The Winter Soldiers: Sergeant 'Fancy Jack' Crossman and the Attack on Kertch Harbour

by Garry Kilworth

Book Overview

After the battle of Inkerman on 5 November 1854 the British Army faces a terrible winter. Provisions and clothing for the troops are hopelessly inadequate. In this grim season Sergeant "Fancy Jack"... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786711116
• ISBN13: 9780786711116
• Release Date: December 2002
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.6" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

READER REVIEW WINTER SOLDIERS

Have only read through Chapter Two, but astounded by detail, clarity of plot. historical accuracy, and knowledge obtained from this book i.e. knew the area of the Balaclava headgear name, but not how it was invented via necessity by a British Soldier from items never intended for the purpose. Delighted to find that I have stumbled onto just one of a series and look forward to not only reading this volume, but all the others as well!

Jack is Back!

This was the first book that I have read in the Fancy Jack Crossman series and I can honestly compare it favorably to Cornwall's Richard Sharpe series of books.The author does a great job of bringing these characters to life and in describing in great detail the poor conditions that the soldiers lived. Fancy Jack is a SGT in the British Army stationed in the Crimea 1854-1855.He is part of an SF type unit composed of a wide variety of interesting and roguish type characters.You have a female sniper,an American who is not only a first rate barber and doctor but a highly skilled killer,Ali the fearsome Turk, and a wide variety of other characters. Fancy Jack's background is that he is the Bastard son of a professional Army officer whom Jack despises.Jack instead of obtaining a commission in the Army enlists under a pseudonym and rises to the rank of SGT.I will stop here.But if you like adventure,action,and interesting characters then this book is for you.

Entertaining fictional account of the Crimean War

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, set during the Crimean War (1854-1855), which focuses upon Sgt. "Fancy Jack" Crossman and his ragtag peloton (platoon) of (misfit) soldiers. Fancy Jack is actually the illegitimate son of a lord who opts for anonimity in the ranks as opposed to being an officer. He is in charge of a peloton of possibly the most unlikely band of soldiers, including a Turk, a Canadian (or American), and a sharpshooter who is actually a woman. They are the prototype of today's special forces, acting as saboteurs behind enemy lines, destroying a Russian crane, as well as performing the less savory tasks of hunting down a band of renegade British army deserters and gathering evidence of a British general's corruption and incompetence. Towards the end of the novel they participate in the attack on Kertch Harbor, but this is the only "traditional" battle that they see.The author does an excellent job conveying the hopelessness and the futily of the Crimean War--the squalor, the mud, the entrenched lines which cannot be broken, the incompetence of the generals and the waste of lives, as well as descriptions of those Britons who went to Crimea as sightseers, along with servants, picnic baskets, wine, wives and mistresses, to witness the battles. I also like that Kilworth spends time describing the British class system and how it permeated the army (the younger sons of the aristocracy often went into the army as officers; their rank was purchased rather than awarded according to merit), thus keeping the officers forever separated from the men in the ranks and causing a great deal of anomisity on both sides. I also like that the author has taken the time to develop his characters thoroughly. Readers have a good sense of exactly who Fancy Jack is, his strengths and weaknesses both as a soldier and as a human being, his strained relationship with his father, his love and admiration for his half-brother, his complicated relationship with Lavinia Durham (told with plenty of humor), an old flame now married to an officer, his uncertain feelings about his cousin (he comes across as a bit of a nerd), his good relationships with his superior officers (except Pirce-Smith) and with his peloton. The other characters are also fully developed, from the insecure whiner Wynter to the boastful (been everywhere, seen everything, done everything) Gwilliams to Peterson, the woman sharpshooter. They rag on eachother, pick on eachother, squabble just like siblings, yet when they have to operate as a unit, they do so. This unusual blend of war and personal relationships makes this an interesting change from the usual war novels, which tend to focus much more upon the fighting than the soldiers. I shall look for the earlier novels, and look forward to the further adventures of Fancy Jack and his peloton. Highly recommended.