Customer Reviews

An Honorable German

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a former Naval person (to borrow from Winston Churchill) I was impressed by the authenticity of the seagoing narrative and the actions described. Historical fiction is a favorite genre of mine, and I thought the blending of fictionalized characters into the real events of those times was flawless. But the story line itself was compelling all on it's own. One can't help but be carried along with the principal character as he confronts challenges to his ideals of duty/loyalty and his troubles grow from service-related dilemmas into existential conflict.

The author tackled a challenging subject from a rare point of view and created a fascinating, exiting and fast moving saga. It holds your interest right to the end, when a major issue is finally resolved in the last two pages. This is a magnificent effort, obviously well researched, filled with accurate detail, and best of all, a gripping tale.

An author who can write a story incorporating accurate and detailed military history along with a compelling fictional plot line is to be treasured - and the newest treasure of this genre is Charles McCain.

McCain's "An Honorable German" puts you - believably - on the bridge of the Graf Spee as it is pursued across the South Atlantic and to an ignominious end, scuttled by its proud captain and crew. McCain's attention to naval detail is nothing short of astounding. Tiny details about the ship's fixtures and operations abound, yet never get in the way of the story, but reinforce its credibility.

Maximillian "Max" Brekendorf is a young lieutenant in the German navy. His father was a sergeant-major in the old Imperial German Army of WWI. Max is not a Nazi, which is important: it would be impossible to write of "an honorable German", if said German was a Nazi.

The Graf Spee is assigned to raid commerce in the South Atlantic, attacking defenseless freighters bringing supplies to n embattled England. Hans Langsdorf, Captain of the Graf Spee was an old school sailor, insistent upon crew discipline and the principles of honorable combat. You did not murder your prisoners, a view considered cowardly by the new Germans.

McCain is simply brilliant in placing Brekendorf first on the Graf Spee, than on the Auxiliary Merchant Raider Meteor. The latter was a passenger carrying freighter that had been fitted with hidden cannon. It would approach Allied shipping in its disguise and then seize and sink the enemy shipping. McCain uses the transition to tell the story of Germany's fortunes in the ongoing war. During the time of the Graf Spee, Germany is triumphant in Europe, its armies having overwhelmed Poland, its brute force diplomacy having already proven the spinelessness of the Western democracies.

Two years later, the Germans are approaching their zenith. The Soviet Union appears to be on the verge of defeat. France and the Low Countries have long before succumbed to German arms. But the British navy remains.

Interwoven with Brekendorf's military life is his real world: the father are home, Mareth, his lover, the daughter of the town's nobility. McCain skillfully weaves Brekendorf's thoughts and his rare visits home with the realities of the German war at home. The true storm has yet to break over occupied Europe. McCain's skill at evoking the feeling of occupied Europe is akin to that of Allan Furst.

Brekendorf's adventure on the Meteor leads him to volunteer for the U-boat service.

Until now, McCain has been telling the story of Brekendorf, a young officer whose beliefs have been formed by the old order. He is, despite being a citizen of Hitler's Germany, an inherently decent man. McCain has to give short shrift to what millions of Brekendorf's peers were already doing in Poland and then the Soviet Union: enslaving and murdering innocent people by the hundreds of thousands and later by the millions. Instead, we have what the title implies: an honorable German. A honorable man doing honorable duty in an honorable organization, the Kriegsmarine. Men can be trying to kill each other one moment and then, after the combat, treating their now captured opponents with courtesy and even compassion.

This changes with Brekendorf's transfer to the U-boats in 1943. McCain is very clever in his timing. By choosing 1943, he is into the period where Germany's defeat seemed possible, if not probable. The decline in the nation's fortunes is apparent in the crew Brekendorf has. Missing is the discipline, the spit and polish of the old German navy. Instead, the pickings are very young men, some of whom have been imbued with the Nazi belief in their own vulnerability.

Suffice it to say, friction is inevitasble between Brekendorf and one of the dedicated Nazis in his crew.

An incident involving honorable behavior is the spark.

Throughout the novel to this point, McCain has brilliantly fused military history and fiction. He tells a riveting tale of naval warfare, of life in Germany as the Allies ramp up their bombing campaign, of young love and its eternal optimism. His attention to military detail is obsessive, yet it lends to the story, never distracting from the focus.

But McCain has to end the story somewhere, somehow . . . and I am a little unsatisfied as to how he chose to do this. No, I'm not going to breathe a word about it. Read it yourself. While the ending may not be totally satisfying, McCain still succeeds in writing one of the best pieces of military history fiction to be seem in a long, long time.

For any military history buff, this is a great book. It is unique in a number of ways. First, it is told from the perspective of the loser: Germany. Second, it is naval fiction, not all that uncommon, but a naval tale this good about a modern war is unique. Finally, McCain is an excellent storyteller. It took me two nights to finish this book because of McCain's smooth prose and the fact that I couldn't put it down, no matter how late it got.

A great piece of military fiction and not to be missed.

Jerry

A German hero of gigantic proportions is depicted by Charles McCain in his debut novel An Honorable German. Throughout World War II images of the Nazi war machine were used to denigrate truly patriotic and honorable men who made up traditional military forces who fought alongside those who pledged their allegiance to the Third Reich.

Those who do not understand the call to duty and honor to country will not comprehend the viewpoint expressed by this book. Following orders is a necessity in wartime. Those who take it upon themselves to disobey put themselves at risk with those in power to be dealt with severely. Here, it is the Nazi war machine which runs the country. It has spies placed in the military to tattle on those who do not follow the orders strictly given by the cruel and thoughtless SS.

One of the most famous of all warships, Graf Spree, is described playing an important part in the main character's career. Max Brekendorf, a proud young German naval officer, serves his country with honor and courage. Max emerges to show he is different than the Third Reich which is bent on conquering the world. Max cares for his men, ship, and country. He is recognized for his bravery by being awarded several medals of the highest order including the Iron Cross 1st Class. His personal life is interspersed within his career. This book does it justice by bringing two facets together for an intriguing tale of courage, defiance, and romance.

As the war progresses and the failure of the Nazi war machine becomes evident, hardship in the homeland takes its toll. The Gestapo is taking out its frustrations on the citizenry and even our hero runs into situations which put him at risk. Only through his friends and future in-laws does he find a way to evade the clutches of punishment. Infractions which he committed unknowingly are overlooked, because all he knew was the life of the sea.

A well-devised and orchestrated story by McCain which will at times keep you so absorbed you will not realize you have been reading many Germanic phrases with translations subtly inserted. This is a very good book historically and depicts another side of German military life.

An Honorable German is a military history buff's dream. It is poignant, lyrical fiction woven around only what I can determine are historically accurate facts. It is noted in author Charles McCain's biography that more than twenty years of research went into this novel. It is quite apparent because McCain puts the reader right on board with the German Navy. The descriptions of the warships and the situations taking place aboard and in the North Atlantic waters surrounding the ship are stark, fresh, and intimate. At times the military terms became a little much for me to follow and process, yet I was still entertained.
Max Brekendorf is the admirable, young officer who is dealing with both the harsh realities of war and personal issues. His love for his fiancée Mareth is clear, as is hers for him, the two plan to marry even though her parents do not approve. Max is learning and changing internally at the same time as his country is. Max remains a sympathetic character, especially as his country crumbles around him and he watches his best friend pass before his eyes. (The scenes that surround this event are quite striking.) When incredibly questionable behavior begins to come into play and is exposed, is the real turning point of this novel. It is exciting to follow Max through these harrowing times as he struggles and perseveres. And I will say that the ending of this novel was WONDERFUL. All in all, once you push through the heavy military speak; this book is a definite A.

I have to admit that I read very few novels about WWII, and do not ever remember reading anything about the German Navy, so it was a happy occasion that I came to read this book. From the first chapter, I was hooked. McCain's "The Honorable German" was a fantastic read. His descriptions of conditions on a U-Boat, the emotional and ethical struggles of Max as the commander in charge, and the battles and rescues at sea were fantastic. I loved the fact that McCain weaved in a romantic life for our hero and delivered an indepth account of what it must have been like for a young German naval officer in WWII who was truly "Honorable" in thought, word and deed. A page turner I enjoyed immensely. Annie M.

WWII Germany has often been portrayed - especially by Hollywood - as a nation of cardboard cut out fanatics - in computer war games - targets; and in the PC culture acceptable subjects for social criticism ...

My late father was a B-17 flight engineer who survived the war and nothing in my experience about WWII Germany changed until I did my first tour in West Germany as a Lieutenant. Among the older generation of Germans - I found a mixed bag of bright eyed fanatics to sullen defeated eldsters to convinced Communists who thought their path a better way - but for the most part - the Bundeswehr (German Army) officers I worked with were professional and dismissive of a War they did not fight and a political party that belonged to their parents before they were born. In the other direction - the fact that my dad probably dropped bombs on their dad was accepted as a professional soldier doing his duty for country. It was an amazing revelation - made my work with our NATO allies so much easier - and when training in the US - many I worked with either called or stopped by to pay their respects.

In my opinion the author had an almost impossible task - to humanize German servicemen who DID fight under Hitler, and bring home an unapoligetic storyline that kept the interest of Americans who knew even less history than I did. German civilians suffered as much if not more than their British counterparts - the atrocities committed in occupied East Europe conviently skipped over as only a navy story allowed it to.

As others have already alluded to - the level of detail (probably from first person interviews) was literally amazing. I found myself uttering out loud, "I didn't know that" ... hard for a retired Intelligence Officer to say :).

The ability of one officer to go from a capital ship to a commerce raider to a sub in one career is probably not plausable - but as a vehicle to tell a story (that needed to be told) it worked well. Bringing in the diplomatic corps through a love interest - the political infighting between the Nazi SS apparatus and professional government officials was well portrayed.

The storyline moved you along well - Indian Summer here in California made this my last summer read - a page turner with a probable but uncertain ending. For an American author to portray a German military mindset observing the attitudes and actions of American servicemen was masterfully done. We almost always think of ourselves as the 'goodguys' ... but the insanity of combat removes the moral stops from many of our individual soldiers and our current headlines bring that aspect of war home to us every day. Germany treated most of its military (non-Jewish)prisioners well in the beginning of the war-worsening only as the fortunes of war went against the Nazis. The navy - accurately portrayed in this novel-never required the Nazi salute and stayed as apolitical as possible under the Nazi insanity.

Germany was the target of both Marx/Engels and even Lenin. The aftermath of the German military mutinies of 1918 are glossed over without fully developing a backstory about the street fighting in post WWI Germany between the National Socialists (Nazis) and International Socialists (Communists)- ah perhaps another book for this author!

American POW Camps seem to have been accurately portrayed. The irony of German POWs treating black Americans in the south with more dignity than their American counterparts seems to come from the Carolina roots of the author and was not lost on me at all.

While I can comment on my take of the book, the author and the subject material - (it comes from a 27 year Intelligence background), working as a liaison to the Bundeswehr in West Germany - working with them here in the USA on training exercises and seeing the German recovery in the shadow of the Soviet "Bear" - others may disagree on my acceptance of the "New Germany" - as is your right to do so.

There are those who cannot forgive or forget. This book is not for you. Before casting judgement on me - My mothers side of the family was wiped out in Poland and Austria - 52 humans whose only crime was how they prayed to God. Not every German was a Nazi - most but indeed not all Nazis were German. To understand the madness and diplomatic and economic errors that brought Hitler to power was beyond the scope of this novel - a historical familiarity of this era magnified the characters created and allowed a 'suspension of disbelief' some may think the author was trying to accomplish.

Buy it, read it and pass it to those who need to learn.

In "An Honorable German," Charles McCain has written a smashing debut novel. The author has accomplished what few authors of historical fiction can. He has written a historically accurate book, but he never allows the book's plot and characters to get lost in a tangle of historical details. The plot crackles along from the high seas to an embattled Berlin, from a cramped U-boat to the wide open American desert. McCain peoples his book with fully formed, believable characters, many of whom you come to care for quite deeply. This riveting book (I read it in a weekend) reminds me of C.S. Forester, Douglas Reeman, and Brian Callison at their best.

In spite of his adolescent tendencies when attempting to write romantic scenes (talk of pulsating erections should be relegated to other types of fiction) McCain manages to pull off this riveting tale of a German Naval officer struggling with the effects of World War II. The novel puts certain things in a perspective that is not often seen (i.e. American racism in all its ugliness in the midst of the struggle against the "bad" racists), and removes some of the glamour that is often lavished on war by Hollywood and other, more superficial works.

I'm not usually one to read novels. My interest is non-fiction, particularly military history. Because of this, I'm even less inclined to read military fiction. That genre tends toward the overwrought, patriotic glorification of battle so far from reality as to be utterly unreadable. There are notable exceptions: The Caine Mutiny, Edward Beach's Up Periscope, James Webb's Fields of Fire, and as a boy, the adventure tales of Robb White (which hold up remarkably well when read as an adult).


Add Charles McCain's An Honorable German to my list of readable, even exceptional military fiction.


In An Honorable German, McCain offers us a thoughtful, extremely well-researched novel looking at the inner struggle of an old-school Kriegsmarine officer, Max Brekendorf, as he finds his sense of honor and duty challenged by events and a dawning realization that the regime ruling his native and much loved Germany is evil. McCain begins his story on the Graf Spee, the German pocket battleship ultimately scuttled by her crew after being trapped by the Royal Navy in a neutral South American port. The ship is shown as a noble thing, crewed by officers and men who are genuine sailors steeped in the traditions of a proud and honorable (if not always successful) naval service. The characters come alive in McCain's hands, developing an honesty and depth that is remarkable. Brekendorf is placed in the center of the action, shown as a pivotal player in an action that really occurred. This was a risky move on McCain's part, but it is done with a skill that marks the author as a step above the usual military fiction writer. The move pays off handsomely, as it allows us to see the deep ambivalence honorable men feel when confronted with no-win dilemmas as they work to find solutions that don't offend their duty to country and their own personal inner moral compass. Brekendorf initially questions the decision of the Graf Spee's captain to scuttle the vessel rather than risk battle with a superior (and much admired by the officers of the German ship) Royal Navy force that can end only in wholesale death of the crew, or capture by the British. It is seen by Brekendorf and his fellow officers as dishonorable in itself to scuttle rather than go down fighting. Disappointed as Brekendorf is, the seed of his Captain's honor is sowed in his own heart, and the rest of the novel shows us how that seed blossoms into full flower.


McCain does not try to give us a detailed account of his hero's service. He moves ahead by months at a time. After showing Max surviving a harrowing sinking of a disguised commerce raider in the Indian Ocean, he moves ahead to 1941 occupied Paris and introduces us Max's fiance, Mareth von Woller, daughter of a disapproving father, a man of the Prussian nobility who is a high functionary in the German Foreign Office. It's during his stay with Mareth that Max has his first, shocking run-in with the Gestapo and the more sordid aspects of the ruling regime. His arrest for inadvertently interfering with the arrest of a spy does not lead to an epiphany where Max suddenly sees the evil his country is wrapped in -- that would be silly and reduce the novel to the level of politically correct moralizing -- but it raises moral doubts in Max's heart.


The arrest places Max's naval career in doubt, but with the reluctant intercession of Herr von Woller and Germany's need for well-trained naval officers, he is able to continue on. This time around, Max is a new commander of a new U-boat, U-114. His new boat is crewed primarily by less enthusiastic sailors and hard-core Nazis, with the exception of a cadre old Kriegsmarine sailors. The new crew has little sense of honor, duty or even the horror of combat, the latter of which is rudely remedied in short order. The new crew begins to reinforce Max's budding doubt about the honor and decency of his leaders and the German cause. This is not easy, because Max witnesses firsthand the horror of an RAF night bombing raid on Berlin. He is torn between a raging anger at the British for what he sees as their inhuman, dishonorable war on Germany's civillians, and a growing realization that his own government might be every bit as inhuman and dishonorable. Several things hammer this point home to Berkendorf, adding to the ambivalence of his inner struggle.


There is so much to recommend in McCain's novel that it's hard to know where to start. His story is not long, nor does it need to be. It isn't an exhaustive history of the U-boat service, nor a in-depth study of Nazi evil, both subjects well-covered elsewhere. It's a well written, character-based novel of a realistic, likable hero. His narrative style is smooth, easy and entertaining, never falling into the frustrating, numbing detail of a novel by Stephen King or Tom Clancy. Like Clancy, McCain offers us a great deal of technical information on the vessel's Max is on and the history of the Kriegsmarine, but unlike Clancy, McCain offers his information in a way that is unobtrusive and a flows nicely into the narrative. It never falls into a pedantic lecture on minutiae, nor does it insult the intelligence of the more knowledgeable reader (I consider myself well read on World War Two in general, and naval history in particular, and I learned a few things. Just two examples are the use of blue nighttime battle lights as opposed to the red lights more familiar to me, and they way neutral countries were able to continue commercial air flights in and out of Germany -- and I assume England as well). McCain has also offered us a view of the war from the perspective of a patriotic German. He never reduces himself to dishonestly imposing our Western moral compass on a German. He shows the patriotism and the anger a typical German officer felt toward his country and his wartime foe without ever glorifying the underlying evil of the Nazi regime. This is tricky ground, but the Kriegsmarine as a service was less susceptible to the influence of the Nazi party than other arms of the Wehrmacht, thus enabling McCain to thread the needle. McCain also shows us that German naval officers, at least the true sailors, never lost respect for their Royal Navy foes. McCain is not so kind towards American naval honor. Had McCain fallen prey to the modern demand that anything German in World War Two must be shown as inherently evil, neatly divided into Nazi's and phony resisters, his novel would have suffered. Instead, he remains even-handed and honest throughout.


I'm leaving it to the reader to discover how all this plays out. Suffice to say, this a rare military novel that succeeds on many levels, from narrative flow to detail of wartime life from a different perspective. It firmly places McCain in select company, and one can only hope he has more ink in his pen.

This book caught my eye on the new book display at my town's public library. An Honorable German is the story of Maximillian (Max) Brekendorf, an officer of the German Navy during WWII. The action of the book begins on September 30, 1939 and ends on September 10, 1944. The story of Max's war experience shows the slow destruction of the naval traditions that were Max's passion as well as the repeated bombings of Berlin and the decline of Nazi Germany. There are some great sea battles, details about life aboard ship and a U-boat, and tensions between true-believer Nazis and those who are not.

I love seafaring books and that's the main reason I decided to read the book, but I also thought it would be interesting to read a novel from the perspective of a German naval officer. A few years ago I read Shadow Divers and explored the U505 exhibit at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, so I had some familiarity with the topic.

The novel gives a glimpse of what it may have been like for a career military man confronted with the political dictatorship of Hitler and National Socialism, which, on the extreme right, wanted to see the eradication of all forms of rank and status. Max had no interest in politics. He'd wanted to serve in the navy since he was a young boy and is trained at the prestigious Marineschule Mürwik.

While McCain makes the point that naval officers were not allowed to join the Nazi Party, through various characters he makes it clear that there were party fanatics in the navy, particularly toward the later years of the war when younger men who were indoctrinated in the Hitler Youth became old enough to serve. Basically, Max is a thinking, moral man, a naval officer who wants to do the right thing and that isn't always in line with Nazi policy. He is on a mission to sink enemy ships, but he also follows the custom of the sea and ensures survivors are rescued and treated well.

The novel also shows the steady destruction of the city of Berlin and how men who were away fighting the war didn't necessarily know the reality of the conditions that their loved ones were experiencing or, if they did, didn't comprehend the nightmare they were living. There is a striking contrast between Max's life at sea: cruising around for days or weeks trying to find an enemy ship to attack vs. being a civilian in Berlin who experiences regular hours-long, nerve shattering airplane bombings and seeing their loved ones killed and the city turned to rubble. Coming home on leave after a long deployment to see a beautiful city after months/years of bombing was certainly a shock, but it was also a reality check against the official Nazi party propaganda that claimed they were on their way to winning the war.

McCain's offers a succinct description of the RAF's bombing method:
"They began with blockbuster high-explosive bombs to blow the roofs off buildings and blow the windows in, exposing wooden beams and interiors, giving fire endless pathways along which to spread and providing through-drafts of air to rush it along. Then came the small incendiary bombs, falling in their hundreds of thousands into buildings; and then the fires began. Fires medieval in their terror; fires that could not be extinguished because they were composed of burning phosphorus; liquid fire that flowed in burning streams down gutters and into the basements where women and children took shelter; fire so terrible, fire so merciless, there was nothing to do but run from it with all the strength God had given you; fire spreading so fast that running with all your strength was never enough. Fire so hot it set the very asphalt in the street ablaze and if your feet became stuck in the liquid tar, you burned like a torch, your screams unheard over the roaring of the firestorm. This was the hell brought down on Hamburg by the Tommies, and now they were bringing it to Berlin" (263). And then when survivors were digging out those who may still be alive, "Occasional explosions sounded in the distance as delayed -fuse bombs went off--designed to take out the rescuers and onlookers who gathered after a raid" (269). It also happened that water mains were shattered during the bombing and people trapped in the shelter drowned (270).

Here are some examples of the "smaller" details McCain includes:

* The government prohibited the public expression of mourning for a soldier who died because it was considered unpatriotic. After all, it was an honor for a husband/son/brother to give his life for the Führer (274).
* Returning to Berlin Max notes that someone wrote in chalk on the remaining portion of a building's wall: "All members of the Schleicher family are dead" (209).
* All German naval ships employed Chinese laundrymen (15).
* Ship decks were made of teak wood because it doesn't splinter when hit by shells. In the days before ships were made of steel, most casualties in sea battles came from flying splinters (55).

An Honorable German is McCain's first novel and although it is a bit uneven--the tension between the fanatical Nazis and Max is simplistic at times and the POW section is lacking in atmosphere and tension that infuses other parts of the book--I highly recommend this novel to readers who like military fiction, thrillers, or German history.

Deborah Grosvenor is McCain's agent. She's the agent that discovered Tom Clancy (not that I am a big Clancy fan, but that is saying something), so it's probably a safe assumption to say we'll see more naval novels from McCain. I hope so.