Citadel of Ice

by Robie MacAuley, Cameron Macauley

In 1916 Captain Melchior von Fuchsheim is abruptly transferred from the horror of the trenches to a remote outpost in the Austrian Alps. There he is instructed to build an impregnable fortress beneath the massive Ortler Glacier, where the Austrians are locked in a stalemate against the Italians while battling nature’s cruelest extremes of cold and altitude. But Major Stutz sees Melchior as a charlatan, and a struggle erupts as Melchior fights to defend the Jewish conscripts under his command, deep in the tunnels and caverns of the Eisfestung, the Citadel of Ice.

Genres: World War I

180 pages, Paperback

First published September 13, 2014

About the author

Robie Mayhew MacAuley

Reviews

[Leila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story - so much so that I found myself googling various events, information about glaciers and ice etc. Interesting format too - it's not quite an adventure book, not quite a historical novel, not quite a memoir. The one thing I would change is the sometimes cliched and florid language, especially at the beginning of the book. It gets much better as the plot thickens, and to a degree it's acceptable because of the "memoir" qualities of the book - after all, people DO talk that way. All the more acceptable when I learned that this was picked up by the Robie MacAuley's son, Cameron (a friend from Peace Corps) who made a conscious decision not to alter the writing after his father's death. Overall, a very enjoyable read.

[Constance Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had my heart pounding. A horrifying avalanche scene, the plight of jewish soldiers without weapons defending the citadel with only digging and climbing tools, and several falling into a crevasse scenes were all excellent. I had no idea at all about this little slice of WWI history. Wonderful to discover photographs of the story and the people involved are available to be viewed on the Citadel of Ice Facebook page. I very much enjoyed considering the evolving view of the question of god by the main character as he experienced the nightmare of war and the brutality of nature. It put an interesting twist to the way we are accustomed to thinking about the effects of hardship on belief. While reading sections that involved precipices, I actually got that physical feeling of pain that runs through my core whenever I am on the edge at a substantial height. Would make a great gift for any history buff, or someone who thinks winter is miserable. Highly Recommended.

[Solomon Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the strangest books written about WWI, this novel follows the adventures of Melchior, a Bavarian crystallographer who is miraculously transferred from the trenches in France to a post in the Austrian alps and assigned to build a fortress inside a glacier there. It sounds like science fiction, but apparently both sides burrowed into the ice rather than try to survive the fierce winds and biting cold. Inside the glacier it was possible to lead a much more comfortable existence, and Melchior spends a lot of his time preparing surprise attacks on the Italians. Unfortunately, he has to deal with an incompetent colonel and his hateful replacement (after the colonel is killed in a freak accident) as he tries to protect some Russian POWs and a unit of Jewish conscripts from bigotry and abuse.

There's a subtle backstory of Melchior's first, blighted romance and his passionate relationship with a Swedish nurse, along with Melchior's meditations on the nature of war and his own religious faith--not uncommon subjects in most books about war. There's also a bit of technical explanation of how the fortress was constructed, a considerable feat in a glacier that was constantly in motion, working in ice, which presented some unique engineering problems.

Incredibly enough, the story is based on carefully-researched historical fact. This book makes the history come to life in a delightful way.