Operation Afrika. The Destroyers WWII Thriller Series Book One. Published, Copyright Sapere Books. Written by Charles Whiting.
This is the tale of a special group of British raiders led by Mark Crooke, a maverick/idealist born in 1911 and educated at Sandhurst with many changes leading to Lt. Col. 1941 after losing an eye and gaining a Victoria Cross Medal for his participation in an unsuccessful raid to remove the Nazi General Rommel. A year later, Court-martialed for insubordination and demoted to 2nd Lt. and returned to Egypt to head-up a group of misfits variously including a London Cockney, a Texas drifter who fought against Pancho Villa and in the Spanish War, former members of various Foreign Legions, a German escapee from Dachau and a Muslim, many with earned Military Medals, but most importantly, all had no future beyond their present assignment because all were recipients of military designated misdemeanors including murder. They were a collection similar to one publicized and popular American Cinema that brought forward a move, originally believed to be initiated by Winston Churchill – an offer “deletion of Military records if surviving participation successfully in ‘lost cause’ action against the enemy. Their assignment now was to stop the movement of the Nazis straight across Africa to the Suez Canal and into Egypt, an action that would greatly affect Great Britain’s Empire.
Discussion: a well-written, high-octane Thriller replete with characters who constantly generate empathic understanding. This is a tale that devotees will find difficulty in laying down for even a few moments. It also presents most fascinating material with respect to the huge desert arena in which the action occurs.
5* highly recommended for the devotee plus interesting associated material