The Machine-Gunners

Chas McGill #1

by Robert Westall, Sophy Williams (Illustrator)

Five English children keep secret their knowledge about a German machine gun and a German fighter pilot

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Childrens, War, Young Adult, Historical, Adventure

185 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Robert Westall was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England in 1929.

His first published book The Machine Gunners (1975) which won him the Carnegie Medal is set in World War Two when a group of children living on Tyneside retrieve a machine-gun from a crashed German aircraft. He won the Carnegie Medal again in 1981 for The Scarecrows, the first writer to win it twice. He won the Smarties Prize in 1989 for Blitzcat and the Guardian Award in 1990 for The Kingdom by the Sea. Robert Westall's books have been published in 21 different countries and in 18 different languages, including Braille.

From: http://www.robertwestall.com/

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is your enemy clearly defined?

Is your world conveniently black and white, and you are one of the good guys, fighting the evil of an official state enemy, whose citizens are devils by definition?

For some Northern English school children during the Second World War, this worldview is deeply shaken when they make the acquaintance of a German soldier who survived after his plane crashed. They have to redefine their grasp of good and evil several times while they hide the enemy from the adult world that dictates the rules they live by.

What happens when you get to know the devil you fear?

A great novel for our times, to reflect on why building walls between people is the worst way possible to protect us from violence and hatred. Building bridges is the path to humanity.

[Jen Surname · Rating 5 out of 5]

First published in 1975, I read this in the late seventies, aged 9 or 10. I've since read it twice more as an adult and am always gripped by the excitement, the suspense, the build-up and the action. As an adult I can see new aspects to the book, tales of friendship and evolving relationships, heartwarming and heartwrenching at the same time.

Contrary to other reviews, this book is not set in London, but in the north east of England, north of Newcastle - honestly, this is an important point, as the book takes on a whole new life when you imagine the characters speaking in Geordie accents. (You didn't really think Nana McGill really thought 'Germans' was spelt 'Jarmans', did you?) It tells the tale of a group of children and their own efforts to defend their country during the second world war, after first appropriating a machine gun from an undiscovered crashed German plane and later acquiring their very own prisoner of war.

You'll have missed out on a real treat if you miss this book.

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I must admit that when I encountered Robert Westall's Carnegie Medal winning WWII themed late middle grade to early young adult 1975 novel The Machine-Gunners at our school library in 1980 (when I was the intended audience, for yes, in 1980, at the age of fourteen, I definitely was that), the WWII premise of The Machine-Gunners and that as a recent German immigrant to Canada I was constantly being bullied and called a Nazi, this all turned me off so utterly and so lastingly that I basically never bothered to sign The Machine-Gunners out of the library, even though my English teacher had warmly recommended the novel and had even tried to assure me that Westall's story absolutely and totally did not fit into the all German are Nazis category. But stubborn I obviously did not believe my teacher at the age of fourteen, and yes, in retrospect, very much and very much unfortunately so, since indeed, Robert Westall's text for The Machine-Gunners is totally NOT AT ALL showing Germans and in particular the German pilot that Chass and his friends discover and befriend as negatives, as textual monsters, but that indeed Rudi is not only likeable but also someone very much a kindred spirit to and for the children.

Now while The Machine-Gunners certainly is a story which has the author, which has Robert Westall focus (and very much realistically so) on how much pain and sadness there tends to be encountered during war-time (during WWII in England in The Machine-Gunners) and is as such equally a type of literary genre that is definitely not thematically a personal reading favourite for me, I do have to admit that Westall's text is engaging and interesting, and delightfully showing how a group of children overcome all kinds of difficulties to pursue their projects and to try to help and protect Rudi once they locate him (and how he, how Rudi also tries the same and does the same for Chass and company). And never losing sight of how difficult and also how traumatic growing up during a war can be and generally is, The Machine-Gunners then fortunately and happily tempers this a bit by Robert Westall having German soldier Rudi, hiding away with Chass, Nicky et al in their bunker, becoming both a friend and also a kind of protective father figure to and for all of the children.

And albeit I do know that some reviews for The Machine-Gunners seem to have some issues with Westall's story not being black and white (and that because Rudi is a German soldier he should of course be depicted as monstrous and despicable and not as friendship material), sorry, but what makes The Machine-Gunners such a great story for me is totally and utterly that Robert Westall textually has created with Rudi and the boys hiding him nuanced and wonderful heroes and that the true and horrid villains of The Machine-Gunners are war as an entity in and of itself and also the adults surrounding Chass and his compadres (those ignorant authority figures, including parents, who are willing to believe that anyone German is not only the enemy but also akin to a devil, that Rudi is simply a thing that needs to be destroyed). Not at all dated with regard to its themes is The Machine-Gunners, and with Robert Westall wonderfully and sweetly, even if also with much sadness and pain showing not only that war is wrong but also that during times of conflict, a by a government etc. declared and selected enemy can also be a friend and vice versa, and that in my opinion, more novels on WWII where Germans are not automatically depicted as horrible monstrosities should be both written and also read (by everyone, by both children and adults).

[Dagmar1927 · Rating 5 out of 5]

My grandfather prompted me to read this book when I was about 11 and I thought that it was absolutely brilliant. On all the times I've read it since, it has lost none of it's original lustre and, if possible, has got even better now that I understand everything better.

What makes this book even better and more vivid for me is that I found out recently that one of my grandfather's friends actually found a crashed German bomber, "borrowed" the machine gun and took it home. He showed it to his friends and they all went down to one of the nearby fields to have a go and fired it into the woods. No one actually reported anything and in the end, the elder brother of the boy in question returned home on leave, realised that his brother had the gun and took it back with him, pretending that he'd found it so his brother wouldn't get into trouble.

So there we are. It's very nearly a true story. I would quite happily make every schoolchild in England, Europe, the world, oh let's just say the Universe, read this book. And plenty of adults too.

[Jonathan Imre]

My response after reading chapters 1 - 5 is, this book so far is going great, im enjoying it very much and i want to keep reading. But I can't as we are reading it as a class. The reason I like Chas because, he really wants to beat Boddser in his Collection of war wreackage, he is really keen on beating him, he even put his life endanger to saw of a machine gun of and take it home. The most suprising thing iv'e learned from this book is that, Chas has a hard life, hiding in the shelters at night. and finding war wreakage. I can't wait to keep reading. I hope the end is as great as the start :)

I have finished reading The Machine gunners finally! it was a really good book, it was very interesting, especially when they found the machine gun. I mean if you found a machine gun you would go mental, haha. Overall this book was a great read, i read it in 3 days of the holidays. i would definitly read another book from Robert Westall,

chas is my favorite character because he is outgoing and he has a gun collection the second best in his school.
when chas was sawing the machine gun off because Fatty Hardy was coming and he was going hundreds when he was sawing it off.
the language layout, it was like old English, for example Yee harty ol' feed. insted of what we say now ' mean harty feed bro '
he was trying to communicate that it was hard living back then, running to the shelters whilst a bomb was being dropped 2 blocks down.
Cherub, lots of action and it was fun to read
it was different to cherub because cherub wasn't as old as this is.
i would recommend this book to others yes.
It is interesting because the language layout is old and quite hard to understand, but you get it if you say it aloud, thats why it's interesting.
Made me think about how hard it was living back then. Because running to bomb shelters.

Thanks Jonny

[Rob Twinem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Young adult second world war adventure As a child of the late 60's I loved to read everything from Captain Hurricane in the Valliant, the wonderful William by Richard Compton, and the amazing adventures of those intrepid five, the famous five. The machine gunners harks back to an innocent time, set during the second world war and a society light years away from the introduction of the internet and the scourge of social media. It's the story of Chas McGill and how he acquires a machine gun from the downed wreck of a German fighter plane. It's actually more than that; a story of friendship and growing up in a fictitious north east English town of Garmouth where the inhabitants attempt to survive under the constant bombing by Nazi fighter pilots. We meet Rudi a German pilot, ousted from his destroyed plane, who encounters  Chas and his close gang Clogger and Nicky. Rudi is befriended by the gang of friends and they realize that those who they were taught to hate and fear are just like themselves frightened and disillusioned.

[James Roy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like much of Westall's work, this book is set in WW2 England, where boys' idea of fun is to collect assorted debris from the carnage of the Blitz (bits of planes and bombs, with the nose-cone of a Messerschmitt the ultimate prize). But when some boys find something rather larger, and more dangerous, they decide that they can play a real role in the war effort.

This is the perfect book for reluctant boy readers who are competent at the technical aspects of reading, but simply don't think there's any point to the exercise. It's perfect because it starts out all hi-jinks and adventure, but seductively turns into a very serious story with a real heart, even though the adventure never lets up.

[Matti Karjalainen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vuonna 1975 ilmestynyt englantilainen lastenromaani "The Machine Gunners" (MacMillan, 2015) on toisen maailmansodan alkupuolelle sijoittuva tarina, jossa Chas McGill -nimisen koulupojan johtama lapsijoukko saa käsiinsä konekiväärin alasammutusta pommikoneesta. Ja siitäpä sitten seuraakin monenmoista.

Lasten näkökulmasta sota on etäinen ja jännittäväkin seikkailu, jolloin koulupäivä saattaa minä hetkenä hyvänsä keskeytyä ilmahälytykseen ja kulmakunnan kovin kaveri on se, jolla on komein kokoelma sotamuistoja. Kuitenkin se paljastaa myös järkyttävän puolensa, kun pommit alkavat putoilla kotikaupungin kaduille ja miehityksen uhka kasvaa. Tenavat joutuvat myös miettimään vihollisen käsitettä uusiksi, kun he tutustuvat laskuvarjolla pelastautuneeseen saksalaiseen hävittäjälentäjään.

Vaikka Robert Westallin esikoisromaani on voittanut kotimaassaan kirjallisuuspalkintoja, ei sitä ole valitettavasti suomennettu koskaan. Sääli sinänsä. Lapsena olisin varmasti pitänyt "The Machine Gunnersista". Nytkin se oli ihan kelvollinen lukukokemus.

Kirjan lopusta löytyy vielä tekijän pieni haastettelu, elämäkerta (kätevää varmaan kaikille esitelmän tekijöille) ja bonuksena aivan sodan alkuun sijoittuva kummitustarina.

Jos pidit tästä, niin otapa haltuusi Lasse Raustelan erinomainen Taivaansavut -sarja, jossa seurataan turkulaisten lasten ja nuorten elämää sotavuosina.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm on a literary mission to re-read all the books I loved as a child. Well, the ones I remember anyway, I only started keeping a list in 1999.

Thoroughly enjoyable read. Think this is one I read in primary school and picked it up initially based solely on the fact that it is set in the North East of England. I remember going through a phase of reading nothing but World War II literature and this was one of them. Need to get hold of some Michelle Magorian soon.

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gripping story of home front England during WWII. This book does a good job of portraying the relationships between a certain kind of children and the adult authorities (parents and institutional types).

[Kate Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall is a school WW2 education classic. Although it is a relatively short novel, loads of action is packed into its 200 pages. For the first few chapters I kept getting confused with the character names, the adults refer to the children by their surnames and the children call each other by their first names, so it took a minuet to place who was who together. Also, I don’t understand any war jargon, I don’t recognise plane models or gun types, so this was completely wasted on me. However, Chas McGill is a brilliant protagonist and his smart mouth is so funny, I really enjoyed his run ins with Fatty Hardy and Boddser. After he finds a dead Nazi’s German’s gun inside a fighter plane, he convinces his friends to build a large bomb shelter and to try and shoot down some German bombers themselves. They unexpectedly take a German war prisoner in their bunker, and things quickly spirally out of control. We see him make some amazing friendships and see the value of loyalty amongst them all which is lovely to read. Their prisoner, Rudi is so heartwarming, his trust in the gang and willingness to help them is shown through his refusal to harm them and disinterest in escaping. We see Rudi quickly grows to admire and respect them, knowing that the war has made the kids grow up much quicker than they should have had to. There is a lot of sexism and racism which is unfortunately expected in a novel published in 1975, but this is still disappointing to read. The ending had me enthralled, I’m heartbroken for Clogger and Nicky and the gang losing everything they worked so hard for.

[Alex Baugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Machine Gunners is Robert Westall’s first novel about World War II. It is set in the town of Garmouth, a seaside town in northern England. Though fictional, it is modeled on Tynemouth, the town where Westall grew up during the war.

The novel begins the morning after an air-raid. Before school starts, Chas (Charles) McGill, 14, goes off to collect souvenirs, things like bits of shrapnel or incendiary bomb fins from the raid. Chas has the second best collection in school, so when he stumbles upon the engines of a German plane, he thinks he has hit pay dirt, until he discovers that one has been claimed by a boy and the other engine is being guarded by the Constable Fatty Hardy, who starts chasing him.

Running off, Chas heads for a wood, where he knows he can hide and as luck would have it, he finds the rest of the German plane. Not only that, but the plane’s machine gun is still there and intact. Thinking it would be quite a souvenir, Chas tries to detach it, until he realizes that the pilot is still in the cockpit. The sight of the dead pilot shakes Chas up, but he runs off only because he realizes he needs to get to school.

After school, Chas and his friends “Cem” (short for Cemetery, his dad is the local undertaker) Jones and Audrey Parton return to the wood to retrieve the machine gun. Taking turns sawing it off, they finally free the gun and sneak it out of the wood up the leg of Cem’s Guy Fawkes effigy.* They get caught in an air-raid by Chas’ father, who takes the Guy and puts it in his greenhouse for safe keeping. The next morning Chas hides the machine gun in an old drain pipe. A few days later, Cem tells Chas he had returned to the plane and found four thousand rounds of ammunition clips for the gun.

Out of necessity, the group has grown to include Chas, Cem, Audrey, “Clogger” Duncan, a boy from Scotland sent to live with his aunt, a redheaded boy named Carrot Juice and Nicky. The fortress is being put together quite nicely when Nicky’s house is destroyed in an air-raid and the authorities think he has been crushed to death in the debris. Nicky decides to “stay dead” and hide so that he won’t be sent away. Clogger, unhappy living with his aunt, decides to move into the fortress with Nicky.

After the fortress is finished, the kids spend their free time watching out for German planes. When one finally appears, Chas starts shooting the machine gun, missing it but scaring the pilot into making an error and causing the plane to be brought down by anti-aircraft. The rear gunner, Sergeant Rudi Gerlath, manages to parachute out of the plane just before it explodes. Injured, he is force to spend a week hiding out in a rabbit hutch on a victory garden allotment, eating frozen Brussels sprouts he finds growing there. When he is finally able, he wanders about, wondering what to do. Cold and tired, he eventually finds the fortress, wraps himself up in the blankets he finds there and falls asleep.

When the kids to find Rudi, the first thing they do is take his gun away. Disappointed that Rudi doesn’t look like the Nazis in films, the kids hold him prisoner anyway. And, after a while, seeing that Rudi is not in good shape, they begin taking care of him. After they discover he knows some English, they begin to get pretty comfortable with each other, hanging out, keeping watch and reading comic books. Living in the fortress with Clogger and Nicky, Rudi realizes, is a good place - it's warm, comfortable and there is always food to eat.
But the attack on his plane leaves the machine gun broken and it doesn’t take Chas long to figure out that Rudi could fix it. Rudi really doesn’t want to do this, but Chas makes a deal – they will provide Rudi with a sail boat he can use to escape to Norway if he fixes the machine gun.

Rudi puts off doing this for as long as possible, but one night there is another raid. This one is the worst Garmouth has had to date. Suddenly, the church bells could be heard tolling, the signal that the Germans were invading England. The kids race to their fortress to defend themselves. Chas tells Rudi the time has come to fix the machine gun. Believing the Germans are invading helps Rudi overcome his reluctance at letting the kids have such a powerful gun. When he finishes, they take him down to the harbor and give him the promised boat. Rudi soon realizes he hasn’t got enough strength to get to sail to Norway and returns to the fortress. But, unbeknownst to him and the kids, the tolling church bells had been a false alarm and the kids are reported missing. Now, Constable Fatty Hardy enlists members of the Free Polish Army to help look for them. The kids see them in foreign looking uniforms and believe Fatty Hardy is a quisling and the Polish soldiers are German. Needless to say, chaos reigns supreme from this point on, with a bit of a surprise ending.

Robert Westall wrote one of my favorite World War II novels, Blitzcat. There, he gave us an endearing kitty that changed lives of those she came into contact with as she traveled across southern England searching for her one true owner, who is serving in the army. In The Machine Gunners, Chas does not have that same endearing quality, even though he has the same single minded focus on getting his machine gun to work. Yet, looking past his selfishness, Chas is really just a scared 13 year old trying to make a safe, secure place for himself in a world at war, where the next bomb could be the one that destroys your whole life.

This book is recommended for readers ages 12 and up.
This book was purchased for my personal library.

Robert Westall received the following well-deserved awards for The Machine Gunners:
1975 CILIP Carnegie Medal
1975 Runner-up Guardian Award
1977 Boston Globe Horn Book Award Honor Book
1989 Preis der Leseratten 1989
2007 Carnegie Medal 70th Anniversary 2007 Top Ten

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

The wait is finally over. I am excited to announce this is the first in a new series I’m calling ‘Jacks Robbed Reads’ (copyright pending). The books in this series are entirely ones I’ve stolen from my family's bookshelves without them knowing.

The first victim: my dad. His bookshelf is mostly comprised of boring politics and history books but fortunately, I spotted this little gem. Yes, it’s technically a kid's book but I had fun and I think it matches my reading level perfectly.

Convinced this would bang on BookTok. Might have to start a TikTok account otherwise it’s just wasted potential.

[David Hudson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the to-the-point storytelling, The Machine Gunners does not shy away from unconventional turning points in the narrative. This being a time of war, the boys are violent and brutal, irreverent and crude.
But underneath all that is the unabashed childhood that springs to the surface that makes the characters in this book fearless and creative.
An enjoyable and fast-paced read.

[Andy Verschoyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kids play at war then it gets real in an ever so slightly far-fetched way. Page-turner adventure that keeps you wanting more but there is a lot going on, in particular different relationships not always covered in enough depth -quite adult in that respect as leaves a lot to our own imagination. Similar to Scarecrows, Westall knows how to build tension and frighten his reader. Great fun though!

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall is included on the list of 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read and is recognized as one of the outstanding books for children
9 out of 10


Considering that this is a book for children -something I have just found out – I should have enjoyed it less than I did, and maybe I should see a doctor, this could be a sign of decline – Shakespeare said ‘Is second childishness and mere oblivion; Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything’ about the last age…

Charles aka Chas McGill is the main character of this novel, a good boy in school, first to raise the hand in class, though his father will at some stage question his judgement, but insist that he had ‘guts’, as opposed to one of the adults in Garmouth (a fictional town), who thinks, like the rest of the locals, that the Germans have landed and he flees
Chas has the habit of collecting pieces from the Nazi planes that are shot down, and he has ‘the second-best collection in the area’, he will use this boast, and modesty in a note that is used to confuse the teacher, Stan Liddel, who is trying to find who has the missing machine gun, and is made to suspect Boddser

The latter is one of the villains of the narrative, a boy that is much bigger than Chas and his friends, and bullies, abuses the rest of the kids, also a collector of memorabilia from the wreckage of Nazi equipment, a thief that will get his match, when he opposes David, this Goliath will have the fate of the one from the Bible
When a bomber is shot down, Chas finds that the machine gun is intact, and concocts an elaborate plan to get his hands on it, by using something like a wheel barrow, on which a replica of guy Fawkes is paraded, and the beano will serve to cover the ample gun with efficiency, he hides the piece, and then they will use it

He gets help from Cem aka Cyril, he is called Cem from Cemetery, which is the nickname of his father, who operates as an undertaker – he will also have a creative solution for the expected invasion, he will take out the dead from a funeral monument, put them with other departed, and use the place as a shelter for the family
Chas is the leader of the operation in which he involves alongside Cem, Clogger, Carrot Juice, Nicky and Audrey, the latter is the only girl in the group, the one that gives them tea, is there to sooth and offer help when Chas is wounded…trying to use the machine gun, he is catapulted to the floor and then the weapon does not work anymore

The situation is made even more complex by the arrival of a…German, this is Rudi Gerlath, a pilot that has had to jump off the destroyed plane – or was he a gunner, I remember there is a dispute over this, in conversation, and I am confused now, besides, I must confess that I did not pay all the attention, realizing perhaps that this is for kids

The German thinks of surrendering, he is cold, hungry, but he is also very worried, because he knows how hated the pilots are, in Germany, when those are shot down, the population throws dog shit, stones, and worse, many have been hanged and pitchforks used to perforate them…Rudi does not want any of that
Somehow, he finds a shed, and some food in the rabbits’ nest, which humans feed with bread and remains of meals that serve to keep the parachuted enemy alive, until he stumbles into the fortress built by the children – they could not do it themselves, but they have had an adult doing the heavy lifting, one who has the IQ of a baby

They capture the German, feed him, and treat him well, indeed, so humane is the treatment, that when they get used with each other, he can take his Luger pistol and escape, when Nicky falls asleep, but he does not, reluctant to face the unforeseeable, and getting emotionally attached to his jailers, Stockholm syndrome
Spoiler alert, Rudi will in fact be crucial in saving the children, at some stage, after they negotiate a deal, he is to get the boat that Nicky’s father had – Nicky is an orphan now, and so is Clogger, their parents have died in bombardments – and in exchange, he will work on the machine gun, to make it operational again

However, once on the vessel, out at sea, the German realizes that the mixed feelings he had had are clear now – he had had doubts over his allegiance, started to feel close to the children, and remote from his side, the Nazis and the rest of them – so he returns to the shore, walks back to the fortress, just in time to interfere
We have a lot of suspense, a few intense scenes are with Boddser, one fight takes place early, and the little David uses some pebbles to win over Goliath, but later on, Boddser corners his much weaker enemy, and pushes his head under the water for half an hour, not continuously, but enough times to hurt a lot

Clogger enters the stage, asks the commander Chas if he is to do ‘him in proper’, and then nearly kills the vicious Goliath, a brutal onslaught, which creates revulsion, but Clogger insists it was the only way, or else the villain would have brought the police, exposed them all, as it is, he will be afraid that he can get killed, he will be if there is a next time…
The town population thinks there is an invasion, and the brave children are ready to use their weapon, and when Polish soldiers come looking for them, they are sure these are the Nazis and they open fire on them…


Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...

Some favorite quotes from To The Heritage and other works

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

[Seever Hussain · Rating 3 out of 5]

My response after reading chapters 1 to 5.

So far in this book it has been rather interesting, and it makes me want to read more. It has been the first novel that has contained World War II. Has it is also set in the town Garmouth which is in England. In chapter 1 it started in the morning after an air-raid had been. Before school starts, Chas McGill, goes off to collect war souvenirs.

In chapter 5, Cem goes into the forest but unfortunately gets caught by fatty hardy,Boddser gets busted/caught by the police. Then the police go to chas's house, asking him if he had any war souvenirs. The most surprising thing that I have learned in this novel is what they used in World War II specially the Heinkell HE-111, I hope there will be more interesting weapons and things that they used.

Overall I think that this book is one of the best and most interesting books that I have read, I wonder what happens next in chapter 6.


Finished the book now, Its great and can be rather interesting, as I have overall given this book a rating of 4 out of 5. I would like to see other books by Robert Westall's and look at them. They might be really interesting as I enjoy reading historical books. e.g war
This is a great book and I would recommend this book to the people who like Fiction and Historical novels. An incredible book. I would recommend this book to others because it might teach them how life was in those days with invasions and bombs. In this book my favorite character would be Rudi, Rudi was a German pilot and he was sent to invade them. He was mostly my favorite character because he helped out the gang and showed them how to use and reload the machine gun, which was a big help for the gang.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall is set during the blitz of WWII in a northern British city. It follows the adventures of 14-year-old Chas McGill and his friends as they discover a downed German machine gun and secretly build their own bunker to house it, the better to defend Britain’s shores from the upcoming German invasion. Because authorities are keen to recover the missing gun, their movements are being tracked by a bumbling policeman, a suspicious teacher, and the neighborhood bully.

Chas is an engaging hero, always one step ahead of his antagonists. It was great fun watching him anticipate his opponent’s next move, then block it and get away. The setting is fascinating: wartime Britain, where the residents try to carry on normal life even in this face of crippling shortages and nightly bombs raids.

I was a little disappointed by the ending, which was a bit rushed, and included a slapstick case of mistaken identity. Then, too, the narrative just stops with the fate of several major characters unknown. Irritating.

Still, the Machine Gunners was a warm and touching novel, one I couldn’t put down.

[surge99 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book from the book shelves in my class. I chose this book because it had an appealing title and I like war-time stories.

My favourite part of the book is when Chas McGill, the main character is being chased by Chas' enemy, Boddser Brown, through the makeshift marshes in Garmouth. I found this passage very thrilling and it encouraged me to read on.

This book was unpredictable. I had no idea what was going happen next. people who were going about there every day lives were thrown in to a world of bombs, air-raid sirens and running to the air-raid shelters for cover.

I would definitely recommend this book because it is very dramatic, actioned packed and tells you what British people went through during the Blitz. I would recommend this book to older readers as some of the language is quite complex.

This book is well worth the five stars I gave it. It's an amazing story.

[Kris McCracken · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this one first when I was 12 or so, and recalled it fondly, so when I was looking for another book to read with Ezra, I grabbed this from the library.

We enjoyed it very much. As remembered, it tells the tale of life for a group of kids during the Blitz, and doesn't shy from the darker aspects. In fact, I was a little shocked at the frankness of it, and reckon that it stands up nicely as a novel for adults.

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read, fun, and not as predictable as I'd thought it would be. Set in WW2, like the other book of Westall's that I've read, and focusing on children and their lives and concerns during the Blitz, it has more action than I remember from A Kingdom By the Sea. There's a lot of educational aspects to the book, without preventing it being readable.

[Angela Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great insight into what war is like for kids. Surprisingly, the whole premise was inspired by a news story about some Dutch kids who did much the same as the kids in this book.

[Ivor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now read it five times and I still enjoy it! 'Where to now?'

[Ryan B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, enthralling story

Nice to hear of the fun times these kids had even during these violent times. My boys and I enjoyed reading it and hearing of their adventures.

[T.ScottReviews · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 Stars

[Kahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last few years have, and I think I can say this without fear of contradiction or reprisal, been a bit much.
Lockdowns, pandemics, wars, climate crisis.... There's been a lot going on. And we all deal with these things in our own way.
Me, for example. I decided to regress like a wossiname, and at the start of 2020 found myself buying albums for bands I had nothing but vaguely fond memories for. I'm pretty sure I didn't really need an A-ha compilation, or a three-disc Human League retrospective, but we are where we are.
And this has now, seemingly, bled into my reading.
At some point something reminded me of The Machine Gunners, a book I read when I was about 10 and - if my failing memory is to be trusted - thoroughly enjoyed.
So naturally I went from remembering it to owning it within the hour. And then it was but a short year or so before I rose to the top of my ever-growing To Read list.
But, you know, was it actually any good? This is a children's book after all, granted an award-winning one. But I'm not 10-year-old me anymore....
Turns out, it's actually better than I remember. And a lot darker.
Also, if you happen to remember reading this way back when, the German guy turns up a lot later than you think.
Memories, eh?
The first thing you notice, reading this again, is 'in your face' it is. We have a body blown in half within the opening pages, and a graphically-described corpse in chapter two.
Children's book. Remember that.
We also have a lot of "Nazi pig"ery going on, which while probably historically accurate does rather jar with modern sensibilities.
However, that is kind of the book's charm.
Published in the early 1970s, The Machine Gunners is a book about childhood in trying circumstances, about facing bullies (again, very graphically), about friendships, about write and wrong and the grey areas in between, about adults vs children.
And it captures all of that perfectly.
Westall creates a cast of characters you love and care about - apart from the ones you're meant to hate – and occasional unnecessary descriptive aside (the size of the woman pushing the push chair is totally immaterial), a world you almost wish you were living in.
If it wasn't for the bombs, rationing and constant fear.
Looking back on it with adult eyes, you can't help but ask if it was a suitable book for a ten-year-old.
But, at the same time, you would have to admit it made an impact, left a mark, spoke to the young me in ways I probably couldn't quite understand.
In many ways the book has aged badly – attitudes towards mental health issues and the role of women have thankfully changed somewhat – but in many others, it is as relevant today as it ever was.

[Ken Ryu · Rating 4 out of 5]

A group of school aged children in a small coastal Northeast English town join the fight against the Germans in WWII. Their adventure begins when Chas, the main characters, finds a downed German plan with its machine gun intact. With the help of some friends, they remove, transport and hid this still operational weapon.

The German air raids have been wrecking death and destruction. The band of youths are determined to patrol the skies and fire on enemy German bombers. It won't be easy. The police realize the machine gun has gone missing and are searching for it. The children have to dodge suspicion from the police, their schoolmaster and their parents.

A surprise will come their way which will create an interesting dilemma for the secrecy and integrity of their hidden gun emplacement. Will tragedy, glory or something in between visit these intrepid youths. A fully operational German machine gun in the hands of 6 school children, what could go wrong?

The story is good. It moves along at a brisk pace and has plenty of action to keep the reader engaged. This action comes at some expense to the realism but that tacit bargain is understood. Westall is more interested in telling a good yarn than delivering a true-to-live account of the German blitz raids on England.

Westall draws from his own life and experiences and provides compelling backstories and dialog for his cast. He leaves the reader to infer some of the psychology and parent-child dynamics that motivate and inform the behavior and actions of the characters. These subtleties will likely be glossed over by younger readers but adds texture, grit and reality for adults. We see glimpses of abuse and selfishness of the parents of Audrey. We see the sadness and fragility of Nikki. This book is entertaining and well written and can be enjoyed by children and adults.

[Sarah Pickles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has been on my reading list for a long time. Mainly because it’s historical fiction set during WW2 and as a big HF reader I thought I would enjoy it. I also have vague memories of watching the BBC TV series as a child. So I was very happy to finally open it up. It is undoubtedly a fascinating book for showing how it was to be a child living through the Blitz, rushing to air raid shelters, watching the dogfights in the sky losing friends and family to the bombs. The main plot focuses on Chas McGill an extremely , mischievous but highly resourceful schoolboy set on collecting meme tours from bombs, bullets, planes. When he finds a machine gun in a fallen German plane he sets on an adventure to turn him and his group of misfit friends into their own Homeguard, building a shelter and ready to shoot down approaching enemy planes as they come in from the bay. The children are clever, determined and loyal but Chas and Clogger are also very violent in their dealings with the school bully . Unlike ‘The War that Saved my Life’ and ‘Letters from the Lighthouse’ I found I didn’t really like the characters of the children in this book, apart from Nicky, and didn’t really have any empathy with their challenges. Readers who enjoy adventure fiction and war will enjoy this book but for me I was a bit disappointed in failing to connect with any of the main characters and ultimately being concerned with what would happen to them when the adults fund out all they had been up to!. I do think that many of our students will enjoy it as it is a fast paced action adventure, a real page turner with an interesting collection of characters!

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

We hear a lot about the Blitz in London and how it affected people's lives. We tend to forget that other parts of the UK were also bombed out of recognition. This brilliantly written story throws us headlong into the grim reality of life in a small town in the North East during WW2. We are immersed in the terrifying danger faced by every strand of society and the horrible brutality of war, but seen through the eyes of real people, both children and adults. The story is gripping and the cast of characters diverse and utterly believable. I was fascinated and at first shocked by the children's obsession for collecting war souvenirs and the lengths to which they would go to enhance their collections. Yet as I was drawn further into their world, it began to make sense. It also made me ponder on the fact that children nowadays just do not get the freedom to make their own adventures in the way the protagonists in this book do - for this reason it is a great escapist read. I loved all the detailed and often comic touches - the ungainly posture of a woman showing her apricot knickers; Chas's mum putting a copy of the Daily Express under on the floor so that her husband could get to eat his food as soon as he came in and didn't have to take off his dirty boots. I laughed out loud at some of the antics of the Home Guard - the confusion over the correct password to use over the phone, for example - so reminiscent of Dad's Army.

I don't like the distinction that is made between books for different ages - a good book is a good book - and I would highly recommend this to younger and older people alike.

[:) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Machine-Gunners is a book about a boy called Chas McGill, set in World war 2.
The adventures start in Garmouth, a town in England, when Chas finds a machine gun from a dead German bomber. The story is excitingly fast and fun, but more than that, it can teach you a lot.

Firstly, Chas and his group of friends bond together to face the problem of the frequent invasions by the Germans and the machine gun. If Chas had tried to deal with this alone, he might not have been able to keep Fortress Caparetto secret from adults and help Nicky and Rudi live inside for such a long time. However -with help from his loyal and caring friends- he manages everything until the night of the (fake) German attack. Friendships can support you in accomplishing impossible-looking things.
I also loved the way Rudi -the German rear-gunner who falls in Garmouth- cooperates with the children while staying at the fort under Audrey's care and fixing the machine gun for them. If others had found Rudi, things like that would never have happened. Even though the two countries Germany and Britain's relationship wasn't good at the moment, Chas and Rudi doesn't separate each other by their ethnicity.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was very informative and I learnt a lot about life in during WW2. This book made me think about how people reacted when Covid started (which was a difficult time like WW2 in The Machine Gunners) and how we had to stop discriminating and start supporting each other.