Blood of Honour

Impressive!

Billed as "Sharpe for WWII meets Commando comics" that description is completely correct. This is the third in the Jack Tanner series, and really its more of the same: if you liked the previous two books (The Odin Mission and Darkest Hour) then you'll like this. If military fiction is not your thing, then you won't - there is not a lot of gripping characterisation going on here, more struggle for survival with extra explosives.Blood of Honour is the 1941 Battle of Crete, and is historically accurate in details large and small (as you'd expect from a historian who also writes novels). There is a short note at the end of the book about the real campaign and how it played out: it really is a bit of a mystery how Crete fell to the Nazis.Tanner here is part of the British army dug in at Heraklion, fending off the assault by German paratroopers, while making friends and enemies (not necessarily in that order) with the locals and then retreating by RN Destroyer, pleasure yacht, foot and submarine. Holland does a good job of capturing the fatigue and disappointment of retreat after retreat for the British Army, but then again, you are never in any doubt about how it will all end: Tanner is never in any real danger, in the sense it is always clear he is our hero, for all he is drawn in the odd shade of grey.I haven't read Sharpe (yet) so can't speak how it compares in a literary sense, but this is readable, accurate and, if you want suspense, why read military historical fiction at all - the result has generally been known for a fair while! Holland is probably a better historian than fictioneer, yet one can do worse than read Blood of Honour.

I read this as i was heading to Crete. It gave a great background to what the kiwis experienced fighting there. A good story of the defense by the partisans and the allies. Not so sure about blaming Freyburg for the great loss - making decisions in that sort of situation woildnt be that clear.

This is the third novel by James Holland to feature his WW2 hero, Jack Tanner. A blend of those old war comics that some of us read as kids, Bernard Cornwell style stories and the author's historical knowledge. Cornwell comparisons are inevitable, but the author rightly identified a cap in the market for Sharpe like stories set in the Second World War. In general the series is fun and does exactly what is says on the tin, a fast moving action story laced with slightly over the top bad guys, incompetent officers and good old British fighting spirit.Here we have Tanner in Crete helping fend off the German invasion. In fairness to the author, he tries to flesh out Tanner a little more. Our hero arrives on the Island a bit grumpy about the way the allied forces are retreating and it does not take long for him to upset a new officer and the leader of the local partisans. We also learn a few more snippets about his background which helps add to the character.As German paratroopers drop onto Crete, Tanner and his men are involved in fierce fighting, but after initial success the situation changes and Tanner and co end up retreating towards the mountains and needing the support of the partisans that he has made enemies of. So it has pace and drama a plenty, it sometimes lacks a bit of the atmosphere of the time, the culture and the climate. It's an place and aspect of WW2 that I knew little about and perhaps could have done with more atmospheric background but this is still boys own stuff and an easy fun read.

In this third instalment of the Tanner series we find Sergeant Jack Tanner in Crete, a German invasion seemingly imminent. This book follows the same formula as the other three books – Tanner falls out with someone in his company, a local chief named Alopex, and a stereotypical German soldier.German paratroops are dropped onto the island, and despite terrible losses Tanner and his team are soon involved in vicious fighting in the town, then on the retreat. They have to cross the island, led by Alopex who has sworn to kill Tanner when the chance arises.Blood of Honour is similar to the first two in the series, just a different setting. Nothing wrong with that – I have the final two in the series already lined up.

As has been said by many before, the Jack Tanner series is like reading the old Commando Comics with their gutsy British soldiers dealing with those nasty Germans. Gott im Himmel! This book is the same formula as the previous two, with the lead character being a hard case with a secret past, the dodgy vicious German officer as his nemesis. Stereotypical British officers, tommies and local partisans complete the picture. If you want a good action packed read then this is good. If you want something more in depth than it's not for you, the characters are too two dimensional. Sharpe it is not in its quality of writing.

Although James Holland is a very good historian his lack of service experience lets him down. There are a number of inconsistencies that add up to spoil what is a laudable attempt to write a 'Sharpe for WW2'.He refers to a CSM as a Colour Sgt Major when the correct rank is Company Sgt Major. He also frequently quotes Jack Tanner as using Hindi as part of British Army slang while this is correct he would be more likely to use 'Jeldi' than 'Iggery', this was still in use in the Army in the '60's.Carrying a telescopic sight separately from the rifle and fitting it - in action, and then achieving a first round hit at 400+ yds is pure Hollywood. The rifle and sight would have needed to be re zeroed after having been separated.The fallshirmjager jumping with his rifle slung over his shoulder.and MP40 machine pistol strapped to him is again totally impractical. The German parachute was awkward to use with the soldier hanging from a single point of contact with no control over his descent and a very clumsy landing roll.Which is why the Luftwaffe dropped their weapons in a separate container. Furthermore carrying two heavy weapons of different calibres necessitating two kinds of ammo is an unlikely complication for any infantryman, let alone with a pistol of a third calibre, hence the use of 9mm for the Walther P38 and Luger P08 pistols and the machine pistol MP38/40.The Germans were aware of the shortcomings of the MP40 and Kar 98k combination which is why they attempted to overcome these with the FG42. Unfortunately, as the Americans discovered with the M14,a full power rifle cartridge used in the fully automatic role becomes unmanageable which led to the StGw 44, the first assault rifle. This used the Kurz (short) 7.92 x 33 mm round. This was much more successful and heavily copied by the Russians and became the AK47.It is also evident that James Holland has never handled, let alone thrown, either of the hand grenades he mentions, the No 38 grenade, used by the British Army from 1915 till the '70's and the German Model 24 'potato masher'Having said all this his research is excellent on the historical side and the foregoing will not prevent me from reading the others in the series.I do wish Amazon didn't put an American spellchecker on their review system.

This is the third in the series of 'Jack Tanner' books. I have read all three and now ordered the fourth and fifth. Highly entertaining, they're all action yarns, each a fiction but set against the background of true events in WW2.

A thoroughly entertaining wartime yarn. Recommend the Jack Tanner series of books for holiday reading. Two more to go to complete.