Ian Hall - Avenging Steel 6

This book is a work of fiction. Names,places, characters and incidents are products of the authorsimagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actualevents or locales or persons, living, dead or undead, is purelycoincidental.

Copyright 2017. Ian Hall. Phantom GavelPublishing. Smashwords Edition.

Published by Ian Hall at Smashwords.

ISBN: 9781370792207

All rights reserved, and the author reservesthe right to re-produce this book, or parts thereof, in any waywhatsoever.

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Soon grew the Avenging Steel ,man;

On 10 th May, 1940, Germany attacked British and French troops inFrance and Belgium.

At that time, the British Army had more thanhalf a million men in Continental Europe.

By 4 th June 1940, Britain had rescued 330,000 men (British andFrench) from the defensive bubble around Dunkirk.

Between15 th and25 th June 1940, they rescuedanother 190,000 through Operation Ariel from French coasts andports.

In the short Battle of France , Britain had left behind 70,000men, 450 tanks, 2500 artillery pieces, 85,000 vehicles, and 600,000tons of ammunition, fuel and stores.

The figures show Britain had 500,000 men forits defense but with little arms, armor and ammunition to fightBritain was ripe for invasion, and everyone knew it.

Churchill spoke

we shall fight on thebeaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight inthe fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; Weshall never surrender

On 16 July 1940 Hitler issued FhrerDirective No. 16, setting in motion preparations for a landing inBritain. He prefaced the order by stating

" As England,in spite of her hopeless military situation, still shows no signsof willingness to come to terms, I have decided to prepare, and ifnecessary to carry out, a landing operation against her. The aim ofthis operation is to eliminate the English Motherland as a basefrom which the war against Germany can be continued, and, ifnecessary, to occupy the countrycompletely ."

On the16 th August the first waves ofGerman paratroopers descended on rural England. The next day, underthe cover of the Luftwaffe, tanks and armored vehicles drove ashorein numerous locations.

Within a month Germany had captured London,Birmingham and Manchester.

Four weeks later, Churchills muchvaunted Battle of Britain wasover.

Churchill spoke to the British people from afleeting headquarters in Ireland

let us not consider thisa retreat, not a farewell to our homeland, but as a gathering for anew offensive. And let me make this promise to Herr Hitler; we willreturn

Thus begins a brand-new Alternative Historyseries Avenging Steel

An Introduction to the Characters

James is our main character, ourstorys hero and the books narrator. He was a 20-year oldphilosophy student at Edinburgh University, and has been recruitedby the S.O.E. as an agent. His code-name is Biggles, and is used bythe S.O.E. as a liaison between cells in Edinburgh. He worksat The Scotsman newspaper asa writer and copy-editor. His father was in the Scots GreysRegiment, stationed in Palestine. After being diverted from atraining course in Canada, James is trying to make his wayhome.

Alice is Jamess partner in spy-crime,wife, and the head of the S.O.E. cell inside The Scotsman newspaper. She is from the bordertown of Selkirk, and speaks fluent German; her father having been aPOW from the Great War who stayed in Scotland in 1918. She seems totake her orders from Lilith, but her actual bosses are unknown toJames. Alice also works at TheScotsman newspaper as a copy-editor.

Gerhardt Mller is the German officer incharge of German bias/slanting for the Scotsman newspapersstories. James has to report their stories to Mller each day byone oclock for his inspection. James suspects Mller has openedthe hand of friendship to him, but cannot be certain. Lilithsorganization has compromising photos of him.

Ivanhoe is James contact within the S.O.E.in Edinburgh, and the man who recruited him. James only glimpsesthe level at which Ivanhoe works, but does harbor the suspicionthat Ivanhoe might be the top S.O.E. man in Scotland.

Named after the character by GeorgeMacDonald, Lilith is a beautiful enigmatic S.O.E. contact, possiblyworking in conjunction with Ivanhoe, but definitely also operatingoutside his purview. Lilith introduced Alice to James, and isAlices main contact. Although James seems to be in love withAlice, Liliths face comes to him at the oddest times.

Veronica Baird is James mother. She livesfor her family and rules with a slightly flexible iron rod. Francesis James fifteen-year-old younger sister. They live in a firstfloor apartment in Bruntsfield, on the edge of the Links andMeadows.

I sat in the Moroccan town of Rabat foranother two days, watching the movement in the port, but nothingarrived that looked anything like my transport home. In my time atthe harbor caf, Id made the acquaintance of the harbormaster, arather odious man called Youns Feddal, who drank and smoked fartoo much for his own health and the people around him. Id givenhim the cover-story that I was looking for a peaceful trip toCasablanca to look at the sources of silk my side-kick Ramsai hadgot for me, but even he had not came near me.