To the Victors the Spoils

by Colin MacInnes

Colin MacInnes was a sergeant in a Field Security detachment in the Second World War. In this imaginative record of actual experiences he describes the progress of his detachment through Holland, Germany and Belgium in a rapid succession of incidents, full of humanity, light-heartedness and wit.But it is a great deal more than just a fascinating account of the war; written in the 1950s, it was a sufficient distance away for the war experience to have been digested, yet close enough for it to be fresh. Running through the seemingly gentle stories he tells are undercurrents of emotion which are moving, disturbing and deeply poignant.

350 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1950

About the author

MacInnes was born in London, the son of singer James Campbell MacInnes and novelist Angela Thirkell, and was educated in Australia. He served in the British intelligence corps during World War II.

He was the author of a number of books depicting London youth and black immigrant culture during the 1950s, in particular City of Spades (1957), Absolute Beginners (1959) and Mr. Love and Justice (1960).

Reviews

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

A journey through liberated Belgium and Holland, and into Germany, made by one small chunk of a victorious army.

I love novels with a vivid sense of time and place, and this one really delivers. The constant flow of characters and situations straddles a fine line between comedy and tragedy, and if the long philosophical speeches sometimes seem a bit hard to believe, their sentiments are good.

[Stephen Bloomfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

At one level nothing very much happens in this book. This is a war story mostly without action -- a couple of incidental bombings and some false alarms.
But on another level it is a fascinating recounting of the story of troops just behind the line — who , after all, make up the majority of any army.
The sergeants in the section are probably all facets of MacInnes own experience, so that the book is effectively a long fictionalised recounting of his experiences in the turmoil after the invasion as the Allies moved forward into Germany. It becomes a long — and entertaining - elaboration on the rights and wrongs of “good” war and of good and evil, voiced by the different characters.

The MacInnes character - never named, but Sergeant Mac — is himself far from being of certain opinions and even theses change gently as the problems of real life engulf the invaders,
A good read.

[Nickie]

i used to love colin mcinnes, and i wanted to read something vaguely wartime/postwar to match me austerity britain book, but this was just badly written and tedious.