History Literature / McAuslan

* CourtroomAntic: ''[=McAuslan's Court-Martial=]''. You know you're in for quite a show when the judge proves himself more interested in learning choice Scottish epithets than in conducting the trial proper.

* ImprobableAimingSkills: MacDonald-Fraser describes a fraught time spent dispersing Arab rioters in Tripoli. [[note]] Libya was a country the British Empire briefly acquired from Italy after defeating them in WW 2. Only to discover the natives had other ideas.[[/note]] He orders his best shots to fire over the heads of the rioters to indicate that the British Army is not joking. His very best marksman goes for a challenge: he elects to splinter the flagpole one rioter is carrying, bearing the Libyan nationalist flag. He does it too, and the hostiles' flag falls to the ground with its staff destroyed.

* NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: Fraser is careful not to identify the regiment or its soldiers for the majority of the series, although in the Highland Games story involving all the Scottish units of the British Army, its identity can be deduced by elimination. Various real mottoes and incidents are also mentioned that can help knowledgeable readers trace the regiment.[[note]]For example, the regiment participated in the Stirrup Charge at Waterloo, and one of its Victoria Cross winners was Piper George Findlater.[[/note]] The last story in the last book, which involves the Colonel asking Fraser to sign copies of the first two books, reveals the regiment as [[spoiler:the 2nd Gordon Highlanders]] and names the Colonel: [[spoiler: R.G. "Reggie" Lees]], a genuine hero of [=WW2=], identified in the books as Colonel J.G.F. [[spoiler:Gordon]]. The story also discusses the semi-fictional nature of certain characters, including Wee Wullie and [=McAuslan=] himself.

* PassThePopcorn: Several cases: Troopers cheer on their seniors who are in a political argument, [=McAuslan=] eats steaming chips during the quiz show, and viewers fall over themselves laughing while [=MacNeill=] struggles to complete a ropes course.

* WorthlessTreasureTwist: A treasure trove of paper bills - that are [[WorthlessCurrency no longer legal tender]] now that the war's over and Mussolini's finance ministry no longer exists to validate them.

** Subverted with [=MacNeill=], who tries but fails on several occasions.

* WorthlessTreasureTwist: A treasure trove of paper bills - that are no longer legal tender now that the war's over and Mussolini's finance ministry no longer exists to validate them.

Creator/GeorgeMacDonaldFraser's other famous series. Chronicles the adventures/misadventures of young Lieutenant Dand [=MacNeill=] [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial (who is in no way Fraser himself)]] in a Highland Battalion in the wake of the Second World War. The series [[SecondaryCharacterTitle is named for]] the dirtiest soldier in the world, who is part of [=MacNeill=]'s platoon and whose horrific exploits are the source of amusement and disgust to both the reader and his fellow soldiers. Fraser's memoir of WWII Burma, ''Quartered Safe Out Here'', is a nonfiction prequel; the first [=McAuslan=] story literally takes up where the memoir leaves off, with Fraser/[=MacNeill=]'s assignment to officer training at the end of the war.

* TheCityNarrows: Tripoli has the Suk, declared generally off-limits to the troops due to potential trouble with Arab nationalists among other issues. In "Fly Men", [=MacNeill=] and a few others end up having to go in to find a pair of deserters.

* CourtMartialed: Happens to the hero for disoedience; he is acquitted.

* CatchPhrase: The corporal captaining the battalion football team says one before taking to the field at every game: "Awright fellas, let's get stuck intae these [insert unflattering nickname for opposition team]." Against the team composed of captured Afrika Korps troops, for instance, it becomes "Awright fellas, let's get stuck intae these Huns." Leads to the BoomerangBigot situation as described above, where years later, when the man captained a professional team who was playing the Celtics on that occasion: he said a Hail Mary, fingered his crucifix, then told his team, "Awright fellas, let's get stuck intae these Papes."

* BoomerangBigot: Any Anglo-Scots present, who are sometimes described as more English than the English themselves and often scornful of other Scots. Also the football team captain, who on playing versus the Celtics team (himself a devout Catholic), instructed his own team to "get stuck intae these Papes."

* DrillSergeantNasty: [=McAuslan=] himself during his brief stint as lance-corporal.

* NonIndicativeName: [=MacNeill=] recieves the nickname "Darkie" from his troops. It takes him quite some time to realise that he is "Darkie", since he is a white, grey-eyed, light brown-haired Scotsman.
** This may have been a subtle (and not too politically correct) dig at the fact that the author served in Burma with the 14th Army. Drawn mainly from India and Commonwealth colonies in Africa, 14th Army was very likely the most ethnically diverse fighting force in the second world war.
** Every time "Darkie" is referred to, he is apparently in a bad or "dark" mood.

* PlungerDetonator: Cunningly invoked to face down a mob.

----

* MeaningfulName: The main character's name is one of the clues to the identity of the regiment he is serving in. [[spoiler: His first name, Dand, references "Bydand", the motto of the Gordon Highlanders.]]

** Also [=McGarry=], the provost sergeant, the only man who can stand up to ''Wee Wullie.''[[note]]Well, when Wee Wullie is drunk, anyways. [=MacNeill=] says that a sober Wee Wullie can probably take on [=McGarry=], but a sober Wee Wullie wouldn't pick a fight with [=McGarry=] to begin with.[[/note]]

** Also [=McGarry=], the provost sergeant, the only man who can stand up to ''Wee Wullie.''

* TheCasanova: [[spoiler: Believe it or not, [=McAuslan=] himself, as revealed at the end of "Parfit Gentil Knight, But". A much more chaste example than most.]]

* TradingBarsForStripes: ''Fly Men''describes a soldier offered remission of a prison sentence provided he enlisted in the Army. [[AuthorAvatar Dand McNeill]] drily states that when this particular man was called up, the Maritime Division of the Glasgow Constabulary held a celebratory party. This soldier, along with another enlisted under similar circumstances, deserts in Tripoli, and [=McNeill=] is tasked with recapturing them.

* SurpriseWitness: After the prosecution starts poking large holes into his defense strategy of presenting [=McAuslan=] as an outstanding soldier, Captain Einstein flusters for a moment before calling Regimental Sergeant-Major Mackintosh to the stand. His testimony proves crucial in [=McAuslan's=] acquittal.

* IronLady: [=MacNeill's Aunt Allison=], as related in ''The Gordon Women''.
** Also his [=MacDonald=] grandmother, who is of a stern Presbyterian disposition. She may not be such a good storyteller, but her strength of will rubs off on [=MacNeill=], which gives him an ability to keep calm and press on even when the odds are against him--for instance, during a golf game which his team seems to be losing.

* KnightFever: Parodied, in reference to [=McAuslan=].
--> Oh yes. Private [=McAuslan=], N.B.G., Y.M.C.A. and Bar....

* HillbillyMoonshiner: [=McLaren=] in ''The Gordon Women.'' The local landlords try to catch him in the act, with an unenthusiastic [=MacNeill=] in tow; [=McLaren=] has [[spoiler:[=McAuslan=] and [=MacRae=] on his side.]]

* DoAnythingSoldier: As Fraser puts it:
-->As a subaltern, you get used to doing pretty well anything. In my brief time I had been called on to command a troop-train, change a baby's nappies, quell a riot of Arab nationalists, manage a football team, take an inventory of buried treasure, and partner a Mother Superior at clock-golf. This was in the days when the British Army was still spread all round the globe, acting as sentry, policeman, teacher, nurse and diplomat in the wake of the Second World War, and getting no thanks for it at all. It was a varied existence, and if I'd been ordered to redecorate the Sistine Chapel or deliver a sermon in Finnish, I'd hardly have blinked an eyelid before running to the RSM pleading for assistance.

* NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: Fraser is careful not to identify the regiment or its soldiers for the majority of the series, although in the Highland Games story involving all the Scottish units of the British Army, its identity can be deduced by elimination. Various real mottoes and incidents are also mentioned that can help knowledgeable readers trace the regiment.[[note]]For example, the regiment participated in the Stirrup Charge at Waterloo, and one of its Victoria Cross winners was Piper George Findlater.[[/note]] The last story in the last book, which involves the Colonel asking Fraser to sign copies of the first two books, reveals the regiment as [[spoiler:the 2nd Gordon Highlanders]] and names the Colonel: [[spoiler: R.G. "Reggie" Lees]], a genuine hero of WW2, identified in the books as Colonel J.G.F. [[spoiler:Gordon]]. The story also discusses the semi-fictional nature of certain characters, including Wee Wullie and [=McAuslan=] himself.