Special Forces and top-secret missions have always enthralled readers and writers alike, and the years of WW2 provide a rich hunting ground for both. The actions of the SOE and their “cousins across the pond” the OSS make for some pretty unbelievable tales, both real and fabricated, the secrecy surrounding the origins and the assignments […]
17th September 1940. Hitler announces the indefinite postponement of Unternehmen Seelöwe (Operation Sea Lion), the invasion of the United Kingdom during the Battle of Britain. This is largely due to the failure to establish both an air and naval superiority that would have allowed for a quick decisive attack. Giles Milton is a familiar name […]
01st September 1939. Led by Adolf Hitler, Nazi Germany declares war on Poland in response to Polish attacks on German border outposts. These attacks were staged by the Germans themselves to justify their invasion of Poland. Poland in 1939 was home to more than 3.5 million Jews. The Pianist is an autobiographical survival account of […]
Wars and armies, even now for the most part are male dominated. Though there have been women not only fighting but proving instrumental in turning the tides of battle, they are either classified as exceptions or simply overlooked. This misogynistic sentiment is echoed through time, but that hasn’t stopped women from stepping up and donning […]
06th August 1945. The US drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later, on 09th August, a second bomb is dropped on Nagasaki. The devastation of these two cities is followed by the unconditional surrender of Japan on 15th August 1945. War in Europe began in 1939, with Germany invading […]
The Angry Hills is Leon Uris’ second novel, coming on the heels of his much-appreciated Battle Cry. As with most of his books, this too has a personal connection; his uncle – a Jewish Pioneer who migrated to Palestine – was a soldier in the Palestinian Brigade, part of the British Expeditionary Forces in Greece […]
After the emotional involvement in the seven-book Honor Bound Series, I wanted to go for something smaller and preferably unrelated, but I saw The ODESSA File in my library and I just had to pick it next. Though not related to each other, not even written by the same author, The ODESSA File segues into […]
This was the first time I reviewed a series as long and elaborate as this (and I’m sure it won’t be the last!). While I was posting it at my usual schedule of one every 15 days, there’s no reason for you to have to go to every post individually; you can check all of […]
The opening of Empire & Honor takes the reader into the holds of a German submarine, the U-405, hiding in the South Atlantic Ocean. Mentioned in Victory & Honor as one of the few submarines that has not complied with Admiral Dönitz’s surrender order, it has on board SS Brigadeführer Hoffman, 15 SS officers and […]
Victory & Honor picks up the tale of Cletus and his team almost two years after the events of The Honor of Spies, just after the unconditional surrender of Germany. In those two years, the leadership of Argentina has changed hands twice, with President Rawson being deposed by General Ramirez who in turn has been […]
War Crows 