Although fiction, many of Wilson's own experiences as a Coast Guard during World War II are incorporated in this story of a young man stationed in the Greenland Patrol. Although ringing true in most of the war scenes, the length was prohibitive--500+ pp. which the author could have pared down.
The novel WAS easy to read. Interesting to read of a little-known location in that war. ( )

After graduating from college in 1942 Sloan Wilson served in World War II as an officer of the United States Coast Guard. At the age of 22 he was commanding a naval trawler for the Greenland Patrol.

[Ice Brothers] is the third novel Wilson wrote based on his wartime experiences. His ship's mission was to pursue heavily armed German weather ships in dangerous weather and seas.

Most of the WWII books I've read have been about fighting at the front. Wilson's book gives us a completely different but important wartime perspective. One that includes Eskimos and icebergs. ( )

A very interesting novel about a little known part of WW II, that of the Greenland Ice Patrol. Comprised mostly of trawlers, they were commanded by either old-time ice fishermen or wet-nosed and inexperienced peacetime yachtsmen. The novel is based on Wilson's experience around Greenland. The fictional Wilson (Paul) was appointed as executive officer to a very experienced Mowrey, an old-timer with a terrible drinking problem, but one who could read ice conditions like no one else. The radio officer had no sea-experience at all but he had a loathing for Germans after his Jewish wife and child had disappeared somewhere in Germany. He happened to be an electronics genius, however, a skill that was to be more than valuable later on.

A sister trawler has disappeared off the east-coast of Greenland with only a lifeboat filled with machine-gunned sailors remaining. His commanding officer having been taken off the boat for alcoholism problems, Paul and Nathan, his now executive officer, are sent east to fight the Germans and dismantle whatever weather station equipment they had established. Knowing weather conditions over Greenland was crucial for air operations in Europe so both sides wanted the advantage. Greenland, part of Denmark, which had quickly surrendered to the Germans, declared a sort of independence from Denmark and was claimed by both the Axis and Allies. It was an icy wasteland inhabited (barely) by Eskimos. Wilson spends a lot of time describing the Eskimo culture and their total lack of understanding for the animosity between the two sides. His descriptions of the ice and their culture I found quite interesting, especially their attitude toward sex, totally uninhibited and devoid of any monogamous impulses, the children considered children of everyone and cared for by everyone, their emphasis being on survival and laughter -- not a bad way to get through life except for the frigging cold.

Lots of ruminations on war, hatred, why people fight and love. I enjoyed the book very much. ( )