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3.0 out of 5 stars
Not great literature but it's an engrossing read, Jul 11 2002
This really rates a little more than a 3 because it's a rousing story and less than a 4 because the writing is just average.In this first book of the Brotherhood of War series, Major Robert Bellmon, West Point '39, is blasted out of his Sherman tank and captured by the Germans in Tunisia in 1943. With other prisoners he's shipped to Italy and then on to Poland. Colonel Graf Peter-Paul von Grieffenberg, German nobleman and pre-war friend of Bellmon's father-in-law, learns of Russian atrocities in Poland. Anxious to alert the American government to Russian war crimes, von Grieffenberg arranges to have Bellmon visit the sites and provide him with photographs and documentation. Tech sergeant Rudy MacMillan arrives with a truckload of dispirited, demoralized American prisoners. Under Bellmon's leadership, MacMillan shapes up the troops and the two become fast friends. Meanwhile, back at West Point, Cadet Corporal Sanford T. Felter decides to resign from the Corps and got to war. Because of his fluency in Russian, Polish and German, he is assigned to headquarters, 40th Armored Division, in Europe. As the war grinds to an end in 1945, the Russians are on the move. Von Grieffenberg's troops march the American officers from Poland into Germany, leaving enlisted men to fend for themselves. The story goes on to postwar Germany where Gen. Waterford wants his polo team to beat the French and since the French will play only with officers, Waterford promotes his best polo player from Private to Lieutenant. Sandy Felter (the West Pointer) ends up in Greece. The series is a fascinating look at a history of the army. It's pretty thorough and always entertaining. Griffin's writing is more journalistic than literary but he tells a rousing story. Military enthusiasts should love this series.
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