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Great book, highly recommended One person found this helpful.
Review:Gary C. Warne's book The Kaiser's Yanks is a well written and researched novel of World War I with an interesting concept: Americans. Grab your parachute and join the pilots of Jasta von Steuben, the American-filled squadron of the German Army Air Service as they contest the skies over the.
It is obvious the author loves WWI aviation. His characters fly various German aircraft from through They also encounter many of the primary historical personages that were also involved in aviation.
The novel's combat passages and romance encounters are well written. Unfortunately, the novel is relatively short and attempts too much. The group of primary characters is too large and the time-span too great for such a short novel.
As a result, I rank it only four stars. A look at aviation in its infancy and how this new genre was adapted for use in war.
Gary Warne's The Kaiser's Yanks gives the reader a detailed look on how early airplanes were transformed to that end as well as the little known history of Americans flying for Kaiser's Germany in World War I. The story is told in a unique type of flashback to that early time as found in an old journal. This book was interesting as well as informative. Unfortunately, in my opinion, Warne's execution upon the premise leaves something to be desired. I found the book to be predictably campy in places in a WWII gung ho war film type way, to downright unbelieveable in others.
I ended up wishing that a true master of alternative history such as Harry Turtledove had written it.
Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. Good yarn, entirely plausible. Americans fighting for Germany during the war. The Americans initially went overseas to fight against England, France and Russia; and eventually ended up fighting against their own country when America entered the war. The book opens with the shooting of the Austrian crown prince in Sarajevo, Bosnia, the event that ultimately started World War I in Europe.
The event that triggered the war also ultimately led a few Americans to make the trek to Germany to fight for the German cause. The story develops from the discovery of papers from one of the men by family members in Van Wert, Ohio, in the present day. We discover with the family members how their relative, Theo Ray, and the other men left America, enlisted in Germany and eventually ended up flying the war birds of World War I. The reader may follow the development of the fighting aircraft on both sides of the war, and encounter historical figures like Eddie Rickenbacker, Anthony Fokker, the "Red Baron" Manfred Von Richthofen, and even an appearance by Adolph Hitler.
Descriptions of the capabilities of the planes and of aerial combat are well done. The story carries through the end of the war and relates what happens to the survivors, who were considered traitors in their own country.
Those interested in World War I, and particularly in the air war should enjoy this book. A cameo appearance is made near the end of the book by one Corporal Adolf Hitler. Warne does a good job in describing his take on WWI Air combat and nicely incorporates the dynamic cultural relationship of the German aviators with their American cousins. Thank you for helping us improve PBS Video.
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