The Dawn Attack

by Brian Callison

November 29, 1941: 0530 hrs. At sea, three thousand yards off the blacked-out coast of Occupied Norway two ditched Luftwaffe air crew toss in a yellow dinghy. One is dead, his companion close to death. As their rubber coffin roller-coasters crazily to the crest of yet another curling sea a river of lightning illuminates the scene - and inexplicably, almost impossibly, reveals "a line of ships … long, low, silent ships. Ships stealing predatorily eastwards along the jagged silhouette of the black horizon." Then the light fades, the ghost ships vanish, the incredulous airman ceases to breathe … "But he was still the first German to have seen the coming to Norway of Number 22 Commando, Special Service Brigade".This is the story of an Allied raid on the little Norwegian fishing port of of the Commando and of the naval and air detachments which supported it, and of the German garrison which resisted them. Alvik is imaginary, there was no Number 22 Commando - but there were similar events, and the very essence of those battles lies distilled in the following pages.There are no good guys or bad guys, no 'ours' and 'theirs'; only human beings - some cowardly, some brutal, some pitifully vulnerable; some who joke in the face of death, others who cower terrified before it. With staggering vividness Brian Callison sketches in his protagonists so that they become creatures of flesh and blood who carry the reader with them in this hectic clash of arms. All the nobility of war is here; all the squalor; all the humour and all the horror. To read THE DAWN ATTACK is to know what it was really like. It is to have fought in Combined Operations.Heart-stopping suspense. New York Times.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Novels

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 1973

About the author

Brian Callison was a British novelist known for his best-selling thrillers and sea stories. Born in Manchester, England in 1934, he was educated at the High School of Dundee, and went to sea at the age of 16 as an apprentice with the Blue Funnel Line, sailing aboard cargo ships between ports in Europe and East Asia. Callison subsequently studied at Dundee College of Art in Scotland, and went into business. His first published novel, A Flock of Ships, appeared in 1970. In 2008 he completed a three-year appointment as a Fellow of The Royal Literary Fund at the University of Dundee, mentoring staff and students in all aspects of practical writing.
Callison died in Dundee on 5 February 2024, at the age of 89.

Reviews

[Kevin Mehlhopt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the characters in this book, a ripping yarn with clumsy comedic characters
well written, I couldn't put it down. Brian Callison is becoming my favourite author!

[Петр · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fast paced read, fiction solidly based on actual events that took place in Norway during WWII. it highlights the futility of war and at the same time the incredible sacrifice and bravery of those who fought. Well worth the read.

[Bent Andreassen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in Norwegian
3 pluss stars

[Gaye Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chilling. Important to read because it tells you what war is really like.