World War II (1983) Novelization

Written by Harold King under the pseudonym Brian Harris. Based on the 1982 TV mini-series written by Robert L. Joseph and directed by David Greene and Boris Sagal.  It starred David Soul, Brian Keith, Cathy Lee Crosby, Robert Prosky, Katherine Helmond and Rock Hudson. It tells a (now dated) story of how shenanigans with Soviet Russia could get out of hand. I say dated only in reference to the fact that it deals with the Soviets. The basic premise still seems pretty solid.

The mini-series this novelization is based upon was broadcast on NBC over two nights on Sunday January 31, 1982 and Monday February 1, 1982. This was the golden era of the mini-series, and this one sticks out from my childhood as one I actually wanted to watch. I recall that even at the time I could tell that most of it was filmed on a set, but that didn't reduce the effectiveness by much. This is a unsensational telling of how a war could have started between the US and Soviet Russian in the early 1980's. At the time this story was told, the two countries had been locked in a cold war for more than 30 years. The threat of nuclear doom was ever-present for most people of that generation, and the story tapped into that fear in a logical and believable way. 

The original director was Boris Sagal. He was killed early in production in a helicopter accident while on location in Oregon. The production company was scheduled to spend a month on location filming outdoor scenes. After Sagal's death much of this work was moved to indoor sets. There is still the odd shot of the outdoors in the film, but the vast majority are indoor with fake snow. This is noticeable, but as I said, it works well enough. The indoor sets are cramped which compresses the action scenes.

The novelization is a distinct improvement over the mini series. For one thing, it is not hampered by a TV movie budget and greatly expands the number of soldiers involved. It also uses the geography effectively instead of having to be contained on smallish indoor sets. The spreads the action out more realistically so the cat and mouse nature of the battles scenes work better.   Also, the novelization is R-rated with realistic dialogue and action. This serves to make the action more believable. It takes the already engaging premise and does everything a good novelization should do by filling the story gaps and going where movies (or in this case television) can't go for either budgetary or censorship reasons.

Very much recommended if you can find it.

From the back cover:

IT IS THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW...

The starving masses are rioting in wheat-poor Soviet Union.

The United States is in desperate need of fuel.

And a few Russian military fanatics have sent a suicide strike-force to capture the Alaskan pipeline as ransom for America's grain.

Now, a secret battle between a Russian and an American unit rages in Alaska's frozen wastes...

Now, the leaders of the two powers play a terrifying game of nuclear brinkmanship...

Now, two generations after "The Last Good War,", four generations after "The War To End All Wars," the world hurtles toward "The War That Nobody Wants"

The Big One...The Final One...

WORLD WAR III

NBC Miniseries from 1982, starring David Soul, Brian Keith, Cathy Lee Crosby, Robert Prosky and Rock Hudson.

Excerpt:

One of the hangars had been cannibalized to repair and insulate the other. It wasn't a beautiful job, but all it had to do was retain a reasonable amount of heat, which it accomplished, barely. But Caffey's primary problem wasn't keeping the men warm. His problem was keeping enough of them alive after each contact with the enemy (he was using the word now openly) so they could fight again. And again. Until he'd run out of men or ammunition, or until the Soviets quit and went home.

And they weren't quitting.

They'd keep it up, Caffey told one of his NCOs in response to a question during debriefing earlier, if they had to resort to throwing rocks and iceballs. Which was exactly what they'd be down to if later contacts were as costly as the first had been.

He knew he'd hurt the strike force. He'd killed or wounded probably thirty men and crippled if not destroyed the rocket-launching vehicle. Maybe they could patch it up. It didn't matter. It would cost them time. They'd be much more cautious now. They'd move slower. But the price he'd paid was staggering. Two of his four choppers were out of action---half his air force. He'd lost two pilots in the Huey that went down plus two thousand rounds of precious ammunition. A pilot in the second attack Huey was badly wounded and the chopper itself was no longer useful---the bullet-riddled fuselage attested to the miracle that it had returned at all. He'd lost nine men in his infantry---two killed, seven wounded. It wasn't a terribly high casualty count until you considered that he'd only used thirty men in the first skirmish; that's as many as he could cram into two choppers. Thirty percent casualties against three or four percent for his enemy weren't terrific statistics, no matter what he'd accomplished. He'd irritated them and that's about all he'd done. They weren't stopped and they weren't turning back. What they were was angry, Caffey thought. And waiting eagerly for the next time.

These were the things he'd explained in tonight's briefing. He took a long breath when he asked for questions.

"Sir, nobody's mentioned it, but . . . what about our families?" It was the lieutenant who'd asked if the plan would work the day before. "I know it sounds irrelevant, considering what's happening up here, but some of us were due to go home two days ago. I don't want to go back until we've done our jobs, and I know our families don't know what we're actually doing, but . . . what do they think we're doing here?"

"They've been told exactly the truth, Lieutenant." Caffey offered a tiny smile. "You've been snowed in by the weather . . . and you're all eating well and getting exercise."

There was some laughter.

"How much longer can we keep it up, sir?"

"Until the weather breaks," Caffey said. "Until we run out of ammo or the people to use it."

The laughter died away.