Just Finished Reading: Eleven Eleven by Paul Dowswell (FP: 2012) [202pp] 

France, The Western Front, November 11th, 1918. The main attack was scheduled for 10:00hrs. The Canadians would advance with the British in support. But first the flank had to be secured. A small platoon would be sent into the woods looking for artillery observers and possible snipers. When the Lieutenant asked for volunteers, Will Franklin was the first to step forward. The rest of the platoon knew the Seargent was his older brother and Will didn’t want them to think that relationship meant he could sit this one out. On the other side of no-man's land, young Axel Meyer had just arrived at the front. At 16 he felt out of place, tired and afraid although he tried his best not to show it. Being surrounded by older more experienced men helped at least a bit. But he knew his duty and he was determined not to let down his family or his town by any act of insubordination or cowardice. At a nearby airfield, 19-year-old American Eddie Hertz wondered why it was so quiet that morning. He’d heard about the Canadian attack and couldn’t understand why his squadron wasn’t getting ready to support them. Then he heard. It was over. The war was done, at least for now. An Armistice, they called it. At 11:00 hours that very day all sides would stop fighting whilst negotiations took place. This was bad news for Eddie. He was one kill short of being an Ace. That’d sure please his mother and impress the girls back home. So, he dressed, told his ground crew to get his plane ready and went for breakfast. He didn’t have long to get that kill. Minutes after Will and his scouting party left their trenches the news arrived – stand down, the war was over. They had to be called back, they were going into a dangerous situation without knowing what was about to happen. Worse still it was possible that any German’s in the wood were also unaware that the fighting was over. A runner was sent.... 

I picked this book up cheap some years ago thinking it might be a bit of disposable fun, a few days light reading. From the blurb as well as the fact that all three of the main protagonists were under 19 years of age I assumed (although it doesn’t say so anywhere) that this was a YA novel. The jury's still out on that but it definitely wasn’t a casual ‘fluff’ piece. It was actually pretty dammed good. Without going into great detail (difficult in just over 200 pages), the author managed to deliver enough details about Will, Axel and Eddie for you to care about what happened to them and have enough happening on that final day to have real worries about whether they lived or died. As the story progressed and all three of the main protagonists became more deeply embroiled in the action there was a real sense of dread and a growing hope that all three would survive especially as we knew about the Armistice and 2 out of 3 of them didn’t. The comparatively small action sequences were very well done with, again, a real feeling of threat. Despite being, I felt, somewhat sanitised (one reason why I thought it for younger readers) there was enough mention of lice, mud, gas, bodies and countless chances of random death to make it feel real and it had an overall cinematic feel that I rather enjoyed. A very good short book which gave some nice insights into a truly horrible conflict. Recommended.