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Clash of Eagles
A novel of nazi occupation of America.
530 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 29, 1990
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About the author
Leo Rutman
4 booksLeo Rutman is an American author and playwright. His novels are generally set in New York City during the twentieth century.
Rutman has received playwriting awards from Yale University, Brandeis University, and Columbia University. His published and produced plays include They Got Jack, Jesus is a Junkie, and Where is Che Guevara?.
Rutman has received playwriting awards from Yale University, Brandeis University, and Columbia University. His published and produced plays include They Got Jack, Jesus is a Junkie, and Where is Che Guevara?.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 8, 2014
A good solid alternative history novel in which England has been defeated and Nazi Germany has invaded Eastern Canada (initial landings take place in Quebec) and moved down into the Northeastern United States.It is now a year later and the front has deadlocked in Pennsylvania and Ohio. The resistance movement is gathering momentum which is the focus of the novel, especially the resistance in New York City.
Strong in character and plot and fast moving. In many aspects the novel reminded me of the old Hollywood war dramas Casablanca and Watch On The Rhine. The action sequences are there to move the story along, but are do not dominate for page after page. There is the obligatory romance, the main protagonist is an I.R.A. soldier and the Nazi's are undeniably the villains.
However the best of stories have their weak points.Hardcore alternative history readers will find fault with the set-up. Even with the defeat of England conducting a full scale invasion of North America across the North Atlantic would have been a king sized nut for the Germans to roll.The logistics of such an undertaking would have been massive and Nazi Germany did not have the logistical ability that such an undertaking would have required, even if much of the Royal Navy fleet did fall to them. It took the United States over two years before it's forces were ready to land in France and that was with the U.S. working at a breakneck pace.
In addition to those loopholes there are others of course. There is very little mention of the United States Navy in the story. Did the U.S. Navy just retreat in the face of such a massive invasion? Also are we to assume that the Royal Navy surrendered all of it's ships to the Germans with defeat of England? No British ships sailed away to continue the fight from North America? It would have taken a couple years (at best) for the Germans to have enough trained sailors to even man the captured British vessels which means the invasion happens too soon.
There are other holes in the plot, but ,in the end, this is a New York City novel. That strange genre that follows it's own logic because the story is about the city - not the rest of the world. In this case Leo Rutman wanted to create a world in which his city (for he is a New Yorker) found itself (temporarily) ruled by the Nazi's and fights back against that abomination. The logistics that would be required to ensure such a scenario would have taken place are unimportant. What is important is that New Yorkers find themselves under the hell of Nazi oppression and they fight back - ultimately taking back their city.
It's an old school black & white Warner Brothers movie starring James Cagney and Myrna Loy. If Warner Brothers made alternative history movies back in the day.
Strong in character and plot and fast moving. In many aspects the novel reminded me of the old Hollywood war dramas Casablanca and Watch On The Rhine. The action sequences are there to move the story along, but are do not dominate for page after page. There is the obligatory romance, the main protagonist is an I.R.A. soldier and the Nazi's are undeniably the villains.
However the best of stories have their weak points.Hardcore alternative history readers will find fault with the set-up. Even with the defeat of England conducting a full scale invasion of North America across the North Atlantic would have been a king sized nut for the Germans to roll.The logistics of such an undertaking would have been massive and Nazi Germany did not have the logistical ability that such an undertaking would have required, even if much of the Royal Navy fleet did fall to them. It took the United States over two years before it's forces were ready to land in France and that was with the U.S. working at a breakneck pace.
In addition to those loopholes there are others of course. There is very little mention of the United States Navy in the story. Did the U.S. Navy just retreat in the face of such a massive invasion? Also are we to assume that the Royal Navy surrendered all of it's ships to the Germans with defeat of England? No British ships sailed away to continue the fight from North America? It would have taken a couple years (at best) for the Germans to have enough trained sailors to even man the captured British vessels which means the invasion happens too soon.
There are other holes in the plot, but ,in the end, this is a New York City novel. That strange genre that follows it's own logic because the story is about the city - not the rest of the world. In this case Leo Rutman wanted to create a world in which his city (for he is a New Yorker) found itself (temporarily) ruled by the Nazi's and fights back against that abomination. The logistics that would be required to ensure such a scenario would have taken place are unimportant. What is important is that New Yorkers find themselves under the hell of Nazi oppression and they fight back - ultimately taking back their city.
It's an old school black & white Warner Brothers movie starring James Cagney and Myrna Loy. If Warner Brothers made alternative history movies back in the day.
February 1, 2016
What if the Nazis had invaded the United States? Taking place in occupied and cut off New York, here's a very well crafted book where, the East Coast is controlled by the Germans while, Roosevelt's government is in exile in California. It reminded me of what happened in France during WWII and, in fact, all the historical details that were the lot of most of the then European occupied countries are just being transposed here. It's intellegently done though, each of these details and events (rationing, black market, denunciations, roundups and executions, propaganda etc.) fitting very nicely and relevantly within the storyline. The story itself is quite nice. It tells of internal conspiracies within the occupying Nazis (including a plot to kill Hitler, no less) and, of a group of Resistants planning to sabotage a plane factory -the two subplots colliding in an ending as anbitious as it is skillfully well thought. Slight twist, most of Leo Rutman's characters belong to the 1940s New York's underworld or, at least are a surprising but nice cast -actresses, gangsters, thugs, trade unionists and else, from the despicable opportunists and the surprising heroes to the fighters and the profiteers. They all interact in a balanced mix of action, drama and romance that, surely can be a bit naive and cheesy at times but, makes nonetheless for an enjoyable read. In fact, 'Clash of Eagles' (and what a great title, by the way!) leaves with a nice feel of watching some of those old American movies from the black and white era! That's how great the atmosphere here is. All in all quite a very pleasant book.
June 17, 2012
Couldn't put it down, even the second time I read it. Excellent plot, dynamic, complex characters, and all in a very readable, exciting form. Read this book!
January 3, 2026
In this entertaining alternative history, WW2 takes a different course, with the Axis invading and occupying eastern Canada and the northeastern U.S. in late 1941. The story depicts life under occupation, with the main focus being New York City. A wide variety of characters, with several real-life personages sprinkled in, struggle to survive, change, or exploit this situation. Spies, gangsters, resistors, collaborators, workaday people, socialites, entertainers, bums, and soldiers are included in this cross-sampling of the big apple's people under the German boot. The plot arcs are numerous, eventually converging into an exciting and dramatic conclusion. Overall, quick-moving, intriguing and enjoyable.
The focus on New York, with only brief excursions by any of the characters outside it and occasional anecdotes about what's happening elsewhere in the country or the world, brings to mind that famous cover of The New Yorker magazine, which depicts a westward-looking view of the world in which the streets of Manhattan are detailed, the rest of the country is portrayed with a few swaths (such as "New Jersey") and cities, and the rest of the world (such as "Asia") some small hills in the far distance. Nonetheless, this zeroing-in helps maintain an effective concentration of the drama.
The main hurdle for the reader is getting past the unlikelihood of the premise, which is particularly difficult for anyone with some knowledge of military history or logistics to accept. The jumping-off point from our world's history is in July, 1940 These events are summarized in a series of communiques from an American spy in Britiain, who is also one of the main characters: the RAF is overwhelmed and the Germans launch a successful invasion. I suppose this could have happened, but then, rather than targeting the Soviet Union, the Germans decide to go after the United States (sorry, no way). Their plan is summarized in a document written by a high-ranking German officer in August, 1941 (in a tone far too flippant to come from such a person). Having been informed of the planned Japanese attack on U.S. bases in the Pacific to take place in December (which wasn't planned yet in real life, was never relayed to the Germans, and would have even less reason to occur in this timeline), the Germans decide they will declare war on the U.S. after the Japanese attack, but take no action for ten days, thus lulling the U.S. into a false sense of security that will preclude any Atlantic reconnaissance by the U.S. Navy (that is not how the military operates!). Then the Germans will set sail for the North American mainland from their bases in Iceland and Greenland with a million soldiers and all their equipment. I can't think of a worse place from which to stage an operation near the winter solstice; almost no daylight, subzero temperatures, shore ice, and very limited staging areas and ports besides. The many, many ships would then sail, completely unnoticed, up the St. Lawrence seaway, land and assemble overnight (again unnoticed by anyone), destroy the Canadian Air Force at a blow, seize Montreal, and drive on the Quebec the next day. Then turn south and invade the U.S. the following day, December 25th. And have New York City (plus pretty much everything from Maine to Maryland) occupied three days later! All the reasons this couldn't happen would be along list indeed. A few standouts are the aforementioned complete surprise the Germans rely on at every stage of the of the operation; no one ever knows they're coming. The only attempt at an explanation is that the Germans plan to find collaborators amongst the French Canadiens, who so reset the British rule that they are willing to help those who humiliated and dismembered France do the same to them. That idea adds another problem in that if Canada is still British (with a government-in-exile), and still hostile to Germany, and presumably with a good portion of the Royal Navy, they would not be completely ignoring the north Atlantic. Plus, the French collaborators are supposed to "cut the phone lines" so no word of the invasion can get out. What about radio? Airplanes? People traveling by car or train? There's also good reason that military campaigns aren't planned for the wintertime (the Germans only attempt at one in the entire real war was the desperation-driven Battle of the Bulge in late 1944): the weather is harsh and unpredictable. The German ships could end up frozen in the St. Lawrence river, or the troops beset by blizzards as they struggled through the rugged, snowbound terrain. No timetable of operations would be possible to keep (though the German one is followed precisely in the book). Lastly, this imaginary campaign outperforms any real one by multiple degrees. Here, the German army gains 100 miles a day and captures major cities in the process. Their best real-life performance was 60 miles in a day during the invasion of the USSR. That campaign took place in summer, with nearly 20 hours of daylight, flat, dry, open terrain, and a foe in complete rout. Advancing at nearly double that rate with about nine hours of daylight, through rugged, snowy, forested terrain is totally absurd.
The gist of the book is the divergent ways in which a diverse group of people lived in and reacted to this unlikely situation. That the situation is very unlikely indeed is a big bump to get over, but if the reader can, it makes a good adventuresome read.
The focus on New York, with only brief excursions by any of the characters outside it and occasional anecdotes about what's happening elsewhere in the country or the world, brings to mind that famous cover of The New Yorker magazine, which depicts a westward-looking view of the world in which the streets of Manhattan are detailed, the rest of the country is portrayed with a few swaths (such as "New Jersey") and cities, and the rest of the world (such as "Asia") some small hills in the far distance. Nonetheless, this zeroing-in helps maintain an effective concentration of the drama.
The main hurdle for the reader is getting past the unlikelihood of the premise, which is particularly difficult for anyone with some knowledge of military history or logistics to accept. The jumping-off point from our world's history is in July, 1940 These events are summarized in a series of communiques from an American spy in Britiain, who is also one of the main characters: the RAF is overwhelmed and the Germans launch a successful invasion. I suppose this could have happened, but then, rather than targeting the Soviet Union, the Germans decide to go after the United States (sorry, no way). Their plan is summarized in a document written by a high-ranking German officer in August, 1941 (in a tone far too flippant to come from such a person). Having been informed of the planned Japanese attack on U.S. bases in the Pacific to take place in December (which wasn't planned yet in real life, was never relayed to the Germans, and would have even less reason to occur in this timeline), the Germans decide they will declare war on the U.S. after the Japanese attack, but take no action for ten days, thus lulling the U.S. into a false sense of security that will preclude any Atlantic reconnaissance by the U.S. Navy (that is not how the military operates!). Then the Germans will set sail for the North American mainland from their bases in Iceland and Greenland with a million soldiers and all their equipment. I can't think of a worse place from which to stage an operation near the winter solstice; almost no daylight, subzero temperatures, shore ice, and very limited staging areas and ports besides. The many, many ships would then sail, completely unnoticed, up the St. Lawrence seaway, land and assemble overnight (again unnoticed by anyone), destroy the Canadian Air Force at a blow, seize Montreal, and drive on the Quebec the next day. Then turn south and invade the U.S. the following day, December 25th. And have New York City (plus pretty much everything from Maine to Maryland) occupied three days later! All the reasons this couldn't happen would be along list indeed. A few standouts are the aforementioned complete surprise the Germans rely on at every stage of the of the operation; no one ever knows they're coming. The only attempt at an explanation is that the Germans plan to find collaborators amongst the French Canadiens, who so reset the British rule that they are willing to help those who humiliated and dismembered France do the same to them. That idea adds another problem in that if Canada is still British (with a government-in-exile), and still hostile to Germany, and presumably with a good portion of the Royal Navy, they would not be completely ignoring the north Atlantic. Plus, the French collaborators are supposed to "cut the phone lines" so no word of the invasion can get out. What about radio? Airplanes? People traveling by car or train? There's also good reason that military campaigns aren't planned for the wintertime (the Germans only attempt at one in the entire real war was the desperation-driven Battle of the Bulge in late 1944): the weather is harsh and unpredictable. The German ships could end up frozen in the St. Lawrence river, or the troops beset by blizzards as they struggled through the rugged, snowbound terrain. No timetable of operations would be possible to keep (though the German one is followed precisely in the book). Lastly, this imaginary campaign outperforms any real one by multiple degrees. Here, the German army gains 100 miles a day and captures major cities in the process. Their best real-life performance was 60 miles in a day during the invasion of the USSR. That campaign took place in summer, with nearly 20 hours of daylight, flat, dry, open terrain, and a foe in complete rout. Advancing at nearly double that rate with about nine hours of daylight, through rugged, snowy, forested terrain is totally absurd.
The gist of the book is the divergent ways in which a diverse group of people lived in and reacted to this unlikely situation. That the situation is very unlikely indeed is a big bump to get over, but if the reader can, it makes a good adventuresome read.
June 11, 2020
We started the decade with a remnant from the previous one: an alternate history novel written by Leo Rutman called Clash of Eagles.
The story is set in late 1941, where the Nazis had overtaken the United Kingdom and then proceeded to invade the countries across the Atlantic. They first landed in Quebec, and made their way to New York City; in which they declared the eastern United States an occupied territory.
The title, Clash of Eagles suggests the theme of this novel: the war on Nazi Germany by the Americans. The new regime under the Nazis was so tortuous that it sparked a spirit within the Americans to start a resistance. People regardless of trade band together to fight the invaders to take back their country.
The eagles are here to fight.
The story is set in late 1941, where the Nazis had overtaken the United Kingdom and then proceeded to invade the countries across the Atlantic. They first landed in Quebec, and made their way to New York City; in which they declared the eastern United States an occupied territory.
The title, Clash of Eagles suggests the theme of this novel: the war on Nazi Germany by the Americans. The new regime under the Nazis was so tortuous that it sparked a spirit within the Americans to start a resistance. People regardless of trade band together to fight the invaders to take back their country.
The eagles are here to fight.
December 4, 2014
For my first 'alternative history novel', the critics I read didn't rate because it was not authentic to the Wermacht military structure. Well the whole work is FICTION people! You have to stretch you imagination a little bit. It was initially a little slow starting but I really enjoyed it as an espionage novel. The author seems to know NYC and some the period social structures albeit he erred on his German military hierarchy. Oh well, it was a good read to pass the time.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews