What do you think?
Rate this book
Wreckers Must Breathe
A story set in Cornwall where, below the cliffs, a fleet of German U-boats lie hidden. Their target is the merchantmen and their ships, the lifeline of wartime Britain. Journalist Walter Craig, who is holidaying in the area, becomes entangled in the events going on around him.
266 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1940
88 people are currently reading
111 people want to read
About the author
Hammond Innes
104 books107 followersRalph Hammond Innes was an English novelist who wrote over 30 novels, as well as children's and travel books.He was awarded a C.B.E. (Commander, Order of the British Empire) in 1978. The World Mystery Convention honoured Innes with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Bouchercon XXIV awards in Omaha, Nebraska, Oct, 1993.
Innes was born in Horsham, Sussex, and educated at the Cranbrook School in Kent. He left in 1931 to work as a journalist, initially with the Financial Times (at the time called the Financial News). The Doppelganger, his first novel, was published in 1937. In WWII he served in the Royal Artillery, eventually rising to the rank of Major. During the war, a number of his books were published, including Wreckers Must Breathe (1940), The Trojan Horse (1941) and Attack Alarm (1941); the last of which was based on his experiences as an anti-aircraft gunner during the Battle of Britain at RAF Kenley. After being discharged in 1946, he worked full-time as a writer, achieving a number of early successes.
His novels are notable for a fine attention to accurate detail in descriptions of places, such as in Air Bridge (1951), set partially at RAF Gatow, RAF Membury after its closure and RAF Wunstorf during the Berlin Airlift.
Innes went on to produce books in a regular sequence, with six months of travel and research followed by six months of writing. Many of his works featured events at sea. His output decreased in the 1960s, but was still substantial. He became interested in ecological themes. He continued writing until just before his death. His last novel was Delta Connection (1996).
Unusually for the thriller genre, Innes' protagonists were often not "heroes" in the typical sense, but ordinary men suddenly thrust into extreme situations by circumstance. Often, this involved being placed in a hostile environment (the Arctic, the open sea, deserts), or unwittingly becoming involved in a larger conflict or conspiracy. The protagonist generally is forced to rely on his own wits and making best use of limited resources, rather than the weapons and gadgetry commonly used by thriller writers.
Four of his early novels were made into films: Snowbound (1948)from The Lonely Skier (1947), Hell Below Zero (1954) from The White South (1949), Campbell's Kingdom (1957), and The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959). His 1973 novel Golden Soak was adapted into a six-part television series in 1979.
Innes was born in Horsham, Sussex, and educated at the Cranbrook School in Kent. He left in 1931 to work as a journalist, initially with the Financial Times (at the time called the Financial News). The Doppelganger, his first novel, was published in 1937. In WWII he served in the Royal Artillery, eventually rising to the rank of Major. During the war, a number of his books were published, including Wreckers Must Breathe (1940), The Trojan Horse (1941) and Attack Alarm (1941); the last of which was based on his experiences as an anti-aircraft gunner during the Battle of Britain at RAF Kenley. After being discharged in 1946, he worked full-time as a writer, achieving a number of early successes.
His novels are notable for a fine attention to accurate detail in descriptions of places, such as in Air Bridge (1951), set partially at RAF Gatow, RAF Membury after its closure and RAF Wunstorf during the Berlin Airlift.
Innes went on to produce books in a regular sequence, with six months of travel and research followed by six months of writing. Many of his works featured events at sea. His output decreased in the 1960s, but was still substantial. He became interested in ecological themes. He continued writing until just before his death. His last novel was Delta Connection (1996).
Unusually for the thriller genre, Innes' protagonists were often not "heroes" in the typical sense, but ordinary men suddenly thrust into extreme situations by circumstance. Often, this involved being placed in a hostile environment (the Arctic, the open sea, deserts), or unwittingly becoming involved in a larger conflict or conspiracy. The protagonist generally is forced to rely on his own wits and making best use of limited resources, rather than the weapons and gadgetry commonly used by thriller writers.
Four of his early novels were made into films: Snowbound (1948)from The Lonely Skier (1947), Hell Below Zero (1954) from The White South (1949), Campbell's Kingdom (1957), and The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959). His 1973 novel Golden Soak was adapted into a six-part television series in 1979.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
August 28, 2023
Fast paced fun packed into 211 pages. A true ripping yarn with overtones of a James Bond setting (enormous sea cave submarine base, anyone?) and Richard Hannay (Nazi attack must be thwarted!) plus atmospheric du Maurier-esque Cornish coast intrigue. Not the least bit plausible, but quite entertaining. There's an interesting departure from most protagonists in thriller/adventure books as he's an ordinary man with few hallmarks of the hero yet proves to be braver and more ingenious than he himself expected.
Not sure I much like the title, though. A quibble.
Not sure I much like the title, though. A quibble.
December 19, 2019
When drama critic Walter Craig goes fishing off the coast of Cornwall, he hooks a Nazi submarine. This completely outlandish and silly premise leads to the discovery of a vast secret German submarine base built inside an old Cornish seaside tin mine. Equally outlandish and silly is Walter's solution to the problem. Without spoiling the story, it's enough to say that said solution involves a scheme Walter and his band of fighters come up with that would embarrass James Bond. Hint: in involves gas, explosions, and lots of fighting. All told so tediously that you can't wait for it to be over.
This is a very early Innes novel. The author must have been around 27 years old at the time. Clearly, he hadn't quite figured out things yet. The middle section of the book, where Innes basically gives up on integrating the German conspiracy into a coherent plot, relies greatly upon his experience as a newspaper reporter. So, that is sort of interesting from a biographical angle. The book itself, however, just doesn't work. A piece of wartime propaganda, essentially, and seemingly written during the period of the Phony War in early 1940, Wreckers Must Breathe mostly depicts the Germans as a bunch of Simon Legrees, while maintaining the British will and must "fight fair." It's a childish perspective. Innes would go on to write much greater novels. And choose better titles. The "wreckers" of the title refers to Cornwall's supposed history as a place where its seaside inhabitants made a living off stripping and looting ships wrecked on its rocky coastline. In this case, however, the wreckers are the German submarines. The fact that the title needs that much of an explanation is testimony to its failure.
This is a very early Innes novel. The author must have been around 27 years old at the time. Clearly, he hadn't quite figured out things yet. The middle section of the book, where Innes basically gives up on integrating the German conspiracy into a coherent plot, relies greatly upon his experience as a newspaper reporter. So, that is sort of interesting from a biographical angle. The book itself, however, just doesn't work. A piece of wartime propaganda, essentially, and seemingly written during the period of the Phony War in early 1940, Wreckers Must Breathe mostly depicts the Germans as a bunch of Simon Legrees, while maintaining the British will and must "fight fair." It's a childish perspective. Innes would go on to write much greater novels. And choose better titles. The "wreckers" of the title refers to Cornwall's supposed history as a place where its seaside inhabitants made a living off stripping and looting ships wrecked on its rocky coastline. In this case, however, the wreckers are the German submarines. The fact that the title needs that much of an explanation is testimony to its failure.
June 9, 2024
The second Hammond Innes book I have read and utterly different from The Strode Venturer (which I loved). I have recently been told that Innes' writing career falls into two distinct parts: his early work, which is all implausible rough and tumble adventure told in straightfoward language; and his later work, which is more thoughtful rough and tumble adventure in finely crafted prose. Wreckers Must Breathe clearly belongs to the former category.
It is an incredibly farfetched tale, and although it served a propoaganda function (being written at the beginning of WWII), the stretching of credulity gives almost an inadvertent surreal shimmer to the happenings (but not quite). It is a type of pre-James Bond British good guys versus bad guys in an underground base exploit, but the good guys in this instance are ordinary men thrown into extreme situations, rather than secret service professionals. Hammond Innes made the 'little man rising to the challenge' trope his speciality. And he was very good at it.
I enjoyed this book and I absolutely crave to read more by this author. But I think I will concentrate on his maturer works, The Wreck of the Mary Deare, for example.
It is an incredibly farfetched tale, and although it served a propoaganda function (being written at the beginning of WWII), the stretching of credulity gives almost an inadvertent surreal shimmer to the happenings (but not quite). It is a type of pre-James Bond British good guys versus bad guys in an underground base exploit, but the good guys in this instance are ordinary men thrown into extreme situations, rather than secret service professionals. Hammond Innes made the 'little man rising to the challenge' trope his speciality. And he was very good at it.
I enjoyed this book and I absolutely crave to read more by this author. But I think I will concentrate on his maturer works, The Wreck of the Mary Deare, for example.
January 6, 2018
This 1940 Cornish coastal thriller is a fast-moving and evocative novel.
my review:
https://jayrothermel.blogspot.com/201...
my review:
https://jayrothermel.blogspot.com/201...
Read
May 27, 2024Fun story, gets a bit bogged down in technicalities and as per the strong female character to whom they actually owe their lives is just seen as a sexual object
December 17, 2015
This, the earliest of Hammond Innes's sea stories is a fairly typical WWII adventure story, with a pair of fairly ordinary Englishmen thwarting the nefarious designs of Nazi spies. It was written, however, during the very earliest weeks of the war and is extraordinarily prescient; the threat to shipping from submarine warfare was known, but U-boat pens did not exist until some years later.
Innes also scores extra points (from me) for including a plucky and intrepid female journalist investigate the mystery and for the Cornish setting. I would point out that Cornish wreckers only seem to have ever existed in fiction, but can't complain of him using the idea.
Innes also scores extra points (from me) for including a plucky and intrepid female journalist investigate the mystery and for the Cornish setting. I would point out that Cornish wreckers only seem to have ever existed in fiction, but can't complain of him using the idea.
April 11, 2020
I think with this book it is simply down to preference. If you don't like lengthy descriptions of war machinery, U-boats and submarines, or World War II literature in general, you will not like this book. For me, the majority of the time I was bored and confused. The writing style I found quite stilted and awkward at times; there was no flow to it at all, just stark sentences that didn't convey any kind of suspense or emotion. There were points that did interest me, but I found myself avoiding reading this book and a lot of the time I desperately wanted to give up and read something else. Towards the end I was really just trying to finish it. I think this may be the longest time it has taken me to read a 200-page book.
December 14, 2020
Read this book in 2020, and although the style is a bit outdated, it still is highly readable with a well-builtup plot and action.
The hardest-to-believe part might even been the fact that Innes wrote this WWII thriller in 1940.
The hardest-to-believe part might even been the fact that Innes wrote this WWII thriller in 1940.
February 19, 2023
Innes' sixth thriller is, as are so many adventure thrillers, predicated on an absurdity - in this case, the existence of a multi-million pound secret U-Boat base located on the Cornish coast making use of old mine workings.
Once you get past this block to rational thought, what you get is a reasonably well crafted early wartime thriller (published at the very beginning of 1940) which has the virtue of having an authentic feel as far as the psychology of the time is concerned.
Late 1939 was a time of deep anxiety about both Nazi espionage networks and fifth columnists and the threat to British naval power of German submarine warfare. Britain was also a nation still reeling from the Depression, psychologically insecure even if still determined to take on the Nazis.
Even at this early stage, we see the division (later to be expressed in the Rommel legend) of the honourable military enemy contrasted with the thuggish and cowardly boot-boys of the Nazi Party - another absurdity only to be uncovered when the history could finally be written.
There is nothing truly remarkable about this book but Innes writes with verve. His action sequences would be easy to translate into a 'war film'. He has a good eye for character and scenery so it ends up an easy and likeable read once you have drifted backwards in time to late 1939.
One interesting note though. The young narrator who becomes the hero of the hour is not afraid to express his fears about war or his doubts about the consequences of heroism. This vision of young male anxiety, with only WWI as a measure of what war may be like, feels thoroughly authentic.
The book feels like an act of psychological catharsis, of the writer forcing himself into the line of duty through his hero. The latter's undoubted selfless heroism and that of his working class comrades is the transformation of a weedy intellectual (a drama critic) into a potential officer and leader of men.
All thrillers are male power fantasies but this is one where you can taste the fear of and anxiety about death in a greater cause at a particular moment in history. The educated middle class prep school boy does what he did in 1914 - take his natural social place as leader of men by overcoming his fears.
March 27, 2023
Early Hammond Innes - I’ve bought a pile of his paperbacks and and am reading them in rough order of publication.
Writing in 1940, Innes intelligently predicts the havoc that U-Boats were about to inflict in the Western Approaches.
Walter Craig, newspaper columnist, is holidaying on The Lizard peninsula as Germany invades Poland and a chance meeting with a damp walker following a near drowning as his mackerel line gets snagged by a massive underwater “shark” leads to suspicion that enemy agents and submarines might be operating along the Cornish coast. What ensues seems highly improbable but bear with it and you are rewarded with a desperate attempt to prevent a pack of U-Boats inflicting terminal damage upon the Royal Navy.
The first person account of Craig switches mid-story to the writings of the female reporter sent to investigate his disappearance. She has a nose for sleuthing and a relentlessness which helps uncover the enormity happening literally beneath her feet. An added bonus (for me at least) is the presence of two Welshmen in vital supporting roles.
Writing in 1940, Innes intelligently predicts the havoc that U-Boats were about to inflict in the Western Approaches.
Walter Craig, newspaper columnist, is holidaying on The Lizard peninsula as Germany invades Poland and a chance meeting with a damp walker following a near drowning as his mackerel line gets snagged by a massive underwater “shark” leads to suspicion that enemy agents and submarines might be operating along the Cornish coast. What ensues seems highly improbable but bear with it and you are rewarded with a desperate attempt to prevent a pack of U-Boats inflicting terminal damage upon the Royal Navy.
The first person account of Craig switches mid-story to the writings of the female reporter sent to investigate his disappearance. She has a nose for sleuthing and a relentlessness which helps uncover the enormity happening literally beneath her feet. An added bonus (for me at least) is the presence of two Welshmen in vital supporting roles.
April 19, 2024
Great title - not sure what it has to do with the time of day but great title. Great premise and opening and a lovely idea about the two ways into the hidden submarine dock. I like his sightly old fashioned style of thriller writing. The rest is pretty far fetched. The prisoners are kept around, let out to help out and not kept a very close eye on and with this leeway manage to concoct an action packed and immensely far fetched escape and defeat of all the clueless Germans. The levering in of a woman prisoner halfway through hints at a possible romantic element but Innes gives up on this and the ending is wrapped up pretty quickly.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 10, 2021
I enjoyed this far more than the 3* might indicate but it is, 80 years on, quite silly. You can see him learning on the job in some respects, particularly in comparison with 'Killer Mine', written during the same period, which uses many of the same plot elements. There is also a particular fascination in fiction about the war published during the war, when the outcomes were uncertain and many facts unclear. The locations are well drawn and it cannot fail to catch 1939 accurately for the obvious reasons.
Read
September 5, 2024My favourite part of the book was the interactions between the Germans and the main characters Walter Craig and Big Logan. Namely, between Craig and the spy in the village, which goes
- I’m afraid it will be war.
- […] Will you be called up?
- I expect so.
- What branch?
- Navy.
- It’s better than most. Better than the trenches.
- Maybe.
And also in the submarine, where Craig and Logan end up playing poker with the Germans.
The ending follows the typical formula of a grand shootout.
- I’m afraid it will be war.
- […] Will you be called up?
- I expect so.
- What branch?
- Navy.
- It’s better than most. Better than the trenches.
- Maybe.
And also in the submarine, where Craig and Logan end up playing poker with the Germans.
The ending follows the typical formula of a grand shootout.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 17, 2024
Quite different from The Wreck of the Mary Deare, this novel is instead much more of a Bond-esque story of escape from a secret U-boat base (in Cornwall of all places). While it does not have as much depth as the Mary Deare, this is an excellent adventure style yarn where the Nazis are the bad guys (with the exception of some minor characters that appear in one scene) and one must consider sacrificing their life for King and Country. Ripe for an adaptation of some kind.
January 25, 2024
Bijna 85 jaar oud en nog steeds vlot leesbaar.
Begint als een plattelandsroman, maar stilletjes sluipt de spanning in het verhaal, om dan halfweg een stijlbreuk te plegen - van proza wordt er opeens zon 40 blz lang overgegaan op telegram- en briefstijl - die de lezer volledig uit het verhaal haalt.
Gelukkig volgt daarna nog heel wat spanning, mar het kwaad is geschied
Begint als een plattelandsroman, maar stilletjes sluipt de spanning in het verhaal, om dan halfweg een stijlbreuk te plegen - van proza wordt er opeens zon 40 blz lang overgegaan op telegram- en briefstijl - die de lezer volledig uit het verhaal haalt.
Gelukkig volgt daarna nog heel wat spanning, mar het kwaad is geschied
August 26, 2024
would have given 4 stars except the middle section of the story made no sense - changed characters, different writing style, and distracting plotting - so the exciting first and third parts were marred. The far-fetched story line was more like a modern James Bond cliffhanger, similar to You Only Live Twice; it was amazing that Innes wrote this before the start of WW II.
September 23, 2024
Certainly, some good things in this undersea/underground ww2 adventure— good prose, an attempt at complete realism, but also some weirdness — some wishful thinking about german soldiers being dissatisfied with Gestapo to the point of mutiny; annoying writer's technique to point out details that will be important later, and overall dullness of action in the way it's described.
August 18, 2025
Implausible early Hammond Innes fun Second World War thriller which packs in a lot of action in it's short span. The setting is Cornwall, where drama critic Walter Craig discovers a German base built into a cave. It's enjoyable enough as a quick read - it's pretty short - to zip through it without being critical of the problems with the details. Terrible title does not help.
December 19, 2020
Written in three sections, I didn’t really get into it until section 2. I enjoyed it mostly, though I really did not believe our main hero’s change of bravery. Oh, and it just ended and it felt as if some story was missing.
September 16, 2019
Has aged well, even if it's of its time, and is still a crisp thriller.
February 10, 2022
Exciting, short...and I'm not sure if it's fiction or not
September 11, 2023
How did this every get published?
December 28, 2023
Very readable. Enjoyed.
April 25, 2024
A good story with a tight plot, but lacking in characterisation.
January 24, 2019
My husband has worked his way through all Innes's books on Audible and this one is his last. He thoroughly enjoyed it especially the description of the man made mines within the cliffs. Full of adventures and daring do...thoroughly enjoyed by him.
December 16, 2014
The plot is good. However the details about the U-boat base is quite a mess.
August 4, 2016
It made me pay attention to Innes as a writer.
January 29, 2018
Of its time WW2 submarine yarn. Not prime Innes.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews