Quartered Safe Out Here: A Harrowing Tale Of World War II (2007) - Plot & Excerpts
I'm reading George MacDonald Fraser's (1925 – 2008) Flashman series with a curious mixture of pleasure and distaste - the pleasure arising from the excellent adventures of the ne'er-do-well Flashman, the wonderfully reconstructed historical settings and the satire of (as I see it) British upper classes, patriotism and hero worship of military heroes (not of military heroism itself, mind); the distaste sweeping out of the many signs of racism and acts of rape and violence towards women. Of course, the latter are to be expected in a novel set in the early 19th century, but in the first volume of the Flashman series the protagonist is the primary implementer of said outrages. To deal with my ambivalence I had to learn more about the author, so when I found that he had written a memoir of the Burmese corner of World War II which had been called "one of the great memoirs of the Second World War" by John Keegan, a well known military historian, I obtained a copy and dived right in. Quartered Safe Out Here (1992) is that memoir. As a fresh 19 year old recruit, MacDonald Fraser is inserted into a veteran unit engaged in pushing the Japanese out of Burma in 1945. VE Day is close, but the Japanese are unimpressed and are still a powerful force in Burma, though increasingly poorly supplied. By that time the American submarine fleet had swept the sea of Japanese cargo ships, and they and the air fleet kept the Japanese warships in harbor. The last suicide mission of the Japanese navy was yet to come.I've read at least a dozen WW II memoirs written by ordinary soldiers (American, British, German and Japanese), and I have found them all gripping, really. But this book (and William Manchester's memoirs) has the advantage of being written by an experienced author, and it shows.MacDonald Fraser's evocation of the soldiers, landscape and atmosphere of that campaign is wonderful, as is his presentation of a novice soldier's experience of firefights - the compression and extension of time like an accordion, the random choice of friends who fall, the absence of conscious thought as training and instinct take over. The (real) adventures and humor are plentiful; even in the attack on Pyawbwe, which broke the back of the Japanese 33rd Army, MacDonald Fraser managed to get dropped down a well!MacDonald Fraser's unit was composed primarily of men from Cumberland, and he lets them speak in Cumbrian in the book. It sounds a bit like Scots to me, which is reasonable enough, since the dialects are spoken in contiguous regions. Some hilarious passages in the book are carried out entirely in that dialect. An example: the division had worked out a complicated password scheme which was beyond the mental capacity of a few of the soldiers. One of those few was trying to get back into the lines and screwed up the password. The entire exchange was carried out in Cumbrian (what are the chances that the Japanese even knew about the dialect, much less could reproduce it), and the men knew exactly with whom they were speaking, but the farce had to be played out to the end, increasingly salted with colorful invective. I was propped up in bed with tears rolling down my face.Here's a taste of the Cumbrian when they were slogging through the Burmese dry belt: "Wahm? Ah's aboot boogered! By hell, Ah could do wi' some fookin' joongle, Ah tell tha!" Maybe I'm alone here, but I think this is priceless. MacDonald Fraser still hated the Japanese in 1992, quoting approbatively an officer who called them "a shower of sub-human apes." And I couldn't say that his view of other races (indeed, anyone except Brits, Americans and Gurkhas) is any more advanced than that of Flashman. In at least this respect, Flashman is made in the image of his creator.Returning to my original ambivalence, what is evident from this memoir and other sources on the web (e.g.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/35...http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obi... )is that MacDonald Fraser was a strange mixture of rigid conservative and rambunctious rebel who retreated to a tax haven, the Isle of Man, and inveighed against the poofs and pinkos running the country. The only analogy for the man I can draw from my own life are the folks Americans call rednecks - socially and politically arch-conservative, basically contemptuous and distrustful of anybody who is not "a good old boy" (racism is a natural corollary), but nonetheless ready to shoot any "revenooer" who stumbles across their still, marijuana field or crystal meth lab and to complain bitterly about the federal government's intrusion into their rights. Strangely enough, their beat up pickup trucks are usually plastered with "patriotic" bumper stickers... But still I don't understand what MacDonald Fraser's intent is by making the protagonist of the Flashman series a complete coward who always comes up roses, for he deeply admires and knows from personal experience those who bravely do their duty in warfare. Those latter types are usually killed off in the Flashman series to assure that there are no living witnesses of Flashman's cowardice. So the mystery is deepened. At least Flashman commits no further rapes after the first volume, since, in MacDonald Fraser's words, "he no longer needed to." I'll then continue freely to interpret Flashman's abysmal behavior as it pleases me - a satire, even if the satire is not of the kind MacDonald Fraser would approve. Rating http://leopard.booklikes.com/post/729...
My Granddad was in Burma during the war from the get go I believe. When I consider this fact, along with that my other Granddad fought in Europe for around the same amount of time, my first reaction is that of supreme humility when considering my own life. With only a grasp of knowledge concerning what went on in those years (for, as observers I think this all we can claim) I'm still routinely shocked and stupefied when considering the collection of experiences that emerge from this period. This usually takes the form of a macro perspective. Whether looking at the various battles or campaigns, it can give one a good idea of how the war progressed from a strategic point of view. But its hopelessly disconnected to understand the experience from a human perspective. When growing up and instinctively wanting information concerning my grandparents experiences. I initially pestered them with inane questions regarding where they fought, what it was like, (and the dreaded) how did it feel? I was largely refuted and quickly informed by my family that the experiences were too horrific, or just too damned personal to share. Even as a young child, I'm glad to say I grasped this point and didn't pursue it further. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least disappointed with the prospect of forever losing their experiences and stories to time. Therefore, finding this memoir for me was not just a great prospect to read about a campaign, that to this day remains hidden amongst the other campaigns. But also to have an insight into an example of the soldiering life and also the mind of the British generation that fought and experienced it at home.What Fraser does superbly here is reduce the perspective of the war to that of a couple of men trying to survive, both physically and mentally. By focusing on the facts of his experience and eliminating as much external information as possible. I think Fraser delivers what he set out to, that is, a testament to the specific people he fought with and an example of what they average soldier might have come across in Burma. Especially in the sense that the book isn't filled with action. He doesn't transition from battle to battle. There are perhaps three major confrontations in the entire memoir and this focused my mind towards to perhaps the more consistent battle they fought with nature. Overall I thought his descriptions were vivid without being graphic and I was pleased to find his recollections regarding the irrelevant as cemented in his mind as the battle sequences. As these helped form a picture of the life they led.There is another element to the book however that may become irksome deepening on the readers preferences. Throughout, Fraser will chime in with his opinion on modern life and often juxtapose his generation with the post war generations. At times I found these as fascinating as his memories of Burma. Especially in trying to understand the psychology of the time. Regarding this particular subject, he takes lengths to chastise modern culture's focus on emotion and the need to discuss it. Suggesting that:"Tell people they should feel something, and they'll not only feel it, they'll regard themselves entitled and obliged to feel it." P 90.I see this word entitled thrown around fairly often these days, concerning my generation in particular, and this sentence caused me a couple of minutes of thought and went some way to helping me understand how they as a generation dealt with war. I can't say that I agreed with every denouncement that he writes. But it was also refreshing to see him acknowledge that each of us is conditioned as part of our time and that culture/society is responsible as well as the individual for what may materialise. Whether you agree with his opinions or not, this is the sort of book I would like read in a high school history class. It brings context to a time that's probably moving further and further away from people's thoughts and hopefully will keep what these soldiers experienced alive for many years to come.
What do You think about Quartered Safe Out Here: A Harrowing Tale Of World War II (2007)?
Undeniably amazing. I want my friends to read it but I'm afraid to lose my hard-earned copy. Fraser's memoir of the last months in Burma can be both heart-wrenching, philosophical and funny at the same time. His description of the jungle war with an eccentric group of Cumbrian borderers is one of the must-reads for any student of military history.Fraser gives it his all, whether it's describing the stress of night patrols, the political discussions between section-mates of the agony of seeing his comrades scythed down by machine-gun fire. His views are bluntly spoken, perhaps a tad softer than his anti-hero Flashman but to the modern reader can seem shocking. Fraser makes this probably most clear in his discussion of the atomic bombing of Japan.To write any more would do a dishonour to this, I can just say...read it. You don't have to be an aficionado of Fraser's writing or a scholar of military history, this is a book that everyone should have to read.
—Féarghal Mac giobúin
Author Fraser served in the English forces toward the end of the Second World War, fighting in Burma with an infantry outfit. His recollections of battle, hardship, his mates and the Japanese enemy are vividly rendered, as you might expect from a lifelong journalist and author of the Flashman series. Fraser is delightfully non-P.C., holding no regrets for his service, seeking no self-pity, and believing in the justice of his cause.And while this is a quick, insightful read on a little-known aspect of World War II, my only quarrel is with the author's ear. He accurately renders the words and phrases of his North Country comrades. But in this case, accuracy clashes with readability as the mangled vowels and consonants slow down the flow and occasionally jar you off the page. That aside, an interesting non-fiction look at a forlorn corner of the war that was no less deadly for it's obscurity.
—JP Mac
This is the last book I would expect to have liked. It's a biography (to which I am usually fairly allergic) and it's a war story. Not only that, but there are absolutely no female characters that I can recall. Having said that, I thought this book was masterful. It was wry and moving without sentimentality. It was, at times, also very disturbing, but the descriptions of battles, death and injury were handled with a quiet pragmatism far removed from the sensationalism of most of the war movies I have seen.The descriptions of the men in his platoon were outstading. This book does not celebrate war - it celebrates individual characters and basic 'human-ness'.
—Kylie W
