The Sheer Nerve: A Mission Behind Enemy Lines
In the spring of 1943, monstrous concrete bunkers on the French west coast protect a key supply and repair area for U-boats. Captain Hook leads a ragged group of British commandos and submariners on a mission to destroy that base.
He and his men shoot their way onto and seize a German submarine, U-911, holed up in the Azores a thousand miles out in the Atlantic. Then, with little training and no shake-down cruises, the Brits hurry to take U-911 east. Soon they encounter other German subs slaughtering an allied convoy. They are chased by an allied destroyer and later, when running on the surface, an RAF war plane bent on sinking them. At last U-911, with its specialized fighters, deck guns and torpedoes, becomes the Trojan Horse in the German U-boat base.
Not fooled for long by this sneak attack, the Germans in and around the sub base vastly outnumber the Brits. Captain Hook must find a way to not only destroy the docks and the U-boats in them, but also lead his men through the adjacent town and into the countryside, where they might connect with the French resistance and perhaps find their way home.
Lofthouse captures military jargon, the close quarters of submarine life, and the chaos of war at sea and on land. He ladles out graphic descriptions of men hit by bullets, concussed by explosions, and savaged in hand-to-hand combat. Lofthouse is at his best when portraying interesting characters (a young Brit who deciphers German secret codes, an old German general not fully enthralled by a younger Nazi general). More of that character development and less of the near-constant gory war details would have made this a better read.
