Devils with Wings: The Green Devils Assault on Fort Eben Emael [Paperback]

Harvey Blacks Debut novel, `Devils with Wings' follows the fortunes of Paul and Max, members of the elite fallschirmjaeger parachute regiment who in 1940 lead the assault on the fortress Eben Emael in Belgium.

First off we follow Paul, as he completes his training, enduring tough physical exercise and intensive weapon training. He survives everything that his instructors throw at him and after completing his parachute training he is posted as an officer to the famous fallschirmjaeger parachute regiment. Here he meets Max, a tough and experienced NCO who takes Paul under his wing.

They form a close relationship while cutting their teeth in Poland, where Paul comes to the attention of his senior officers and he and his company are selected for a special mission sanctioned by the Furher himself.

Paul and Max find themselves back in training, this time working with gliders and preparing to attack Eben Emael, the formidable Belgium fortress. Paul and Max must use all of their training and experience to guide their company though the mission that is critical to the Furhers plans in the west.

I have always avoided fiction books about the Second World war, a bad experience with them as a teenager had put me off so I approached this book with some trepidation. I was pleasantly surprised with this book. I enjoyed the story because even though I had heard of the attack on Eben Emael I didn't really know any details about it.

The story is well paced and very well researched. The authors own military background comes though in his writing especially when it comes to the banter between Max, Paul and the rest of the company. The relationship between Paul and Max is a real strength of the book and I'm looking forward to this developing in further book.

If I had a criticism of the book it would be that every now and then, it felt that you were reading a factual account of the attack, this was especially evident at the beginning of each chapter. This is only a minor criticism as it doesn't interfere in the pace of the story.

This is a great debut book from Harvey Black and I am looking forward to the second book as Paul and Max participate in the invasion of Crete.

I only recently became aware of Harvey Black (after the publication of his second book) and, although I have since got to know Harvey through the medium of Twitter, I was still a little daunted by the prospect of Devils With Wings. My area of interest is very much ancient and medieval history, and WW2 is somewhat out of my comfort zone (though I enjoy a good war movie as much as the next man).

It turns out that I waited with unneccessary trepidation. I'll forego the plot rundown as it's given in other reviews. I'll focus instead on strengths and weaknesses.

The strengths of the novel are:

The characters, who are believable and sympathetic and have an excellent interplay and arc. Their cameraderie and humour is just what you might expect from such a unit and shows elements of the author's past and knowledge. Choosing to write a story from the persepective of the Germans in the war is a brave move, I think, and to make them reasonable and sympathetic (which I realise many would have been) despite all the prejudices of the reader is a masterful feat.

The story. The story and the pace at which it is told keeps the reader turning to find out what happens next. At no point did I hit a lull that gave me pause. For me, regardless of the training and the actual assault that form the bulk of the book, the best (and most tense) part was the flight of the gliders and the build-up to the main show. The main strength within the story itself is the sheer detail, which most clearly of all shows the author's astounding knowledge and understanding of the subject.

The weaknesses for me were:

The editing. This is something I am aware that I suffer from in my own work and is the bane of almost all self-published and small press publications. Though the failure in editing did not ruin my enjoyment of the book and certainly will not put me off reading the sequel, it did jar at times. Having now spoken to the author, I believe that this may be corrected in a future edition and is not the case with the sequel. It is the editing that knocked off the otherwise-deserved 5th star for me and if this is changed in the next imprint, that extra star will be added.

A little confusion (though this has not impacted on my star rating as it is more my failing than the books for my lack of understanding of the period.) I felt at times as though the book could have done with a small section at the beginning on the organisation of the units involved and the ranks (which are given in German throughout.) In addition, a map or overview of the princpipal locations (including a schematic of the fort) would have been amazingly helpful to me.

All in all, a big well-done. I look forward to reading both Silk Drop and, when it comes out, Frozen Sun.

Now this is my kind of book. Well written and well researched. Really atmospheric and miles better than the likes of Sven Hasssel. You will not be disappointed. I'm told there's a third one in the works. Can't wait to see what happens at Leningrad.