[.ca] Defeat Into Victory: Battling Japan in Burma and India, ... (ISBN 0815410220)

A great book by a great general. Simple as that.:
Field Marshal Viscount Slim was one of Britain's greatest generals. He must surely rank as the best British Army Commander of World War 2 and would be in with a shot that the title of Best Allied Army Commander. His memoirs should therefore be essential reading. It is a significant bonus the Slim's memoirs are among the finest memoirs ever written by a soldier. Slim's achievements were impressive. He took a beaten and demoralised army (a true multi-ethnic Imperial army) and within two years turned it into a force that could take on the very best army units the Japanese could put in the field and beat them at their own game. He did this in some of the most difficult terrain on the planet, while languishing towards the bottom of the list of priorities when it came to handing out any kind of logistical support. He was also, by all acccounts, a genuinely nice person. He is also obscurely famous for being interviewed getting off a plane during the 1960s when Parliament was in the process of decriminalising homosexuality in Britain, when journalists were looking for views on what was then a very contentious issue. His response? "Good idea, very fair. I certainly don't mind it being legal. Just so long as it isn't compulsory." His memoirs do not disappoint. He covers the planning and execution of the Burma campaign in exhausting detail and provides valuable insight into what went on at 14th Army HQ. He provides interesting glimpses of the other big names in the area too - Wingate, Stillwell, Mountbatten but never descends into gossip. He is invariably generous in his praise and tactful and constructive in his criticism. The book is refreshingly free of self-justification and rewriting of history, not something that could be said of the memoirs of some other generals. Slim (probably understandably) harboured a great animus against the Japanese and this comes through in the book. He is... decidedly uncomplimentary. However, this can be contrasted with his generous and unpatronising praise of the various colonial troops under his command and his extreme irritation at the casual racism to which they were subjected by some newcomers. Defeat into Victory is valuable on a great number of levels. Anyone interested in World War 2 in general or the Burma campaign in specific should, of course, read it. It should also be required reading for anyone who expects to command men in uniform, at whatever level. The book is full of priceless, gemlike insights into military leadership and motivation. Forget "Infantry Attacks", if there's one book to carry in your pack across deserts, over mountains and through rice paddies, this is it. Quite aside from the human aspects and frontline command, it is also valuable for drawing attention to the unglamourous but essential area of logistics (without which the British victory would have been impossible). It's also a wonderful memoir in its own right. Look, just read it. Buy it, read it, treasure it. Seriously.

Unforgettable General:
In the Reader's Companion to Military History, only one general from WWII holds a spot in it's Top Ten Generals in History: William Slim. I was so intrigued by his inclusion, and the exclusion of Patton, Eisenhauer, Montgomery, Rommel, Manstein, and Koniev. Who was Slim? Right from the preface, you learn that Slim is modest, gifted, clear-thinking: and a delightful writer. From the pages that follow, you learn about his experience in command of the 14th Army. His first act in Burma is to lead the 14th Army (then called BurCorp) on the longest retreat in the history of British arms. From there he retrains, rearms, and completely destroys the finest Japanese field army -- all with little support, as Britain and US were mostly concerned with Europe. Unlike a megolomaniac like MacArthur or Montgomery, the striking aspects of Slim is his military audacity and his humanity . He retains his grave concern for the ordinary foot soldier, even to the point of telling Churchill that he wouldn't be voting for him because he thought Burma/India not worth all those lives lost. He was the ONLY commander, outside of General Marshall, that Stilwell respected. Wedermeyer referred to him as an 'American-style combat commander'. Mountbatten called him the finest general of the war. Great insights into Stilwell, Wingate, and the fact that twice his superiors tried to fire him, only later to surrender their jobs to him -- on merits, of course, because Slim was a definite political outsider. The book is a treasure, this finest war/history book I've read. I just wish I could find his original, unabridged copy. This cover is a little hokey. 'would have been better to just have the title against a dark background, imho.

The finest memoir by a General Officer:
Defeat into Victory is simply the finest memoir by a GO that I have ever read, and one of the best ever. Slim manages to avoid any sense of self-justification, and instead clearly analyzes both his accomplishments as 14 Army Commander, and his shortcomings. For those interested in the Burma theater, I also recommend The Road Past Mandalay, by John Masters, who served as a staff officer and brigade commander during the British campaigns there.

Slim - Second to None:
William Slim is virtually unknown today - even among the history buff circles, he is a rate footnote. Yet, among those who have studied World War Two - and those few remaining who had direct experience beyond a limited theater view - Slim is regarded as one of the finest army commanders to have served on any front during the course of that war. Slim was among the few that endured defeat in the war's beginning - the agonizing, protracted withdrawal of Burma Corps over a thousand miles of jungle, mountain, swamp and river terrain in Burma and India in 1942 - and survived and had the opportunity to lead revitalized forces to victory in the end (British 14th Army). Revenge was sweet. Slim's memoirs are a treasure - full of criticism and praise in fair measure - with intelligent and honest commentary throughout. His assessments of the critical elements of a successful campaign are worthy of textbook study. Not only did Slim's men have to fight a fanatical, relentless foe in the Japanese - he had to contend with debilitating tropical disease, lack of air and land transport, non-existent infratstructure, shortages of all types of food and supplies, as well as neglect from his own country and army. Burma was in many ways the forgotten theater. Controversial figures such as the American Stilwell and the British Wingate are men that Slim knew well in Burma - and he does not shrink from giving his candid assessment of these figures - strengths and weaknesses. Above all, Slim's book is a testament to the courage, intelligence and fortitude of the fighting men - soldiers, airmen and sailors - of all nationalities (majority of the fighting on the Allied side in the Burma-India theater was by Indians). His comments on the nationalist movements of the Burmese, Indians and Chinese are also of interest, in view of post-war events in these countries, including the expulsion of British rule. Slim was a rare figure - an Army Commander bent on winning for all the right reasons - while always maintaining his touch with the front line solider. He was eager to assign glory to those that deserved it - those that did the fighting as well as those that toiled anonymously behind the lines to keep the forward troops supported. He was also rare in that he was ready and willing to admit mistakes were made, and how those mistakes were overcome. With so many critical decisions to be made in such desperate circumstances with such limited information - it is a wonder that any informed directives could be issued at the command level in that environment. His perspective on the Japanese is also worthy of further study. Slim had a distinguished war record prior to World War Two - he had served in several operations in World War One, in the Middle East between wars - he was familiar with how soldiers fought and died all over the world. His contempt for the Japanese - the atrocities they committed on a routine basis against not only captured, wounded soldiers but civilians held helpless in conquered territory, and the unconscionable treatment of prisoners by Japanese - was thoroughly justified by his experiences. His willingness to continue to fight and kill Japanese and his refusal to treat defeated Japanese with anything other than contempt (he ignored MacArthur's accommodating gestures after the surrender) were measured responses - a reading of this book communicates that point very well. Slim understood his assigned was role was not just to retake Japanese held territory, but to kill Japanese soldiers - destroy Japanese armies. He was the man for the job.

A companion book to QUARTERED SAFE OUT HERE:
Awhile ago, I read QUARTERED SAFE OUT HERE, the wartime memoir by George MacDonald Fraser detailing his experiences as an infantryman with the 17th Division of the 14th Indian Army as the latter pursued the retreating Japanese through Burma during the closing months of WWII. He had nothing but high praise for the army commander, Field-Marshal William Slim. This prompted me to purchase and read Slim's own account of the time and place, DEFEAT INTO VICTORY. The two books are a perfect pair for anyone interested in the India-Burma Theater of the war - perspectives from both the top and bottom of the British Army's command structure. Slim's memoirs, first published in 1956 while he was serving as Governor General of Australia, begin with his assignment to command the 1st Burma Corps during it's desperate fighting retreat from Burma into India in 1942 after the Japanese captured Rangoon. Then later, as chief of the 14th Indian Army, he oversees the regrouping and rebuilding of the force that finally decimates the Japanese invaders at Imphal in northern India, and subsequently chases the fleeing enemy back south through Burma. One of Slim's most notable characteristics is his evident lack of an overbearing ego. Several times in his book, he makes reference to his mistakes, errors in planning or judgement, and his deficiencies as a military commander. (Imagine that other famous British Field-Marshal of the war, the prima donna Montgomery, admitting such!) Much to his credit, Slim apparently learned hard lessons as he went along, and emerged as the better man and general for it. This, combined with his great concern for his men's morale, health, training and supply, justifies the high regard in which he was held by "rankers" such as Fraser. Churchill was wrong when he remarked, "I cannot believe that a man with a name like Slim can be much good." The author's history of the Burma war is comprehensive - perhaps excessively so for the casual reader such as myself. His narrative includes the movement of troops as far down as battalion level, which is way more than I needed to know. Because of this, I might have awarded 4 stars instead of 5 had I been less mindful of the contribution Slim's memoir makes to the history of an almost forgotten theater of the global conflict. A keener student of the Burma campaigns is certain to appreciate these details more than I did. Finally, there is the Field-Marshal's dry British wit, which shows all too infrequently. For example, when discussing his opposite number in the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Kawabe, Slim writes: "I did, however, manage to get a photograph alleged to be that of Kawabe. It showed what might have been a typical western caricature of a Japanese; the bullet head, the thick glasses, and prominent teeth were all there... When I needed cheering I looked at it and assured myself that, whichever of us was the cleverer general, even I was, at any rate, the better looking."