gives scenes as they appear in his memory, some banal, some humorous or carrying a bit of pathos. And sometimes even a minor degree of romance(yes, statistically it has to happen like the movies SOMETIMES)as when he hears a man singing the regimental song during an assault on a Japanese position, and comments that he really did hear it sung in battle and that was something worth telling about. Of course Fraser follows by telling how one of his comrades told the singer to shut up. So much for romance.

Those who are uneasy with the values of previous generations might find it hard to take. Fraser is comfortable with his dislike of the Japanese, approves of the British Empire, and has an innate dislike of change and though some readers can accept that not all will. Like Tommy Atkins in Kipling's poem, he could be a rude fellow sometimes but he was there when he was needed and our generation owes something to him.

In any case it was a well written work, that shows a convincing picture of what it was like to do service in those times. Many writings have been written which told of the lives of soldiers. This one tells what it is to be a soldier. And tells it well and enjoyably. To think of Quartered Safe Out Here as giving profound messages would be wrong. Fraser is not shy about his opinions but his opinions, whatever their value, have been heard before and are not either more or less valid because of his experiences. Rather, Fraser gives an authentic picture of what it was like. You can feel your feet ache from the endless marching, feel the weight of your knapsack on your back, smell the smell of death and experience the many and various fears that constitute a soldier's life. It is a great book and well worth your time.

A superb book which is not just a personal account of the 2nd World War in Burma, but also an attack on nannyism in Britain today. At times it reads along the 'it wasn't like that in my day' lines, but I found I totally agreed with all sections of this sort. It is, as you'd expect, full of hunour as well.
I fully recommend it
Roger Hunt

George MacDonald Fraser writes of his service in Burma during WWII. It's definitely different
Example. page 215

`Ey, Grandarse, `ear w'at they're sayin' on't wireless? The yanks `ave dropped a bomb the size of a pencil on Tokyo an' it's blown the whole fookin' place tae bits!

Oh, aye. W'at were they aimin' at - `Ong Kong?"
"Ah'm tellin' ye! Joost one lal bomb, an' they reckon `alf Japan's in fookin' flames. That;s w'at they're sayin'!"
"W'ee's sayin'?"
"Ivverybody, man! Ah'm tellin' ye, it's on't wireless! Ey, they reckon Jap'll pack in. It'll be th' end o' the war!"
"Girraway? Do them yeller-skinned boogers oot theer knaw that?"
"Aw, bloody `ell `Oo can they, ye daft booger! They `evn't got the fookin' wireless, `ev they?"
"Aweer, then . Ah's keepin' me `eid down until the Yanks've dropped a few more pencils on Tokyo. An' w'en them boogers oot theer'ev packed in, Ah'll believe ye.?
"Aw, Ah's wastin' me time talkin tae you! `Ey, Foshie, `ear aboot the Yanks? They've dropped a secret weapon on Tokyo, `an the whole fookin' toon's wiped oot!"
"`Igh bloody time. W'ee's smeukin', then? Awoy, Kock, gi's one o' yer H.Q. Coompany fags, ye mean booger!"

It was a fine sunny morning when the news, in it's garbled form, ran round the battalion, and if it changed the world, it didn't change Nine Section. They sat on the floor of the basha, backs to the wall, supping chah and being skeptical. "Secret weapon" was an expression bandied about with cynical humor all through the war; Foshie's socks and Granndarse's flatulence, those were secret weapons, and super-bombs were the stuff of fantasy. I didn't believe it, that first day, although from the talk at company H.Q. it was fairly clear that something big had happened, or was about to."

I'm off to read Paul Fussell's Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War