Holland - The Allies Strike Back, 1941-1943

Nonfiction

FORTRESS MALTA

TOGETHER WE STAND

HEROES

ITALYS SORROW

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN

DAM BUSTERS

AN ENGLISHMAN AT WAR

THE RISE OF GERMANY

Fiction

THE BURNING BLUE

A PAIR OF SILVER WINGS

THE ODIN MISSION

DARKEST HOUR

BLOOD OF HONOUR

HELLFIRE

DEVILS PACT

James Holland

Copyright 2017 by James Holland

Cover design by mjcdesign
Cover artwork: French propaganda poster published in Algeria,
from World War II, 1943, DEA/G. DAGLI ORTI/Getty Images

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First Published in Great Britain in 2017 by Bantam Press, an imprint of Transworld Publishers

Published simultaneously in Canada
Printed in the United States of America

First Grove Atlantic hardcover edition: October 2017

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available for this title.

ISBN 978-0-8021-2560-6
eISBN 978-0-8021-9014-7

Atlantic Monthly Press
an imprint of Grove Atlantic
154 West 14th Street
New York, NY 10011

Distributed by Publishers Group West

groveatlantic.com

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For Ned

ASDIC and Hedgehog

Types of Merchant Vessels

U-Boat Type VIIC

(Ranks at June 1943)

General Sir Harold AlexanderBritish

Commander of 1st Division in France, last man to leave Dunkirk, later commander Southern Division, then British Forces in Burma, before becoming C-in-C Middle East in August 1942. Appointed commander, 18th Army Group, in February 1943.

Generalleutnant Hermann BalckGerman

General of Mobile Forces in the OKH, then commanding 11. Panzerdivision from May 1942. Promoted to lieutenant-general in January 1943 and given command of Gross-Deutschland Division in April 1943.

Flight Lieutenant Cyril Bam BambergerBritish

NCO fighter pilot in 610 and 41 Squadrons during the Battle of Britain, he was later commissioned and flew with 261 Squadron on Malta and then 93 Squadron in Tunisia.

Obersturmfhrer Klaus BarbieGerman

Head of Section IV, Sicherheitsdienst, Lyons.

Lieutenant Jean-Mathieu BorisFrench

Officer in the Free French Army.

Pfc Henry Dee BowlesAmerican

Served in 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, in North Africa.

Pfc Tom BowlesAmerican

Served in 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, in North Africa.

Air Commodore Sydney BuftonBritish

Commander 10 and 76 Squadrons, RAF Bomber Command, then became station commander at RAF Pocklington before becoming Deputy Director of Bomber Operations at the Air Ministry.

Major Stanley ChristophersonBritish

A squadron commander in the Nottingham Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry.

Count Galeazzo CianoItalian

Son-in-law of Mussolini and Italian Foreign Secretary.

Lieutenant-General Mark ClarkAmerican

Appointed Deputy Chief of Staff, US Army Ground Forces in January 1942 and then went to England as Eisenhowers deputy and Chief of Combined Planning for Operation TORCH. He was Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Allied Land Forces in North Africa, then given command of US Fifth Army.

Sergent-chef Pierre ClostermannFrench

Fighter pilot flying with 341 Alsace Squadron, RAF Fighter Command.

Jock ColvilleBritish

One of the secretaries to the Prime Minister, first Neville Chamberlain and then Winston Churchill.

Gwladys CoxBritish

Civilian living in London.

Admiral Sir Andrew Browne CunninghamBritish

Commander of the Mediterranean Fleet until 1942, then posted to Washington.

Lieutenant Dale R. DenistonAmerican

Fighter pilot in North Africa and the Middle East with the 57th Fighter Group.

Admiral Karl DnitzGerman

Commander of the Kriegsmarines U-boat fleet.

Squadron Leader Billy DrakeBritish

Commander of 112 Squadron in the RAFs Desert Air Force.

Lieutenant Douglas Fairbanks, JrAmerican

Officer serving on USS Wasp and USS Wichita.

Capitaine Henri FrenayFrench

Leader of the Combat resistance group.

Gnral Charles de GaulleFrench

Army officer then leader of the Free French.

Wing Commander Guy GibsonBritish

Bomber pilot and commander of 106 Squadron.

Andre GriotterayFrench

French civilian and member of the Resistance.

Ted HardyAustralian

Sapper in the 2/3rd Field Company, 9th Australian Division, serving in North Africa and the Middle East.

Major Hajo HerrmannGerman

Flew Heinkel 111s in Poland and Norway with KG4 before becoming a