Easter Day, 1941

I loved this book. I could not find any mention of military experience by the author which made it even more remarkable. The descriptive realism of the tank battles and desert warefare were extremely effective to the point of almost feeling the tension, the temperature, the combat mood and the smell of battle. Great book.

Blockbuster novel of a British crew in a captured Italian light tank led by an ex-patriated American with experience in the Spanish Civil War (the first war where tanks were used to do more than break thru trench defenses.) The British under General Wavell and their Dominion troops have been soundly defeated by the Desert Fox and are in full retreat to the wire at Cairo, leaving only the Australian pocket at Tobruk intact. The crew battles enemy armored vehicles, prowling aircraft, anti-tank guns, Nazi and Italian ground troops and even Nazi panzers not to mention the extreme heat and many hazards of the desert itself. Not only a novel about the cruelty/savagery of war but a novel about survival. I rarely give any books 5 stars but this blockbuster novel deserves it. If you read it plus Robert Crisp's nonfiction work, Brazen Chariots, you should have a pretty accurate view of what desert warfare in armor was like back then.

This is my favorite war novel, and one of my favorite novels, period. I've read it at least 5 or 6 times, and everyone I've lent my copy to has raved about it. A taut, realistic, perfectly constructed thriller that will have you reading till the wee hours to finish it. I won't reiterate the plot, the other reviews cover it. Every scene is perfectly described, every detail is mentioned but doesn't distract, the characters are fully fleshed and expertly visualized. After finishing this book, you'll swear it's a memior of an actual event written by a soldier with a gifted memory - after you wipe the sweat from your brow, and check the distant desert horizon for sign of enemy movement. That's how immersed in this writer's wartime world you'll be. It's too bad it's out of print, but if you haven't read it, buy a used copy. G.F. Borden wrote two excellent novels after this, and hasn't been heard from in a while. Mr. Borden, please write another!

This was a well-written, exciting novel about action in the Libyan desert during the initial attack by Rommel in March-April 1941. The plot centers arounds the attempt by a mixed British crew in an Italian tank to return to their own lines. What lifts the book above the run-of-the-mill WWII novel is the tight focus on the actions of the tank crew and the frequent encounters that propel the story line. Highly recommended but not for everybody.

This is an excellant book worthy of a re-read. It portrays Allied and Nazi soldiers not as cookie cutter good and bad guys, but as people with their own virtues and faults. As good a story as Saving Private Ryan.