Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM

Watch on the Rhine

(Tom Kratman, John Ringo)

"The problem with the world's left is that they cannot tell the difference between 'I disagree with you' and 'you are evil'. The problem with the world's right is that they cannot tell the difference between 'I disagree with you' and 'you are a (insert current enemy of choice)-loving traitor to the US of A.” - Me

I must admit that when I heard about WOTR I was seriously considering ignoring it, or even refusing to read it. There were two reasons for that; first because it involved the SS as heroes (certainly compared to the villainous Posleen) and second because it was set in the middle of the Posleen War, with the outcome of that particular campaign already fixed. I know from experience – a misguided attempt with the EMPIRE universe – that writing such a book can be extremely difficult, more so perhaps with another author. Ringo’s universe is fleshed out by Kratman, the famous and infamous (two for the price of one) author of A State of Disobedience.

The basic plot is fairly simple and easily summed up. Faced by the certainty of an invasion by the Posleen, a monstrous human-eating race of centaur-like creatures, the German Chancellor decides to rejuvenate a number of the dreaded SS troopers, including at least one real villain. In one emotional scene from CH1;

"There is one resource yet we have not touched. One that I would never have touched, myself, before seeing this nightmare with my own eyes."

One resource? One resource. What could the Kanzler mean? Suddenly Günter's eyes widened with understanding. "Mein Herr, you can't mean them."

Tightening his overcoat about him in the cold, reaching up a hand to brush away yet more of the steadily falling snow, the Kanzler looked skyward as if asking for guidance. Not receiving any, still with eyes turned heavenward, he answered, definitively, "Them."

Events proceed as one might expect in a Ringo book. The politicians are evil – with one exception. The Posleen land and the SS – portrayed with a searing honesty - kick ass, the book leading towards a well written, but gruesome ending as the Posleen advance and…well, I won’t spoil the ending. It’s hard to pull the two author’s writing apart – I suspect that Kratman wrote most of it – but both of them have definitely improved. There is far more feeling in the following quote:

The chancellor smiled with indulgence. "You are so full of shit it's coming out of your ears, Mühlenkampf. What is more, you know you are. A 'moment's peace'? Nonsense. The only peace you've ever known was from 1916, when you were first called to the colors, to 1918, when the Great War ended. Then you had some more 'peace' from 1918 to 1923 in the Freikorps . . . Oh, yes, I know all about you, Mühlenkampf. And then you found the greatest peace from 1939 to 1945, didn't you? Get off your high horse, SS man. War is your peace. And peace is your hell."

Mühlenkampf cocked his head to one side. He tried and failed to keep a small, darting smile from his lips. "You missed one, Herr Kanzler. Spain, 1936 to 1939. Unofficially, of course. That was a fun time."

I do, however, have two bones to pick with the authors. The first one is the limited preparations made by Europe for the invasion. Germany should have been able to do more to meet the invasion, even without the need to send troops offworld. Admittedly, the EU has been something of a paper tiger – witness the debacle in Yugoslavia – but there is a serious difference between such a war and an all-out invasion. The German and French nuclear industries, for example, should have been able to produce more nuclear weapons than the book suggests. The French aren’t particularly good at wartime government – I have a suspicion that Kratman agrees with me on this – but they should be capable of doing more than is suggested. Can’t blame everything on the Darhel, after all.

The second major bone I wish to pick is the treatment of the world’s left, hence the quote above. Now, I share most of Kratman’s attitude towards the left, but the Posleen invasion is not Iraq 2003. The situation is very different; in 2003 the French and Germans assumed the positions they did – I feel a rude joke coming on – because of global power politics. To paraphrase Mead, the French wanted to manoeuvre so that they would gain influence in global affairs out of it. Careful manoeuvring might just have made them appear to be the kingmakers of the war, while opposition to invading Iraq would have made them the commanders of the anti-US movement, hence giving them a greater role in world affairs.

Or, in simple terms, whatever the outcome of the Iraq War, they saw no way in which they would be affected directly. Europe has a very different attitude to the Terror War than the US; most see it in terms of a conventional threat rather than a clash of civilisations. (And I won’t get into that debate.)

The Posleen invasion, however, is different. The French and Germans should have been able to do much more to meet the invasion, even without the help of the SS. The hardcore of the left might still have been a pain – some people just won’t see the approaching storm until they get struck by lightning – but the great mass of civilians should have been able to learn. Military conscription, control of war production plants, the resulting sharp drop in unemployment…the left should have dwindled to a hardcore - dangerous, but very far from fatal.

The combination of Kratman and Ringo is an inspired one. Both authors have skills that the other lacks; they complement one another. Sometimes, however, it can be ruined by the political bias:

Mühlenkampf shrugged his indifference. "A political fanatic is dangerous no matter if he wants to hang capitalists or to gas Jews or to make economic life impossible, Herr Kanzler."

"I am no fanatic, SS man," bridled Günter.

"Neither am I, bureaucrat," answered Mühlenkampf, coolly. "I am a soldier and I rather doubt the chancellor brought me here to discuss politics. But to my mind a Red fanatic and a Green fanatic are indistinguishable. And Germany has had more than enough of both."

Ah, well, I didn't resurrect this man for his modern sensibilities, thought the chancellor.

And…

At length, when he had forced her back to movement to escape the rampaging soldiers, she continued. "It is impossible for people to act like those men did. They just can't have. It is impossible that our good intentions did not prevail here today. It is impossible that we are about to be invaded. What intelligent species could possibly act the way they say these 'Posleen' do? The universe simply cannot be set up that way. It is impossible."

Schüler said nothing. Yet he thought, "Impossible," you say . . . and still the soldiers acted as they did. Impossible for good intentions to be for naught. And yet they were. Why then is it impossible for these aliens to act as we are told they will? Because you insist on denying it? Is it that you cannot see the world or the universe as it is? How much else are you wrong about, Liesel, you and all your sort?

This book manages the impossible. It is going to be more controversial than Kratman’s previous book. I suspect that it will even outdo Ghost. There are times when this political bias interferes with the plot; would France’s Muslims really object to Jewish refugees when most of them are being guzzled by the Posleen, not to mention that the Jews would be leaving Israel? (If Israel does fall; they’re the best army in the world at present.)

Side note; a side story might be Bin Ladin’s defence of Arabia. I could write a great short story about that. (“Arrgh – where are the virgins? What am I doing in the fire?”)

Still, it’s a good read. It adds depth to a very interesting universe, particularly the ending and the hints about what is to come. After the disappointment of Cally’s War, this book puts the fun back in the Posleen-verse. Four out of five.

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