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Douglas Reeman
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Pages: 304 (Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN: 0099502321
Pub: Arrow Books Ltd
Pub date: 2007-06-07
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 30619
Reader Reviews:
Interesting variation on the naval adventure story (8/9 people found this helpful)
"In war it is inevitable that only one side can triumph, but honour and self-sacrifice are not the sole attributes of the victors". Douglas Reeman's words, from the prefatory blurb, put this novel accurately in context. Surprisingly and most effectively, its hero is not a Royal Navy skipper or even an American sailor, but the captain of a German cruiser. In 1944, when many Germans can already see the writing on the wall, Kapitaen zur See Dieter Hechler takes Prinz Luitpold, a Hipper class 8-inch cruiser, on a last daring commerce raid across the Atlantic.
The Hippers, formidable on paper, did not live up to their promise - partly due to unreliable machinery, and even more to inconsistent, vacillating official policy. This book suggests how much better they could have done in the hands of resolute and independent commanders. Even Hechler finds himself under the thumb of an unpleasant Nazi admiral with a fraction of his talent (a recurrent theme in Reeman's books), possibly a fatal handicap when it comes to the inevitable confrontation with the individually weaker but more numerous British warships.
As usual Douglas Reeman's expertise shows through every page. His description of life in Nazi Germany after four years of total war is no less deft and convincing. This is a splendid yarn of war at sea, but it also has a powerful human dimension. Sacrifice, cruelty, compassion, forgiveness... all the emotions of human beings pushed to, and beyond, their limits. Regardless of who they are, or which country's flag is fluttering from the mast.
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Fiction -> Genre -> War -> Second World War
Books -> Subjects -> Fiction -> World -> German
Books -> Subjects -> Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> R -> Reeman, Douglas
Books -> Subjects -> Fiction -> General
Books -> Subjects -> History -> World History -> World War II 1939-1945 -> Naval Warfare -> Germany
Books -> Subjects -> History -> World History -> World War II 1939-1945 -> Origins
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
Books -> Refinements -> Age (feature_two_browse-bin)
Books -> Refinements -> Format (binding_browse-bin) -> Paperback