The Enemy Wirt Williams 9781494083731 Books
Download As PDF : The Enemy Wirt Williams 9781494083731 Books
This is a new release of the original 1951 edition.
The Enemy Wirt Williams 9781494083731 Books
Not a lot of action in this semi-autobiographic novel, but it closely mirrors the stories my father told me about his service during WWII on a Fletcher class destroyer. Ninety percent of the time it was routine, boring grunt work, (he was a torpedoman's mate), interspersed with a few "interesting" moments. Not unlike this book.If you're expecting non-stop action, read something else, P.T. Deutermann's "Pacific Glory" for example. If you want to see what life on a destroyer in WWII was most likely like for the vast majority of the men who served, this book will describe that, in sometimes numbing detail.
As an aside and not really related to this review, my father always told me he hated the Navy, and hated being in the Navy, but he wouldn't have traded the experience for anything in the world. I always found that an interesting statement.
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The Enemy Wirt Williams 9781494083731 Books Reviews
Good story about sea duty in a USN hunterkiller group consisting of three well experienced four stack destroyers and an escort carrier.
It presents the work of a group like this realistically. In my view the 4 stack destroyers were in some cases all that was available but far from ideal for that mission. In reality and in the story, the destroyer in the study was worn out and was a maintenance problem. As in the military, some crew were good and others were questionable like in any real military unit.
All in all a good story.
This book should be a WW II classic. It belongs on the same bookshelf as The Naked and the Dead, Twelve O'clock High, The Cruel Sea, HMS Ulysses, and Battle Cry.The portrayal of the life of the officers of the antiquated Clemson class destroyer on one of the first North Atlantic hunter-killer missions is not to be missed. Although the final battle is anti-climactic, the story is riveting. But, it is the development of the characters under the stress of being both hunters and the hunted for day after repetitive day under the primititive living conditions, that stands out.
It’s always a pleasure to take a chance on a book and then find it to be enjoyably unique. Writ Williams takes WWII naval warfare beyond the typical scenes of artillery salvos, depth charges, and torpedo attacks. Rather, The Enemy is a book about its characters and their life in the Navy on board a small ship in the Atlantic.
What Williams captures so well is that quality of Navy life (and for that matter the military experience) known as the wait. The wait is a period of time that has to be suffered by individuals before a pre-disclosed fate can actually be experienced. If you or your unit has been assigned a task in the Navy, you will have to experience the wait before the task can transpire. And while the wait itself is not that exciting, the effect that it has on individuals is interesting. It brings out the true nature of people while at the same time forces people to repress their fear of the future. It forces people to cope as best they can.
Williams takes his characters through the wait. His characters range in experience from the newest sailors to oldest of salts. He also explores a range of personalities and how different people behave under the prolonged stress of not being able to do what they have sent to accomplish. And the ship, old and outdated, experiences its own form of waiting as it steams towards a new war 20 years after being launched too late for the First World War.
The Enemy accomplishes what it promises to do in that the characters truly act out life aboard a Navy destroyer during WWII. Only Williams, who once lived through his own story and then became an accomplished writer, could write such a novel in such a convincing manner. And it is my hope, that such truth will not be forgotten in favor of more flashy war stories of the typical type.
Semi-autobiographical, this book is a novelization of the author's own experience aboard a "four-piper" destroyer on patrol in the Atlantic in WWII. The sights, smells, and sounds of a ship jump right off the pages of this book. It's abundantly evident that it was written by someone who knew what he was writing about. Perhaps the best aspect of this book is the psychological analysis of men under strain, in this case as part of a hunter-killer group searching for German U-boats (the "Enemy" as referenced in the title), who are in turn searching for them. This book is a fantastic read, especially if you wish to embark a pitching, rolling, tossing destroyer for a combat patrol in the North Atlantic. Dress warmly and hang on - it's a fascinating ride!
This story of the men of the fictional USS DEE, a four-piper destroyer assigned to an early ASW (anti-submarine warfare) Task Group in the North Atlantic of late 1943. It is the personal story of the men of that ship and how they experienced the routine of underway watch-standing in the environmental distress of cold-weather steaming out on the open decks. The author deftly puts the reader on the DEE's port bridge-wing for the frigid and mind-numbing tedium of mid-watches, and in the crew's quarters for the duration of the cruise. The constant PING PING of the sonar is your everlasting companion and the frustrations of the often fruitless hunt for the elusive U-Boats reported to be in the search areas comprise this story. The descriptions of weather effects, watch-standing routines, and all-hands supply loading evolutions will be familiar to any sailor who served at sea in the past seventy-five years. The sudden glare of a flashlight in one's eyes announcing an approaching watch-relief and the utter fatigue and discomfort of rising and dressing in a frigid wardroom-stateroom/crew's berthing revived long-forgotten personal memories. This human element is the focus of this tale, rather than the shoot-em up heroics I had expected. This was the most pleasant surprise, the authentic element of the story. Expect neither the usual war story nor a comedy, although there are elements of both. This is a compelling read, and a reminder of the continuing sacrifices of those who choose to go to sea while we stay warm and comfy on dry land. Well worth the time and money. BRAVO-ZULO seventy-three years late.
Not a lot of action in this semi-autobiographic novel, but it closely mirrors the stories my father told me about his service during WWII on a Fletcher class destroyer. Ninety percent of the time it was routine, boring grunt work, (he was a torpedoman's mate), interspersed with a few "interesting" moments. Not unlike this book.
If you're expecting non-stop action, read something else, P.T. Deutermann's "Pacific Glory" for example. If you want to see what life on a destroyer in WWII was most likely like for the vast majority of the men who served, this book will describe that, in sometimes numbing detail.
As an aside and not really related to this review, my father always told me he hated the Navy, and hated being in the Navy, but he wouldn't have traded the experience for anything in the world. I always found that an interesting statement.
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