The War Mountains Continued

As I have stated before, John Mannock's story of the war in Yugoslavia is amazingly great. Its battle scenes are brought to life by the imagery and the careful dialogue. Also, as the story progresses a few important people are chosen as the main characters. However, Mannock carefully centers his plot so that it seems that the settings picked the main characters, and not the author himself. In his story which becomes centered about a specific mission to destroy a shipment of new elite German tanks, the characterrs experience danger, horrible conditions, and of course betrayal. There was evidence of betrayal all through out the story and the traitor finalely showed his true colors as he admits that he was going to be "'decorated in secret as a hero of the Third Reich'" and that he would be part of the regime that would "'rule Europe for the next thousand years'" (206). Obviously, this man is delusional or had terrible information. The story takes place in 1944, when Germany has been practically surrounded by its foes and is on the verge of collapse. Mannock cleverly puts this character in the position of having to be crazy as he believes he will live out a happy life in the Nazi regime even as it is tumbling. The character even risks his own safety to accomplish this. Finally, Mannock's description of feuding within the German ranks captivates the mind and humor as hilarious mockery is used of the German high command. Mannock is able to portray war as serious and greusome and then one minute later as a fun little game.