Fox at the Front
- Book Review,
by Douglas Niles
From Publishers Weekly
This World War II what-if novel picks up where Fox on the Rhine (an alternate history of the Battle of the Bulge) ended, with a disillusioned Field Marshal Rommel surrendering his armies to the Allies, but continuing operations against the Nazis under the tutelage of General Patton's forces. Soon President Roosevelt sees the value of founding a German rump state to help transfer power and reconstruct the country, just as the Allies did in Italy. As the new commander of the German Republican Army, Rommel operates alongside Patton's Third Army, creating a sort of WWII "Dream Team" for war gamers. Imagining how the dignified, sympathetic German commander might have reacted to the full revelation of Nazi atrocities, Niles and Dobson depict Rommel as shaken to the very core by his complicity in Hitler's final solution. The authors' attention to military detail and maneuvers would satisfy any drill instructor, and they imbue even minor historical characters with authenticity and personality, demonstrating how an individual's actions and reactions shape history. This is a thoroughly plausible what-if scenario, and as such will please and titillate alternate history fans, WWII buffs, war gamers and others.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
The outstanding sequel to Fox on the Rhine (2000) continues Niles and Dobson's alternate World War II to its bloody conclusion. The Soviet Union reenters the war, at first fighting both Himmler's reeling Third Reich and the new German Republic, a nation-in-arms under the effective leadership of the Allies' newest general, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Many of the unfolding events are rendered from the perspective of Rommel and his entourage, much of the rest through the eyes of various old friends from the 19th Armored Division. The Third Reich's side appears as seen by ruthless SS Colonel Joachim Piefer, but even more by the memorable Lukas Vogel, who comes of age as a Waffen SS lieutenant before his sixteenth birthday. Character-centered alternate history is not that common, and this is an eminently successful example of it, thanks to Niles and Dobson's work on real and fictional characterizations alike and their choice of Rommel as principal protagonist. Standing head and shoulders above its predecessor, this is must reading for imaginative WWII buffs. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
Praise for Fox on the Rhine
"For people who love history, written by people who know it well"
--Larry Bond
"An intriguing what-if scenario, and one that could have happened ... not since SSGB by Len Deighton have I seen a more credible conclusion to WWII ... the book is a triumph!"
--Walter J. Boyne, bestselling co-author of the The Wild Blue
"A colossal epic of a World War II that might have been...A real page turner!"
-- Frank Chadwick, New York Times bestselling author of The Desert Shield Fact Book
Book Description
The Third Reich has been routed...
But the war is far from over. A new adversary is poised to attack on the eastern front.
Former opponents George S. Patton and Erwin Rommel must join forces to neutralize the remnants of SS forces bent on carrying out the Reich's "Final Solution" in Eastern Europe. They are unaware of an intended Soviet land grab that could lead to the Stalinist occupation of postwar Europe and an ongoing Cold War that might destroy any chance for a lasting peace in our time.
From the Inside Flap
"Character-centered alternate history is not that common, and this is an eminently successful example of it, thanks to Niles and Dobson's work on real and fictional characterizations alike and their choice of Rommel as principal protagonist¿ this is must reading for imaginative WWII buffs." --Booklist
"The book is a triumph" --Walter Boyne on Fox on the Rhine
Buy from Amazon
Compare Prices
|
|
Home
