A Gracious Enemy & After the War Volume Two
Quotes from the Book
Kurt, could you please serve this invoice upon the Prussian Pickle, the Major General von Trotha for the disrupting the legitimate working of F..H. Schmidt Engineering Services?
196
Acting Rear Admiral Gillet said, “Captain Scultetus, please try to understand that Britain and Germany are at war! The HMS Armadale Castle has been ordered to wipe the Swakop River Radio station off the map!
195
Adrian von Trotha was thinking, “Soldiers must obey their officers and I shall enforce that! As well, the enemy will not obtain any leniency from me!
193
Fritz Kramer said, “I cannot see why my treatment of my Chinese workers as equals should cause any German, American or British person any concern.
190
Heinrich replied, “The fact that Kramer’s radio station has been wiped out by the British Navy in now classified information!
189
Oskar Scultetus said, “Two of my men have been ordered to cut two of the guy wires holding the transmission tower in place, and they are already doing so using oxy-acetylene torches. When they have done it, the tower will fall!
188
Kurt said, “I have always wanted to wipe that self-satisfied smug look from the face of thee Prussian Pickle!
186
Captain Scultetus said, “Sir, I am the commander of the Swakopmund Coast Guard. My name and rank are Captain Oskar Scultetus! I respectfully beg you not to open fire upon my city!
184
Von Trotha said, “The Wahehe are a tribe of about one quarter of a million people! On the 17th of August 1891, they defeated the German expedition against them which was led by Zeleski.
184
Adrian blew his whistle and shouted, “Attack and put too death all those who oppose the fatherland!
184
Did you know?
- The novel is based on the author's real family history but partly fictionalised so the characters can hold conversations in scene.
- Michael G. Kramer served with the First Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment in Vietnam during 1968 and 1969.
- The author has said he took up writing in part to cope with war-related PTSD.
- The story's first generation, engineer Friedrich (Fritz) Kramer, worked on railways in China and helped develop the Namibian port town of Swakopmund.
- The book spans settings across Germany, China, Namibia, Australia, and Vietnam.
About Michael G. Kramer
Michael G. Kramer is an Australian author who trained in architecture and engineering and served with the First Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR) in the Vietnam War in 1968 and 1969. He has written a number of books, drawing on his family history and wartime experience, and began writing partly as a way of managing war-related PTSD.
More about the author →More by Michael G. Kramer
A Gracious Enemy & After the War Volume Two
The Full Circle for Mick
About the book
His Forefathers and Mick by Australian author Michael G. Kramer is a work of historical fiction that traces the Kramer family across three generations. It opens with Friedrich (Fritz) Kramer, a German engineer who advanced railway and communications technology in early twentieth-century China and in what is now Namibia, where he was involved in the development of the port city of Swakopmund. The story then follows his son, who seeks a fresh start in Australia in the aftermath of the Second World War, and finally Michael (Mick) himself, who comes of age and serves in the Vietnam War.
Across its generational sweep, the novel explores ambition, identity, and the pull of inherited legacy, set against a backdrop of international conflict and migration. Drawn from the author's own family history, the book is based on fact but partly fictionalised so that the characters can speak to one another in scene and dialogue, blurring the line between family memoir and historical novel.
Kramer, a veteran who served with the First Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969, has said he turned to writing in part to manage war-related PTSD. The self-published book has been well received by readers on Goodreads, where it holds a strong average rating, and forms part of his wider body of work centred on historical events and the saga of his own family.
Key characters
- Friedrich (Fritz) KramerGerman engineer of the first generation who works on railways in China and in Namibia
- Friedrich's sonSecond-generation Kramer who, after World War Two, seeks a fresh start in Australia
- Michael (Mick) KramerThird-generation Kramer who comes of age and serves in the Vietnam War
Book details
- First published
- 2024
- Length
- 318 pages
- Reading time
- 6 hours
- Author
- Michael G. Kramer
- Genre
- Novels
- Goodreads rating
- 4.30 (9k ratings)
Critical reception
- Holds a strong average rating on Goodreads, where readers describe it as an engaging multi-generational family saga.
- Readers frame the book as a partly autobiographical account of war veteran Mick Kramer and his forebears.
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