Evening star., 1948-10-03

"The Young Lions" who are de-
voured in the war are three soldiers,
two Americans and one Nazi. OF
the three, Noah Ackerman, a Jewish
private, is ruthlessly prosecuted by
his comrades in training camp who
want to see every Jew treated as
If he weighed 200 pounds, is the
hero. Into the portrait OF Noah, and
particularly into his romance with
the girl from Vermont, Mr.. Shaw
has poured all his wincing tender
ness for the dispossessed. That al
fair, involving endless streetcar rides
and voluminous correspondence. i'm
parts a glow which all the subse-
ouent horrors Of Noah's experiences
cannot quite extinguish.
During his ordeal in camp, Moan
meets briefly Michael Whitacre,
33-year-old playboy and troubled
liberal who seeks refuge from intol-
erance and disappointment in a
Special Services Unit. The pair are
reunited in a replacement depot in
France, and together they 60 for
ward to meet their enemy, Chris
tian Diestl, a Nazi sergeant, in
concentration camp in Germany,
which to Michael is "the center OF
the world"
Simply Corruptible.
At first it would seem that Mr..
Shaw has rather daringly presented
in Christian a sympathetic picture
of a Nazi soldier. But Christian, for
all his clean and shining exterior.
his moments of perception, is after
all, neither good nor bad, but SIM
ply corruptible. His disintegratlon
begins with two weeks orgy in
yictory-glutted Berlin with the saw
aeely promiscuous wife of his hated
lieutenant. He is young man
caught up in the strongest tide OF
his time and he swims with 1t,
through Africa and Italy and
France, becoming harder and more
vengeful as he goes along.
The invasion has been exhaus-
lively reported, but Mr.. Shaw brings
1t back in its full mighty awfulneSs
through focusing steadily on one
small part of it. He sees it through
Noah's company, which is nearly
annihilated through the stupidity OF
its imbecile ex-undertaker National
Guard officer. For Noah, the inva-
sion brings acceptance and friend
ship from the rest Of his company.
To Michael, meeting him later, he
has become grave, prematurely
wise young man who has won peace
Of mind in war. Mr.. Shaw sees his
soldiers always as amateurs, always
for what they were and will be,
fleeing civilian terrors as they face
combat.
It might be said that Mr.. Shaw
has written at too great length IN
these 689 tight-packed pages that
have no one centralizing theme.
Possibly he has been a little glib in
Places. But his book has an insist
ent reliability. He has reproduced
with an unforgettable emotional in
tensity the sights and sounds OF
war. And his novel is vibrant with
life and compassion.
GUARD OF HONOR
BY James Gould Cozzens. (Har-
court Brace & Co.; $780,
James Gould Cozzens, an estab-
lished novelist Of the first rank, is
also writing about the war, but on
an entirely different level, far be-
hind the lines. His characters are
the highest in command at an air.
base in Ocanara, Fla, and their
problems are the infinitely complex
ones which arise from the difficulty
of trying to cleave to a stated Army
policy while obeying the unwritten
laws OF older loyalties.
Mr.. Cozzens' familiarity with the
administrative routine Of the Army
is nothing short Of dazzling, If a
little tedious. In the brief, three
day span of the action, during
which a potentially nasty crisis in
volving race relations is born and
stifled, he takes note of myriad
details, a welter Of memoranda.
interoffice telephone calls. TWX
messages from Washington and even
the meaningful glances which pass
between certain members of the
high brass. This heavy documenta-
ton technique causes his story to
> move at lockstep pace and 1t takes
631 pages to relate all the rever-
berations Of the incident which
threatened for a time the meteoric
of thu 1Nxyieh a |, a li,,rr
general, Ira N. BUS" Beal, who at
Al is the youngest two-star general
in the Army.
Mr.. Cozzens writes Of the enor-
mously complicated processes of
military procedure without satire.
Indeed, his novel is as gravaly writ
ten as q report for War Depart
ment f1les-with, of course, the un-
military addition Of highly polished
Latinish prose, superb characterize
ton and frequent pauses for the
introspections and personal opinions
Of various people involved in the
situation.
The Old Air Corps.
1t is Bus stubborn devotion to
the old school tie Of the old Air
Corps that makes the job OF
squelching the incipient scandal SO
difficult for his air inspector, Col
Ross, a judge in civilian life, who
has . rather ancient Roman con-
cept of duty and jurist's passion
for orderly procedure. The trouble
is set of by 1t. Col. Benny Car
Kicker, who is so hot a pilot that
the general, his heart ever in the