Product Description

Commander Graham Martineau was awarded the Victoria Cross for pressing home an attack against impossible odds. Few survived, and crimson ribbon remains a haunting symbol of the sacrifice of ship and men.Now, as captain of the crack Tribal Class destroyer H.M.S. Hakka, Martineau must once again call from ordinary seamen the ultimate in courage, and prepare to defend to the death vital convoys to Russia. There is no hiding place in these bitter Arctic seas, where a pitiless enemy awaits a fatal rendezvous. All are heroes, and no man and no ship is immortal.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #220459 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 292 pages

About the Author
Douglas Reeman did convoy duty in the navy in the Atlantic, the Arctic, and the North Sea. He has written over thirty novels under his own name and more than twenty bestselling historical novels featuring Richard Bolitho under the pseudonym Alexander Kent.

Customer Reviews

Reeman's Best Yet!
For Valour invites comparison with The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat. Wars are fought by people, not machines and has been described as months of boredom and seconds of terror. Reeman captures all of this as well as the sheer exhaustion which must have set in among those who had survived several years of the war. The enemy was not only the German Navy, but the ocean and the cold of the arctic.

World War II was a war which involved the home front as well. The irony of sailors in harm's way losing families at home is portrayed well. The characters are human and vulnerable, and entirely believable. They have the courage to continue human involvements in the face of separation and loss. All in all, the book is immensely moving and a good description of human character. The technical details are informed and accurate, as in all of Reeman's novels.

Rather a dis-jointed and unsatisfying read
In years gone by, Douglas Reeman would embroider and add value to his plots by clever and believable characterisiation that helped the whole story come alive. Now, however, the plots take a back seat to the characters with the result that you would be forgiven for thinking that you were reading a rather amateurish soap-opera with a disjointed and obscure plot hidden somewhere in the background. This one certainly wouldn't win any ratings wars.

value
Douglas Reeman books are great to read and good value for your money
i have been readind his books over a number of years and still enjoy them