Gathering Storm (Men at Arms 1): Gathering Storm

The first part of Sellers's ( Brothers in A Battle ) projected Men at Arms series romanticizes and aggrandizes the military as an elite breed personified in two intertwined families, the Carlisles and the Belvales. Reminiscent of old-style Prussian militarists, the clans claim that any man who doesn't join up can expect from them ``about the same reception as an announced homosexual.'' The story is set during the early years of World War II, prior to U.S. involvement. Retired Maj. Gen. Preston Belvale maintains his own private, well-equipped war room. He also has the clout to persuade the army to dispatch observers (who are also members of his family) to report to him personally, and the disjointed story shifts between observers. Thus the reader meets Capt. Keenan Carlisle, who travels with the ``Japs'' in Manchuria until he is ambushed and taken by Chinese Communists who use him as their own emissary. In Europe, Maj. Chad Belvale gets a close look at the ``Krauts'' and their lightning war as he makes his adventure-filled way back toward Dunkirk and evacuation; Belvale then operates out of England. And young Lt. Walton Belvale makes a stand with the last defenders of Warsaw. (Sept.)