Movies - The Winds of War

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	Movies - The Winds of War

The Winds of War is Herman Wouk's second book about World War II, the first being The Caine Mutiny
(1951). Published in 1971, it was followed up seven years later by War and Remembrance. Originally conceived as one volume, Wouk decided to break it in two when he realized it took nearly 1000 pages just to get to the attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1983, it became a successful mini-series on the ABC television network.

Plot introduction

The story centers around a mixture of real and fictional characters, all connected in some way to the extended family of Victor "Pug" Henry, a middle-aged Naval Officer and close friend of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

The story begins eight months before Germany's invasion of Poland, which begins the war, and ends shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, when the United States, and therefore, by extension, the Henrys, enters the war as well.

Plot summary

As the story begins, Victor Henry is appointed naval attaché in Berlin. During the boat trip to Europe, Victor befriends a British radio personality, Alastair "Talky" Tudsbury, and his daughter, Pamela. While in Germany, Victor meets a German military general, Armin von Roon, who later becomes the viewpoint character for the German side of the war, and witnesses the worsening of the German government's discrimination against the Jews.

He also notices the intent of the Germans to invade Poland and realizing that this would mean war with the Soviet Union, he concludes the only way for Germany to safely invade is to agree not to go to war with the Soviets. Going over his supervisor's head, he submits a report predicting the Nazi-Soviet nonaggression pact before it takes place. The report draws President Roosevelt's attention on him, and persuades the President to ask Pug to be his unofficial eyes and ears in Europe. This assignment delays again his desired sea command, but later will give him the opportunity to travel to London, Rome and Moscow and meet historical figures like Winston Churchill, Mussolini and Stalin.

His wife Rhoda, meanwhile, is forced to spend time away from her husband, at first in Berlin and then in Washington, and begins a relationship with a government engineer named Palmer Kirby, who later will be involved in the first phase of the Manhattan Project. For his part, Pug begins a platonic but very close and borderline romantic relationship with Pamela, but can't decide to leave his wife Rhoda for her. After having finally obtained the command of a battleship, the USS California, he leaves for Pearl Harbor.

Pug's three children have their own story lines. His older son, Warren, enrolls in the Navy Flight School in Florida. His daughter, Madeline, gets involved in American radio. The one who gets the most story time devoted to him is middle child and younger son Byron, named after the English poet. Though well-educated and navy-commissioned, Byron is at loose ends for finding a job. In 1939 he accepts a job as a research assistant for an expatriate Jewish American author, Aaron Jastrow, who is best known for his book, A Jew's Jesus and lives in Siena, Italy. He also meets Jastrow's niece, Natalie, and her former boyfriend, Leslie Slote, whom she still loves and who works for the Department of State. We'll discover later that Natalie is also a good friend of Pamela Tudsbury.

As Byron and Natalie spend more time together - they're visiting her family's Polish native town, Oswiecim, when the war begins - they fall in love. She ends her romantic relationship with Slote, but he stays good friends with both of them. In 1941, she marries Byron, who displayed unsuspected qualities during the siege of Warsaw, and devotes herself to getting her reluctant uncle out of Europe to escape the coming Holocaust, although she is now pregnant.

All the storylines are left at a cliffhanger as the war begins. Rhoda makes and then retracts a request for a divorce. With the California already out of action, Pug gets command of a cruiser. Byron, pressed by his father, has joined the Navy as a submarine officer, and his brother Warren graduated from Pensacola, married a representative's daughter, Janice Lacouture, and is assigned to USS Enterprise. Aaron, Natalie, and Natalie's infant son Louis are trapped in Europe as the war begins. These storylines continue through War and Remembrance.

Miniseries

In 1983, Winds of War became a successful mini-series on the ABC television network. The miniseries was directed by Dan Curtis and Herman Wouk himself wrote the teleplay for the series. He also has a cameo as the archbishop of Siena. The music with its famous main theme was composed by Bob Cobert. This miniseries was followed by the sequel War and Remembrance. Nazi Concentration camp-survivor Branko Lustig was an associate producer in both of the miniseries.

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