OPERATION HERKULES ( The Malta Fulcrum WW2 Alternate History Series Book 1 ) Paperback – December 27, 2011

Scott Ward has labored long and hard to produce a tale for us. The fictitious 1942 battle for Malta comes across as a very plausible event. He takes time to set up the conclusion, which goes on for a very long time. He clearly knows the weaknesses of all kinds of aircraft as well as their strong points. When he has large scale air attacks on British ships, as an example, he had the various sorts of Italian and German aircraft acting in a realistic way, doing what the doctrine for the time called for. And we can say the same for the British ships. Even the disastrous choices of the British admirals ring true to life. He describes heroic action for all nations and occasional vile actions as well, but never out of time and place. We are dealing with Nazis here. This is a nice long book too. He loads detail upon detail as the battle unfolds. He takes his time to entertain us. Too often we get a good story that ends abruptly, leaving us unsatisfied. My only complaint would be the multitude of characters which leave us without a deep connection to any particular one. This might well be due to the wide scope of the book. He does take time to introduce us to characters so we understand who they are and how they come to be where they are at the time of the battle. But then they die. And the many interesting survivors have too little depth for my taste. Take that as a quibble. He wanted to write a big book about a big event involving a lot of moving parts. In fairness, if he had wanted to write an intimate book about only a few characters in a desperate battle, he would have done just that. Realism, believe-ability and careful scholarship make this novel worthy of the attention of alternative history fans. The action scenes are extremely well done.

Being unfamiliar with the genre of alternative history, I didn't know quite what to expect.To call it fiction, although it is alternate history, would be a misnomer. The book reads as if it is a research based account of real battles that could have happened during WWII. The premise hinges on the idea that if the Allies lost Malta, then the Mediterranean World would've fallen into the hands of the Axis and swinging the war heavily to the side of the Nazis.To me, the book had three distinct parts: the ground battle on Malta, the air battle near Malta, and the naval battle approaching Malta.The ground battle featured Major Kuno Schacht. Perhaps, Schacht is the perfect soldier: cool under pressure, strategic and shrewd, thinking two steps ahead of the enemy, and a pretty good fighter when it comes down to it in the trenches. You can't help but admire, or dare I say it, like this Nazi, who nearly, by himself ensured that the Axis invasion of Malta was successful. I had mixed feelings for Schacht, as I would've liked to have seen him killed as he escaped numerous brushes with death. He was so dynamic for the Axis, but the humanization of his character, made me pull for him as well. Schacht was a father, who worried about his children following in his footsteps. He felt the sting of physical pain, and he was a dutiful soldier just following orders.The air battles were peppered in throughout the entire story. The narrative put you right into the cockpit of a British Spitfire, with the dogfights between the German and British sides being quite memorable. You end up admiring both sides for their skill and their dedication duty, regardless of which side you were pulling for.The naval battles, featuring a British convoy leaving Gibraltar, in my opinion was the greatest part of the book. The details and history of the ships, how the crew operated the different parts of the aircraft carrier, battleships, and cruisers was educating as well as riveting. The convoy was sent to lend naval support to Malta as they encountered opposition by air and by sea. This trek along the Mediterranean was the most tense part of the book for me, as it was the Allies' Hail Mary pass to turn the tide back to the British forces on Malta. I simply had no idea what a naval battle would look like, sound like, or be like, but that was all put to bed, as the naval battles were painted perfectly.Operation Herkules is a fantastic book. Beyond the mortars, bombs, and bullets, the book humanizes the players in the battles, through wit, charm, and even love. It evokes strong emotions, as you pull for the British forces, knowing they will fall, yet you keep reading. That is what makes good storytelling--when you know what is going to happen and you want to find out how it happened anyways.

Mr. Ward should be commended for developing an account of alternated history that is based on factual and accurate data. He's gone to great length to make his characters real and imaginable in settings that illustrate his in-depth research into the landscape of geographical backgrounds, from the defensive positions on the island of Malta to the armored vehicles dating back over half a century, to vintage aircraft and ships, from merchant ships, tankers, to destroyers, cruisers, battleships and aircraft carriers. To the options those is command wrestled with in making their decisions that would have grave and longer-lasting consequences, to the common soldiers, sailors and airman who would be ordered to fulfill those orders. Also hopefully Mr. Ward will not pull a R.E. Thomas, Jack Strain or William Stroock where he provides his audience two works of a trilogy and then first months pass, then years and still no third work of the so-called "trilogy"!

A strong first effort for a new author, which resulted in a highly readable book. I would have rated it higher except for several technical inaccuracies revolving about the armament of various aircraft--as well as exceeding the performance envelopes thereof. Othewise, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I immediately purchased the sequel upon completion.What I particularly liked:(1) Entirely plausible plotline and outcome.(2) Held my interest very well, with no dull passages.(3) Characters were 3 dimensional and realistic.The downsides:(1) Technical inaccuracy regarding the armament of both the Me109E and the Spitfire, which didn't even have a "Mark" or model designated.(2) Having to jump to another historical thread to continue the series; i.e. the tale of the battleship Tirpitz and convoy PQ 17.

I haven’t even finished reading this book fully yet and Im giving it a five! This book and potentially the other two if there as good as this one are just brilliant. I love alternative history and recently finished the Red gambit series before starting this one, this book is just great. The thing I feel that makes it stand out over similar stories is the effort and detail gone into not just the background of the battles the ships and weapons involved but the characters in the book. You end up getting a lot more back story than maybe you need but it just makes the story that much better. You end up rooting for certain people and hoping they survive or get out of a sticky situation. The end of some plotlines and characters good or bad is just great and very Game of Thrones!. All round im loving this book and hope the series continues in the same way.

This review covers all three of his books. There is no doubt that the summer of 1942 did mark a low point for Britain in WW2, what with the fall of Tobruk coming so soon after the disasters in the Far East.Thus, had the Germans occupied Malta, then things would certainly have become more difficult for the Allied forces in North Africa .But, the problem I have with these books is that WW2 takes a different course because everything starts going right for the Germans and everything wrong for the British to an unrealistic degree.For example, the Royal Navy ‘s carrier with the covering force for convoy PQ-17 just happens to get damaged so that the Allied forces have to confront the Tirpitz without the advantage of air support.Another is that the Ultra secret - Britain’s ability to read messages sent by the Germans’ Enigma code machines- is compromised.And the Battle of El Alamein that takes place in the third book is just laughable . But, the bad luck for the British doesn’t end there as there is yet another sting in the tail at the end of the book.If you like alternate history to be plausible,don’t waste your money on these books.

As a big fan of alternative history I can honestly say that this book was truly brilliant and kept me gripped right until the end. Fantastic roller coaster of a read.The funny thing was that this was one of the 1st AH books I spotted when I first got a kindle a few years ago but as the price was about £6 at the time I filed it away under 'buy if cheaper' as I thought the sample was quite promising. Boy that was a mistake, I bought it when it was a more standard £4 price but having read it now, I wish I had just bought it back then.If you like AH or even just military fiction, the do yourself a favour and read this book. It is high octane stuff where you a constantly guessing if the British/axis will win the next engagement. The author avoids the common route of having the Baddies/Germans/confederates getting off to a good start, but you know early on that it is only a matter of time before the 'goodies/allies/Yankees win. No character is safe and they may as well all be wearing the proverbial star trek red jerseys ...... which given the tight confined combat is perfectly justified.Wow.

I first visited Malta in the late 60s.Since then the concept of an invasion, Operation Herkules, has intrigued me.I may have been caught up by the, very unlikely, image of a Light Tank Mk VI confronting a KV 2!The operational concept outlined in this "what if" strikes me as a high risk option, but frankly with more chance of success than the actual plan. Parachute drops/glider landing anywhere on the highland strikes me as fraught with danger due to rough nature of the land, compounded by the small fields bounded by dry stone walls, so the concept of concentrated drops on the airfields might just work.The characterisation of the principal actors works for me and I feel impelled to read more of the authors works.

If you like well researched alt history then you will probably like this book. The PoD is in 1940 when things change in the Med and north Africa and the Germans proceed with operation Herkules - the invasion of Malta. Good characterisation, excellent research. I look forward to the next book in the series.