John Harris (5) (1916–1991)

John Harris first came to the attention of American readers with “The Undaunted”, the deliberately understated story of an Air-Sea rescue operation in World War II. Published in (the USA) in 1953, it received the same warm praise that greeted its publication in Englan under the title The Sea Shall Not Have Them.

This is John Harris' classic war novel of espionage in the most extreme of situations. An essential flight from France leaves the crew of RAF Hudson missing, and somewhere in the North Sea four men cling to a dinghy, praying for rescue before exposure kills them or the enemy finds them. One man is critically injured; another (a rocket expert) is carrying a briefcase stuffed with vital secrets. As time begins to run out each man yearns to evade capture. This story charts the daring and courage of these men, their rescuers and a breathtaking mission with the most awesome of consequences.… (more)

Set in Norway during the German invasion in WW II, the plot focuses on the last of the large sailing ships left in the world and their use in WW II by both sides. The British send the Oulu to Norway to spy on German activities and to warn the Royal Navy when the prisoners from the German Raider Altmark arrive in the area so the RN can attempt a rescue.

Soon the Germans invade Norway and Magnusson, the British hero, is on the run with ship and crew. The many harrowing escapes he and his crew have makes for a fast moving story with lots of sailing information and Norwegian culture thrown in. The crew originally is made up of Finns trying to get home to Finland and unaware of the true nature of the voyage but when they flee for home, Norwegians and a Pole join the crew and take their anger and hate out on any German soldier they come across.

The non stop action will keep you turning the pages.… (more)

John Harris was a Sheffield based crime writer who grew up listening to the veteran's stories he heard around the city. Among these were the stories of the survivors of the 12th Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment; the Sheffield Pals. This book is based on those stories.

The Sheffield Pals (which included my great grandfather) were formed on the outbreak of war in August 1914. [a:Richard A. Sparling|4549202|Richard A. Sparling|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], a veteran who became a sports journalist and wrote a history of the battalion, described the “£500 a year business men, stockbrokers, engineers, chemists, metallurgical experts, University and public school men, medical students, journalists, schoolmasters, craftsmen, shop assistants, secretaries, and all sorts of clerks” who joined up.

They went into action for the first time at the Somme on July 1st 1916, detailed to attack the village of Serre. At 7.20am the first wave of the battalion climbed out of the trenches, moved 100 yards into No Man's Land and lay flat on the ground. There they waited for the brigade mortar battery and divisional artillery to unleash a final hurricane bombardment of the German lines. A few minutes later, with the British front line coming under an intense German counter-barrage, the second wave took up position 30 yards behind the first. At 7.30am the bombardment lifted from the German front line. All four waves rose, straightened themselves, then advanced steadily towards the German lines.

Disaster struck almost immediately. Their smoke screen was ineffective and the battalion came under machine gun and artillery fire from the left flank and front. Half of the third and fourth waves had fallen before making it a few yards from their trenches. On the left, the bombardment had failed to cut the German barbed wire and the Sheffield Pals were trapped. On the right, a few men managed to force their way into the German trenches and, heavily outnumbered, engaged in vicious hand to hand fighting with the defenders. Some managed to return to the British lines. Most were never heard of again. By lunchtime, 513 of the Sheffield Pals had been killed or wounded.

Harris' book is, quite simply, the best novel written about the First World War by a non combatant. Thinly veiled - the battalion train at the ground of a football club called Rovers and a place out of town called Blackmires while the Sheffield Pals trained at Sheffield United's ground and Redmires to the west of the city - he tells the story of the 12th Yorks & Lancs. The characters are well developed, steering well clear of the cliches this genre is all too prone to, and the action, when it comes, is stomach turning.

So good is Covenant With Death that the novel's closing line is often quoted as the words of a veteran; “Two years in the making. Ten minutes in the destroying. That was our history”

The true story behind the novel is told in [b:Sheffield City Battalion: The 12th (Service) Battalion York & Lancaster Regiment|2536599|Sheffield City Battalion The 12th (Service) Battalion York & Lancaster Regiment|Ralph Gibson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1455533372s/2536599.jpg|16560538].… (more)