Rating:  Summary: Coyle makes impressive authorial debut with Team Yankee Review: Harold Coyle's Team Yankee: A Novel of World War III (Presidio Press, 1987) was published a year after Red Storm Rising's triumphant debut in hardcover, and although it is thematically similar (Soviet forces invade West Germany after a series of crises escalate into an all out conventional war), Coyle's approach is very different from Clancy's. Instead of creating his own possible scenario for a NATO vs. Warsaw Pact confrontation, he asked for, and received, permission from British author (and retired General) Sir John Hackett to set Team Yankee within the scenario created in Hackett's two
"speculative fiction" books The Third World War: August 1985 and The Third World War: The Untold Story.
Team Yankee takes place within a two-week period in an August in the late 1980s. Since late July, a series of crises precipitated by the Iran-Iraq war has morphed into a clash between U.S. and Soviet naval forces in the Persian Gulf region. By August 1, word comes that NATO is mobilizing and ordering their armed forces, including Bannon and Team Yankee, to their wartime positions. Soon, the Soviets and their Warsaw Pact "allies" cross the Inner German Border in force. Team Yankee and the rest of NATO's forces in West Germany must then fight the invaders and stop them before the Red Army reaches the Rhine River. After that, assuming the Soviet attack bogs down, the mission will change from merely defending territory to taking offensive operations and pushing the invaders back. The question Coyle poses is, can American soldiers, using their weapons and tactics against superior numbers of Soviet and Warsaw Pact soldiers, defeat Russian weapons and tactics?
Readers familiar with Hackett's macrocosmic World War III will know the big picture, but first-time readers will be turning the pages to see who wins, who loses, who dies...and who survives in this outstanding first novel by a true master of the military fiction genre.
The only flaw, and this is not Coyle's fault, is that reality -- in the shape of the fall of communism and the end of the Cold War -- has made the novel's setting extremely outdated. Some of the then-modern weapons, such as the M1 main battle tank, have been since updated to M1-A2 standard, older weapons have been retired, and obviously there's no more Warsaw Pact.
All in all, it's an entertaining read.
Rating:  Summary: One of the best WWIII novels ever written. Review: Harold Coyles first book based on events from the book "The Third World War" By Sir John Hacket. This book does not deal with the politics of the war, it is just the combat thrill ride that you are looking for in a book of this type.Looking back now, some of the technical ifo may be a bit dated, but it does not take away from the book in any way. It is a nonstop combat action thriller, that is easily read, and not too technical for the novice, but still interesting for the more advanced reader. After reading this book, I bought the rest of Harold Coyles' books at a yard sale just based on the quality of this one book. They just don't write then like this any more.
Rating:  Summary: One of the best WWIII novels ever written. Review: Harold Coyles first book based on events from the book "The Third World War" By Sir John Hacket. This book does not deal with the politics of the war, it is just the combat thrill ride that you are looking for in a book of this type. Looking back now, some of the technical ifo may be a bit dated, but it does not take away from the book in any way. It is a nonstop combat action thriller, that is easily read, and not too technical for the novice, but still interesting for the more advanced reader. After reading this book, I bought the rest of Harold Coyles' books at a yard sale just based on the quality of this one book. They just don't write then like this any more.
Rating:  Summary: It is a typical NATO book.... Review: It is a typical US book about how would NATO win war if Warsaw pact fought as NATO thought that Warsaw pact would fight. I am afraid that if something like WW III happened (thanks God it did not), Warsaw pact had to fight more desperately with full hand of very dirty (i.e. NBC) weapons. The behaviour of soldiers of Warsaw pact (mainly Russians, of course) is described very funny, mainly for people who are from Eastern Europe like me (I am from former Czechoslovakia). Quite funny are described also (Western) Germans. There are many clichés, stolen from other books or military movies (for example The bridge of Remagen in a final sequence or Kalahani's book about Yom Kippur 1973 war in a beginning of book). Nevertheless, when author writes about what he perfectly knows (US Army), he is very good. Some fighting scenes are very exciting...
Rating:  Summary: Realistic modern warfare Review: Just an incredibly interesting, smart and realistic novel about a potential modern warfare - that is, before the east block collapsed ! You just have to read it one shot !
Rating:  Summary: WWIII from a Limited Perspective Review: Reading this book in the 21st century, this story is definitely dated. The major combatants are no longer diametrically opposed, and the concept for the novel is not as plausible as it was at the time it was written. That is the critical part, however, I really enjoyed the book. I still have my copy of Red Storm Rising and this one has earned a place on my bookshelf beside it. Coyle does an excellent job. The story provides a minimal intro to the conflict and a minor side show with the evacuation of the servicemen's families, but the meat of the story is the telling of the combat actions. I haven't been in an M-1, so I have to assume that the details are accurate enough. However, I have driven, fired and TC'ed an M-60 during training at Knox, so I can say that the author has given a pretty good feel for the armored attitude and experience. Coyle tells the story from the perspective of company commander and based upon my own limited experiences has much of the details, as far as the operational and planning side, of command correct as well. Given all of the above, my biggest complaint about the book was that I wanted the story to last longer; I was enjoying it too much to want it to end. P-)
Rating:  Summary: Action Only Review: The book provides you with one thing - combat action. If you are looking for a Clancy type lead up and details do not look here, but if you are looking for raw action then this is it. It is kind of like watching a Chuck Norris movie, you know it is not going to win any awards or make you think too much, but it is fun and you love it when the bad guys gets it.
Rating:  Summary: Third World War : August 1985 Review: There are a number of reviews here that mention the lack of 'the big picture' and 'political depth'. True. That depth was offered up in 'Third World War : August 1985' by Sir John Hackett, a senior NATO general. Hackett's tale, written in 1977, was at the other extreme; too dry and impersonal. This is the book 'A reader from Alexandria, VA' refered to when he said the missile strikes were straight out of another WWIII novel. Coyle used Hackett's WWIII as the framework upon which to hang the story of a small combat unit, fleshing out the General's big picture with a view from gunsights. Read both books for the total story and a more complete understanding of Cold War military thinking.
Rating:  Summary: COYLE'S FIRST MASTERPIECE Review: THIS IS COYLE'S FIRST WAR NOVEL AND IT GRIPS YOU FROM THE START. THE BOOK CENTERS AROUND CPT. SEAN BANNON A TANK COMPANY CO. IT TRAILS THE TEAM AS THEY LEAVE THEIR BASE IN GERMANY, TO GO TO WAR. IT ALSO TELLS OF THE FAMILY HE LEFTBEHIND AND ERERYTHING THEY GO THROUGH TRYING TO LEAVE EUROPE. THE BATTLE SCENES ARE VERY WELL DESCRIBED AS WELL AS THE DECISIONS THAT CPT. BANNON MUST MAKE PUTTING HIS PEOPLE IN HARMS WAY. IF YOU HAVE READ ANY OF COYLE'S BOOKS YOU KNOW THAT HE GETS BETTER WITH EVERY LINE. HARD TO PUT DOWN
Rating:  Summary: The Best World War III Novel Ever Written Review: This is the best World War III novel ever written. Harold Coyle's first novel,Team Yankee, was written in 1987. Four years before the break up of the Soviet Union. A tank commander in Germany has to fight for his life, and that of his crew when the Soviet Union and its allies invade West Germany. (Officially, the Federal Republic of Germany,) and he must defend West Germany at all costs, with the help of the West German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, and other NATO allies. The book begins with actual headlines of the period. The headlines being about the Iran-Iraq War, which was still going on at the time, and others that weren't actual but made up. There were also detailed maps. Harold Coyle's books always have lots of maps.
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