To start off on a suitably irreverent note, my father and I often joked that Maclean would write about bitter conditions from the comfort of his home, perhaps with a shot of Seagram's by his side and shudder at the thought of being there. And write on. He had a few favourite phrases which appeared in many of his war novels: the "Stygian blackness", "Spartan simplicity", "the screaming wind like a thousand banshees", and of course, my personal favourite phrase "stuttering staccato machine gun fire".
This is not intended to take anything away from one of the best writers who have concentrated their efforts on WWII. HMS Ulysses is his first, and perhaps his greatest work (comparable only to the famous Guns of Navarone). Maclean's protagonists have always been ordinary, decent men who have been thrust into extraordinary circumstances where they are driven beyond any human capacity for absorbing punishment. But still, they strive, they fight, and usually they die. In this respect, the other great war novel which comes to mind is Battle Cry by Leon Uris.Maclean's characters are not always as fleshed out as Uris', but that is because they show themselves to be what they are through their actions and not necessarily because the author chooses to talk about their thoughts.
Now, about this book. Before we talk about this book, we will touch upon the topic of Arctic convoys. 1941 was the year of Pearl harbour and Operation Barbarossa. The US had been drawn into the war and while one might say today that the outcome was thus automatically decided, it did not seem that way in the months of late 1941-early 1942. The fate of the European theatre was to be decided in one colossal action: the battle of Stalingrad. For this, the Allies shored up the USSR effort with supplies, which came from the East Coast of the US and from Scapa Flow in Scotland and ended up at Murmansk and Archangel. A total of 78 convoys totalling 1400 ships delivered supplied to the USSR over the war. Of these ships, 85 merchantmen and 16 Royal Navy warships were lost. These convoys were subject to Luftwaffe attacks from Norwegian bases. Long range recon flights carried out by FW Condors would pinpoint the location, course and strength of a convoy. Waves of Heinkel torpedo bombers and Stuka dive bombers would then arrive. A constant source of fear was the Tirpitz and her consorts, holed up at Alten Fjord in Norway. They were a "fleet in being" which always had major elements of the Royal Navy Home Fleet tied up at Scapa. The horrifying sinking of the Royal Navy's pride, the HMS Hood at the hands of the Bismarck after a single, savage salvo continued to affect RN strategic thinking till late in the war. As a result, capital ships were rarely risked in the cold waters of the North Sea. Thus, German commerce raiders such the Gneisenau and Scharnhorst enjoyed a high degree of immunity while operating against convoys.
But the greatest danger came from the Uboats. These submarines operated in 'wolf packs' with stealth, cunning and great courage. Admiral Karl Doenitz, the C-in-C of the Kreigsmarine's Uboat fleet had indeed built up a terrifyingly effective force. It was the combination of the elements and the imminent threat of death flying in on swift wings, or rising from the deep and announcing itself by the telltale trail of an 18-in torpedo or the distant muzzle flashes of naval rifles which made the Arctic convoys what they were. And still, the sailors fought on. Their courage was equaled only by that of their adversaries: of the 40,000 sailors in the Uboat fleet, 28,000 never came home.
HMS Ulysses was the fictional first ship of the Dido class: a 5500 tonne light cruiser, heavily armed with highly sensitive radar and extremely fast. She was the flagship of the 14th Aircraft Carrier Squadron. But two years on Arctic duty had driven her crew to the breaking point and beyond. The book begins in the aftermath of a mutiny at Scapa, brutally quelled by marines from the battleship Duke of Cumberland. Ulysses is given the opportunity to redeem herself by going out to escort a convoy to Murmansk. Her crew, haggard and stretched thin, malnourished, sleep deprived and mostly suffering from the initial stages of TB cannot, should not be expected to keep on. But their loyalty to Vallery, their captain keeps them going for this one last mission.
The convoy is plagued with troubles from the beginning: some of the escorts suffer mechanical trouble and have to head back. And then they learn that they are the trap for the Tirpitz, and capital ships of the RN are waiting for the battleship to slip her moorings. The Ulysses and her convoy are the bait. As they cross the Arctic circle, the monster strikes. The wind sweeping off the Greenland cap, hammers them with an almost human ferocity. Two of the escort carriers are damaged to the point where they have to turn back. As the escort force is reduced to the bare minimum, a Hipper class German heavy cruiser turns up. The next two days are spent in a terrifying game of cat and mouse with the cruiser. Then, just as the convoy appears to have given the cruiser the slip, the Uboat wolf-packs appear. One by one, the merchantmen and their escorts are taken apart by the Germans. The submarine and airborne attacks are pressed home with brutal efficiency and unrelenting determination. As the flagship, Ulysses absorbs an unbelievable amount of punishment, but somehow keeps going. Her crew is the same, they have been driven beyond the point of any human tolerance, they have seen death in the face, and they have been too cold, too numb, too indifferent to even register fear.
With each page of the book, you enter the private hell of Leading Torpedo Operator Ralston who has lost his family just before sailing from Scapa Flow, you walk with Surgeon Commander Brooks as he tends to the wounded, when sometimes all there is to do is close their eyes and mutter a few of prayer. And then you shoulder the responsibilities of Captain Vallery who pushes his emaciated wreck of a TB ridden body to one more act of courage, for the crew has gone to the point where King, God and Country mean nothing.. it is merely their personal loyalty to their Captain that holds them together. And the, the denoument. Ulysses' moment of truth is her last action with the Hipper class cruiser. In the hands of a lesser author, this would be a mere tale of courage at sea. Maclean has managed to weave together a story of extraordinary texture which will stay with you long after you have finished turning the last page.
This is not intended to take anything away from one of the best writers who have concentrated their efforts on WWII. HMS Ulysses is his first, and perhaps his greatest work (comparable only to the famous Guns of Navarone). Maclean's protagonists have always been ordinary, decent men who have been thrust into extraordinary circumstances where they are driven beyond any human capacity for absorbing punishment. But still, they strive, they fight, and usually they die. In this respect, the other great war novel which comes to mind is Battle Cry by Leon Uris.Maclean's characters are not always as fleshed out as Uris', but that is because they show themselves to be what they are through their actions and not necessarily because the author chooses to talk about their thoughts.
Now, about this book. Before we talk about this book, we will touch upon the topic of Arctic convoys. 1941 was the year of Pearl harbour and Operation Barbarossa. The US had been drawn into the war and while one might say today that the outcome was thus automatically decided, it did not seem that way in the months of late 1941-early 1942. The fate of the European theatre was to be decided in one colossal action: the battle of Stalingrad. For this, the Allies shored up the USSR effort with supplies, which came from the East Coast of the US and from Scapa Flow in Scotland and ended up at Murmansk and Archangel. A total of 78 convoys totalling 1400 ships delivered supplied to the USSR over the war. Of these ships, 85 merchantmen and 16 Royal Navy warships were lost. These convoys were subject to Luftwaffe attacks from Norwegian bases. Long range recon flights carried out by FW Condors would pinpoint the location, course and strength of a convoy. Waves of Heinkel torpedo bombers and Stuka dive bombers would then arrive. A constant source of fear was the Tirpitz and her consorts, holed up at Alten Fjord in Norway. They were a "fleet in being" which always had major elements of the Royal Navy Home Fleet tied up at Scapa. The horrifying sinking of the Royal Navy's pride, the HMS Hood at the hands of the Bismarck after a single, savage salvo continued to affect RN strategic thinking till late in the war. As a result, capital ships were rarely risked in the cold waters of the North Sea. Thus, German commerce raiders such the Gneisenau and Scharnhorst enjoyed a high degree of immunity while operating against convoys.
But the greatest danger came from the Uboats. These submarines operated in 'wolf packs' with stealth, cunning and great courage. Admiral Karl Doenitz, the C-in-C of the Kreigsmarine's Uboat fleet had indeed built up a terrifyingly effective force. It was the combination of the elements and the imminent threat of death flying in on swift wings, or rising from the deep and announcing itself by the telltale trail of an 18-in torpedo or the distant muzzle flashes of naval rifles which made the Arctic convoys what they were. And still, the sailors fought on. Their courage was equaled only by that of their adversaries: of the 40,000 sailors in the Uboat fleet, 28,000 never came home.
HMS Ulysses was the fictional first ship of the Dido class: a 5500 tonne light cruiser, heavily armed with highly sensitive radar and extremely fast. She was the flagship of the 14th Aircraft Carrier Squadron. But two years on Arctic duty had driven her crew to the breaking point and beyond. The book begins in the aftermath of a mutiny at Scapa, brutally quelled by marines from the battleship Duke of Cumberland. Ulysses is given the opportunity to redeem herself by going out to escort a convoy to Murmansk. Her crew, haggard and stretched thin, malnourished, sleep deprived and mostly suffering from the initial stages of TB cannot, should not be expected to keep on. But their loyalty to Vallery, their captain keeps them going for this one last mission.
The convoy is plagued with troubles from the beginning: some of the escorts suffer mechanical trouble and have to head back. And then they learn that they are the trap for the Tirpitz, and capital ships of the RN are waiting for the battleship to slip her moorings. The Ulysses and her convoy are the bait. As they cross the Arctic circle, the monster strikes. The wind sweeping off the Greenland cap, hammers them with an almost human ferocity. Two of the escort carriers are damaged to the point where they have to turn back. As the escort force is reduced to the bare minimum, a Hipper class German heavy cruiser turns up. The next two days are spent in a terrifying game of cat and mouse with the cruiser. Then, just as the convoy appears to have given the cruiser the slip, the Uboat wolf-packs appear. One by one, the merchantmen and their escorts are taken apart by the Germans. The submarine and airborne attacks are pressed home with brutal efficiency and unrelenting determination. As the flagship, Ulysses absorbs an unbelievable amount of punishment, but somehow keeps going. Her crew is the same, they have been driven beyond the point of any human tolerance, they have seen death in the face, and they have been too cold, too numb, too indifferent to even register fear.
With each page of the book, you enter the private hell of Leading Torpedo Operator Ralston who has lost his family just before sailing from Scapa Flow, you walk with Surgeon Commander Brooks as he tends to the wounded, when sometimes all there is to do is close their eyes and mutter a few of prayer. And then you shoulder the responsibilities of Captain Vallery who pushes his emaciated wreck of a TB ridden body to one more act of courage, for the crew has gone to the point where King, God and Country mean nothing.. it is merely their personal loyalty to their Captain that holds them together. And the, the denoument. Ulysses' moment of truth is her last action with the Hipper class cruiser. In the hands of a lesser author, this would be a mere tale of courage at sea. Maclean has managed to weave together a story of extraordinary texture which will stay with you long after you have finished turning the last page.
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