The Last Eagle

by Michael Wenberg

Forced into a neutral Estonian port for repairs during the chaos of the opening days of World War II, the Polish submarine, the "Eagle" and her crew are betrayed by their captain and captured by Nazi sympathizers. The crew, however, isn’t content to sit out the war. With help from unexpected sources—a naval attaché with the British Embassy and a courageous American reporter and her photographer sidekick—they overcome their captors, regain control of the "Eagle," and escape. The German’s are convinced the "Eagle's" crew has no stomach for a fight and will seek refuge in Sweden. But the Poles have something else in mind—join up with the British Fleet and continue fighting against their homeland's Nazi conquerors. They face stiff odds. The "Eagle" has little food and water, few torpedoes, and no sea charts. And before she can rendezvous with the British somewhere in the North Sea, she must traverse the Baltic, which has become little more than a Nazi-controlled lake.
This story is inspired by the exploits of the Polish submarine, "Orzel," during the early weeks of World War II.


Winston Churchill called her escape from the Nazis “an epic.”

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

303 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 10, 2011

About the author

I live with my wife and our wonder dog, Gracie, on five wooded acres close enough to Puget Sound to hear the fog horns when the weather turns nasty. In addition to writing stories, I enjoy playing my horn (a trombone), hiking and mountain biking in the nearby the woods and Olympic mountains, rowing my wherry on Puget Sound and Hood Canal, and spending time with family and friends. If you want to get in touch, send me an email: michaelcwenberg@gmail.com.

Reviews

[Lewis Weinstein · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not gripping ... don't recommend ... the true story of the Orzel is fascinating, but this doesn't come close

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forced into a neutral Estonian port for repairs during the chaos of the opening days of World War II, the Polish submarine, the "Eagle" and her crew are betrayed by their captain and captured by Nazi sympathizers. The crew, however, isn’t content to sit out the war. With help from unexpected sources—a naval attaché with the British Embassy and a courageous American reporter and her photographer sidekick—they overcome their captors, regain control of the "Eagle," and escape. The German’s are convinced the "Eagle's" crew has no stomach for a fight and will seek refuge in Sweden. But the Poles have something else in mind—join up with the British Fleet and continue fighting against their homeland's Nazi conquerors. They face stiff odds. The "Eagle" has little food and water, few torpedoes, and no sea charts. And before she can rendezvous with the British somewhere in the North Sea, she must traverse the Baltic, which has become little more than a Nazi-controlled lake.

This story is inspired by the exploits of the Polish submarine, "Orzel," during the early weeks of World War II.

Winston Churchill called her escape from the Nazis “an epic.”

I have to say that I really got hooked by this book, the only thing that spoilt it for me was some of the wayward editting otherwise it would have been 5 stars. I am now going to look into whatever information I can find about the Orzel.

[Charles van Buren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weaves together history & fiction

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This review is from: The Last Eagle (Kindle Edition)

This is a satisfying read based on an actual incident in WW2. While the broad story is true, Wenberg adds a romantic interest for the captain to the story. He also adds some combat scenes to make the story more interesting for readers. Some reviewers complain of inaccuracies in the naval and combat scenes. There do seem to be a few which did not hurt the story for me and will probably not be noticed by most readers. Every one who writes military/historical fiction is not experienced in military matters. These authors have to rely on research which may not cover every small detail. There are a few editing errors such as occasional extra words in sentences.

[Chris Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't do book reviews


I don't do book reviews like you keep seeing, as I find that some give too much of the plot away and I personally hate that, as it makes the book not worth reading. I much prefer to take the authors back cover write up as a review as it can either intrigue you enough to read the book of provide you enough information to make you decide that the book is not for you.
My review rules are: The more stars, the more I liked it.
If there are too many typos or errors the less stars I give
If the storyline or plot is poor or contains too many errors, the characters are too weak, the ending lacking something, then the less stars I give.
Simple, uncomplicated and to the point without giving anything away.
Some of the books I read have been given to me by the author as a pre-release copy and this does not bias my reviews in any way.

[victor douglas white · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read

Compelling story. Lead characters and story line compelling. Must read look forward to reading similar fictional novels or stories over good

[Art Tirrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

THE LAST EAGLE
by Michael Wenberg

I've always enjoyed submarine stories and when I saw this one at 99 cents I was excited to dig right in.

Sadly, the read falls short on several counts. While the concept is good and the plot reasonably believable, I quickly tired of the constant references to the conditions the men had to endure; how much they all stank, how there was trash everywhere; and when the author's malaprops, missing and misplaced words, anachronisms, and generally poor editing took their toll I was tempted to put down the story.

I didn't, because as I said earlier I found the plot interesting and even in the midst of all the grammatic and editing errors the imagery of the action is done well enough that I could visualize events as they took place.

That said, there were disturbing logic holes. Why would the Germans allow the Estonians to offload the torpedos and take off the charts when the Estonian general knew he was about to hand over the boat to the Germans? And why didn't they take off the ammunition for the deck gun and anti-aircraft guns too?

Okay, so we're at the climax. The German destroyer has sprung its trap and at last has the submarine dead to rights. Instead of events unfolding from there, the author declines to deliver the climactic hunt and the story leaps 24 hours ahead and picks up after 99% of all the action is over with. That one was the torpedo that finally sank the story for me.

I don't like writing reviews like this and generally when I run into a poorly executed book I just delete it and move on. But this one felt different. The story is THERE, the author just came out with it before it was 100% ready, and that's really a shame because this could have been a winner.

[J. McKern · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wenberg's book covers a side of World War 2 I wasn't familiar with--the last submarine in the Polish fleet. Even more surprising than the subject matter was Wenberg's gift for characterization. His cast is as hard-boiled as what you might expect to find in a Dashiell Hammett novel. Hard book to put down. What do you call a page-turner you read on your iPad? Anyway, I'd recently read Steven Ambrose's Band of Brothers and Citizen Soldiers. I found The Last Eagle more satisfying. It has all the important and enlightening detail, a bit of noir theatre thrown in for color, and plenty of rough-edged, unshaven and probably foul smelling characters battling it out despite the fact that Poland's war came to an early end. It has all the suspense and detail as Tom Clancy's Red October, too. I looked for more from Wenberg and turned up a couple of pretty interesting YA titles which I'll have to track down for my daughter. I bet she'll enjoy them as much as I enjoyed The Last Eagle. As for me, I'll have to go rent Das Boot while I'm waiting for his next novel.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good book, an easy read. This piece of fiction is based on a true story of a Polish Submarine that was caught under repair in Poland at the outbreak of WWII. She escaped to Estonia only to be interred by the Germans. The crew retook the the boat and sailed with no weapons and no charts, food, or water, and ultimately escaped to Great Britain. How she made it to the UK, read the book.

[BeLikeBrit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story and wonderful read Highly recommend this book

Wonderful read and an excellent story I hope the author provides us with another story as good as this one