The Glasshouse Gang #4

 

The Dead Commando (1975) is the final and definitely the most breathlessly-paced of the Glasshouse Gang series. The war in North Africa will soon be coming to an end as the British prepare to attack the Germans at El Alamein. John Offer & his motley gang of deserters and crooks are once again offered temporary immunity from arrest if they carry out a dangerous mission behind enemy lines. They use this immunity to bust a comrade out of a British military prison, but still plan to carry out the mission. John Offer is a crook, but he's honest in his own way.

 

This leads to virtually non-stop action. Circumstances lead to the Gang being beseiged in a fortress they captured from the Italians. There seems to be no escape, but they escape nonetheless. They are accidentally strafed by the RAF, then nearly caught by Germans commanded by an officer who has been pursuing the Gang across the previous two novels. Two of Offer's men are captured, so naturally a rescue must be attempted. Offer's nemesis knows this and plans a trap. Offer knows his nemesis knows, but the nemesis knows that Offer knows he knows. Nonetheless, Offer springs the trap to get to his men, then must improvise wildly as events play out in unusual ways. This all leads to an unexpected but very satisfying conclusion to the series.

 

The action is almost literally non-stop, full of excitement and tension. Try to find time to read The Dead Commando in one sitting, because there's no good stopping point.

 

The Glasshouse Gang series says goodbye with what I consider to be the best of the four novels.

Glasshouse Gang #3

 

Benghazi Breakout (1966) is the third of the four Glasshouse Gang books. Be wary of the current ebook reprints, which incorrectly lists it as second.

 

 John Offer and his Glasshouse Gang, though officially deserters and criminals, are once again given temporary immunity from arrest in exchange for carrying out a mission. In this case, that mission would be to enter the German-held city of Benghazi and rescue two captured British Generals.

 

History tells us the Gang will not be successful--the generals are real-life characters and were not rescued before being taken to a POW camp in Italy. (Brief Pause to Brag: My first published work was an article on one of those generals: Richard O'Connor. O'Connor eventually escaped on his own in 1943.)

 

But the Gang has another reason for going to Benghazi. A couple of their comrades--captured during the oil depot raid in the last book--are being held there by the SS. Offer is determined to free them.

 

This is the premise for another fast-paced and intensely exciting entry in this unusual series. Offer has developed into a great lead protagonist. Despite his status as a crook and some sociopathic attitudes, he is smart; able to improvise bold tactics; and intensely loyal to the men he leads. The same thematic tension that ran through the previous books remains—is the series anti-authoritarian or is it simply critical of the abuse of authority?

 

Anyway, not everything he does goes as planned. Even after his men are rescued, events leave Offer cut off from the Gang, accompanied only by a man who wants to kill him and pursued across the desert by a relentless German officer who also wants to see him dead. This, in turn, leads to an exciting conclusion to the novel.

Glasshouse Gang #2

 

WARNING: The current ebook reprints of the Glasshouse Gang books lists Desert Marauders (1976) as Book 4 in the series. This is incorrect. It is Book 2 and literally picks up the action where Book 1 leaves off.

 

But the publisher messing up the series order doesn't distract from the quality of the book. Set in North Africa during World War 2, it recounts the adventures of Captain John Offer and his Glasshouse Gang Commando Unit. Except Offer isn't really a captain and the G.G.C.U. isn't a real unit. Instead, it's a ploy used by Offer and his men (all deserters and former residents of brutal military prisons called Glasshouses) to avoid being captured by the authorities.

 

But it turns out Offer is a really good tactical field commander and--when forced to do so--his men can do real harm to the enemy.

 

The book is filled with superb action set pieces as they finish an escape from the German army started at the end of the last novel and, later, find themselves shooting up a German airbase when they run across it by accident during a rain storm.

 

By this time, they've acquired an arch-enemy in the German army and the British army has figured out who they are. But Offer is given temporary immunity from prosecution if he and his men can pull off an apparently suicidal raid on Rommel's oil depot, deep in German territory.

 

This leads to an extended climatic action sequence that is literally edge-of-your-seat stuff.

 

Like the first novel, there's an interesting thematic tension existing just underneath the action. Offer and his men despise the British army because of the brutal treatment they were subject too in the Glasshouse. But to survive the war and stay free, Offer has to recreate a system of military authority within the G.G.C.U.--replicating what he has supposedly rejected. And, when the British finally tumble to what he's doing, a particular major general doesn't react with the same arrogant authority Offer usually sees from the Top Brass. Instead, the general respects what Offer has accomplished and, though he's quite straightforward about his willingness to sacrifice Offer's men on what is probably a suicide mission, he does so out of strict military necessity.

 

So is the series anti-authoritarian or simply critical of abuse among otherwise necessary authority figures? Is Offer a criminal (stealing vehicles, supplies and payrolls without a qualm) or does his skill, courage and the loyalty he shows towards his men lift him up into something more?

 

In the end, it doesn't matter. Desert Marauders works primarily as a cracking good wartime adventure novels. Thematic issues underlying it make for worthwhile discussions, but we come to the novel mostly to watch stuff get blown up.

The Glasshouse Gang #1

 

I stumbled upon a four book series written in the late 1960s pretty much by accident about a year ago. And, by golly, it was a really fun series.

The Glasshouse Gang (1967), by Gordon Landsborough, kicked off a four-book series with an interesting premise. The main characters begin as inmates in the Glasshouse, a British military prison located in Egypt during World War 2. The prison is a brutal place, with the inmates treated in a violently sadistic manner. When former officer John Offer gets out after a term for theft, he wants revenge.

 

With other former inmates, he forms what comes to be called the Glasshouse Gang Commando Unit. They track down and beat up several of their former guards and eventually even stage a raid on the prison itself, exacting vengeance on the prison's commanding officer and recruiting more members.

 

In the meantime, Offer has shown his intelligence and audacity by hiding the G.G.C.U. in plain site, setting up tents and supplying themselves via night-time raids on depots and pay centers. They thus blend in with the myriad other British units in the area.

 

Eventually, the military police get suspicious and the gang shifts location out into the desert, where several of the gang are captured by Germans. A rescue mission is necessary, leading to a very exciting climax involving a machine-gun equipped truck being chased by a number of machine-gun equipped German vehicles.

 

John Offer is an interesting protagonist. There are sociopathic aspects to his personality, but he's also a good leader, able to plan missions and improvise under pressure. The book draws on the same anti-authoritarian vibes that classic WWII movies such as "The Dirty Dozen" and "Kelly's Heroes" used so effectively. There's a counterpoint to this, though, as Offer also has to depend on giving structure and order to his gang of thugs so he can ensure their freedom and survival. There's a real tension there--Offer earns the respect of most of the men, but a number of hardcases don't take orders willingly. This becomes an increasingly important plot point as the story progresses and brings an interesting sense of irony to the book's anti-authoritarian attitude.

But, though the novel does have some depth in both theme and character, it exists mostly for the action. And, as the series progresses through three more novels, that action gradually becomes more intense and more exciting. Over the next few months, we'll take periodic looks at the rest of the series.