The Horizon

By Douglas Reeman

Book Overview

Three generations of Blackwoods have served the Royal Marines with distinction. Now it is the turn of young Jonathan Blackwood to take up arms. In 1915, he fights from the sea, supported by the Royal Navy in the battlefields of the Dardanelles and Gallipoli, helpless to save either himself or his men. Two years later in Flandrs, Blackwood finds that Hell can get worse as he and his men fight on the horrific Western Front.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590130278
• ISBN13: 9781590130278
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: McBooks Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.3" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Royal Marines in WW One.

A very convincing account of the Gallipoli campaign, and trench warfare in France. This should be read by every schoolchild, to fix in their minds the horrors of military combat.

Excellent treatment of little known aspect of World War One

The Horizon is the third volume of the Blackwood series. In this book we meet Jonathan Blackwood as he and the Royal Marines learn to adapt themselves to the new ways of war in World War I. Jonathan is a Royal Marine from a long line of Royal Marines - two of whom have won the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for valor in combat in the British awards scheme. His family is known throughout the Royal Marines it is sometimes something of a disadvantage.Jonathan has been an observor on the Western Front but his experiences are not always appreciated by Royal Marines senior to him and without his experience. 1915 finds Jonathan and his men are on the beach at Gallipoli fighting the Turks in a no quarter given or asked for war. The Royal Marines are clinging to scraps of ground, loosing men constantly to snipers, booby traps and fruitless battles. Jonathan is wounded as he tries to prevent his own ships from shelling is men and is returned to Great Britain.He recuperates and meets a young woman as he does so. The wrinkle is that this woman loved his older brother who died early in World War I. Yet they both learn to love one another in a world that is turned upside down.After he is recovered from his wounds, Jonathan is sent to a newly activated battalion of Royal Marines bound for the Western Front. Now it is 1917 and the vast majority of the British Army is located in France and Flanders. Here is the real war now that the running sore of Gallipoli has been ended. The Royal Marines are mixed in with the British Army and both need to adjust to the forced marriage. Here on the Western Front the same problems face Jonathan as at Gallipoli - the losses of men due to enemy snipers, raids and assaults that are expected to gain miles of ground and end up gaining only yards, if that. It is as if the generals have gotten to the point where all they can do is throw more men into battle - that is all they seem to know.Reeman has captured the grinding despair of Gallipoli and France. You can almost feel the heat of Gallipoli and the smell of rotting corpses (British, ANZAC and Turk). You can hear the sound of sniper shot and flies. You can almost feel the penetrating cold of the mud of France as the men stand in it day after day. As they assault prepared positions with little hope of success. Few probably know of the exploits of the Royal Marines in World War I - they have been overshadowed by the sheer weight of numbers of the British and Commonwealth Armies. Yet serve they did with great distinction.I recommend this book as a must read for those involved in the story of the Blackwood family. It is also an excellent book on it's own as a book about World War I by a very special segment of the British forces. It is an excellent work giving great detail about the campaings in Gallipoli and France. It is well written with exceptional charecters - from generals down to newly recruited Royal Marines who have barely learned how to shave. I

Excellent treatment of little known aspect of World War One

The Horizon is the third volume of the Blackwood series. In this book we meet Jonathan Blackwood as he and the Royal Marines learn to adapt themselves to the new ways of war in World War I. Jonathan is a Royal Marine from a long line of Royal Marines - two of whom have won the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for valor in combat in the British awards scheme. His family is known throughout the Royal Marines it is sometimes something of a disadvantage. Jonathan has been an observor on the Western Front but his experiences are not always appreciated by Royal Marines senior to him and without his experience. 1915 finds Jonathan and his men are on the beach at Gallipoli fighting the Turks in a no quarter given or asked for war. The Royal Marines are clinging to scraps of ground, loosing men constantly to snipers, booby traps and fruitless battles. Jonathan is wounded as he tries to prevent his own ships from shelling is men and is returned to Great Britain. He recuperates and meets a young woman as he does so. The wrinkle is that this woman loved his older brother who died early in World War I. Yet they both learn to love one another in a world that is turned upside down. After he is recovered from his wounds, Jonathan is sent to a newly activated battalion of Royal Marines bound for the Western Front. Now it is 1917 and the vast majority of the British Army is located in France and Flanders. Here is the real war now that the running sore of Gallipoli has been ended. The Royal Marines are mixed in with the British Army and both need to adjust to the forced marriage. Here on the Western Front the same problems face Jonathan as at Gallipoli - the losses of men due to enemy snipers, raids and assaults that are expected to gain miles of ground and end up gaining only yards, if that. It is as if the generals have gotten to the point where all they can do is throw more men into battle - that is all they seem to know. Reeman has captured the grinding despair of Gallipoli and France. You can almost feel the heat of Gallipoli and the smell of rotting corpses (British, ANZAC and Turk). You can hear the sound of sniper shot and flies. You can almost feel the penetrating cold of the mud of France as the men stand in it day after day. As they assault prepared positions with little hope of success. Few probably know of the exploits of the Royal Marines and Royal Navy in the trenches of France and Flanders during World War I - they have been overshadowed by the sheer weight of numbers of the British and Commonwealth Armies. Yet serve they did with great distinction. They Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve had many more men than ships and so created a division of sailors who served as infantrymen from 1914 through to the end of the war - The Royal Naval Division. They traded in thier blue bell bottom trousers and ships for khaki and mud. I recommend this book as a must read for those involved in the story of the Blackwood family. It is al