Andrew Roberts is the author of
Masters and Commanders: How Four Titans Won the War in the West, 1941-1945.
For the
Wall Street Journal, he named a five best list of World War II memoirs.
One title on the list:
Quartered Safe Out Here
by George MacDonald Fraser
George MacDonald Fraser, British author of the Flashman series of novels, fought in the 17th (Black Cat) Indian Division of the 14th Army during the siege of Meiktila and the battle of 
Pyawbwe in Burma. He believed, probably correctly, that soldiering in Burma rivaled flying in the RAF's Bomber Command as "the worst ticket you could draw in the lottery of active service." This was so not just because of the Japanese enemy; there were also 15-inch poisonous centipedes, malaria, "spiders the size of plates," typhus, jungle sores on the wrists and ankles, dysentery, and leeches. In terse, unsentimental language, Fraser's superb war memoir, "Quartered Safe Out Here," relates how the soldiers in his close-knit company fought their battles, mourned their friends and simply tried to survive from day to day.
Read about
the other titles on the list.
--Marshal Zeringue
Andrew Roberts is the author of Masters and Commanders: How Four Titans Won the War in the West, 1941-1945.
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