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A novel or World War
II by Douglas W Jacobson
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: McBooks Press (October 1, 2008)
ISBN-13: 978-1590131664
$16.95
$7.69
From the Publisher:
Painting a vivid and terrifying picture of
war-torn Europe during World War II, this tale chronicles the lives of Anna, a
Krakow University professor, and her husband Jan, a Polish cavalryman. After
they are separated and forced to flee occupied Poland, Anna soon finds herself
caught up in the Belgian Resistance, while Jan becomes embedded in British
Intelligence efforts to contact the Resistance in Poland. He soon realizes that
he must seize this opportunity to search for his lost wife, Anna.
My review:
Major Jan Kopernik of the Polish Cavalry Brigade, the 29th
Uhlans, says it best: “The German blitzkrieg was not just a military strategy –
it was an all-out campaign of terror intent on the total destruction of his
homeland.”
Night of Flames is a well-detailed fictionalized account of
the Nazi campaign in Poland, and the eventual resistance. Anna Kopernik, an
associate university history professor in Krakow, her husband Jan, a major in
the army, and Anna’s father, Thaddeus Piekarski, give their first-hand account
of life during this terrible time. From being front and center when Warsaw is
bombed, to watching the Luftwaffe bomb farmers on the roads and rural villages,
to the occupation of Krakow, to joining the resistance, each of them deal with
the tragedy.
Thaddeus decides to be patient at home, believing the Allies
will rescue the city soon. Jan leads his brigade into battle trying to defend a
poorly prepared country that still depended on civilian telephone lines and
beasts of burden to move equipment on their poor roads; Anna and her Jewish
friends return to Krakow from a visit to Warsaw where the Nazi occupation
edicts put them all in danger.
Anna and Jan do the best they can to live long enough,
fighting for their homeland, to find each other again. Anna gets involved in
the resistance when she escapes to friends in Belgium just before Jan comes to
Krakow on business for the exiled government because of his ability to speak
German.
Jacobson’s attention to detail shows his respect for the
era, for the events, equipment, geography and technology of the time, even
weather patterns and clothing and food. While perhaps circumstances seem
aligned in perfect favor for the characters, the account is fiction, and
fiction asks for the ability to take a leap of faith upon occasion.
Realistic to the point that I occasionally buzzed through
detailed battle accounts, Jacobson’s Night of Flames will offer readers who
enjoy well-documented World War II history a great few hours back in time.
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