Douglas Reeman Novels (V)

Black Sea, 1943 ... The Russians were fighting a desperate battle to regain control. But their one real weakness was on the water: whatever they did, the Germans did it better, and the daring hit-and-run tactics of the E-boats plagued them. At last the British agreed to send them a small flotilla of motor torpedo boats under the command of John Devane. Devane had been in the Navy since the outbreak of war. More than a veteran, he was a survivor — and the two rarely went together in the savage war of MTBs. Given command at short notice, Devane soon learned that, even against the vast and raging background of the Eastern Front, war could still be a personal duel between individuals.

UK Edition

Africa, 1850 ... This is the first book in the Blackwood saga. It has been more than forty years after slaveholding and slave trading became illegal for British subjects. With slavery still flourishing, Captain Philip Blackwood and his Royal Marines have received orders to sail to West Africa on a dangerous mission - against incredible odds, he and his charges must eliminate the strongholds of slavery in this treacherous territory. When Captain Blackwood rejoins his ship, HMS Audacious, it is peacetime, and although sometimes engaged in small overseas campaigns, the world's mightiest navy has settled into a routine of tradition and ceremonial. With the coming of the steam age many younger officers are pressing for change and modernisation, whereas their superiors for the most part see coal-fired ships as a challenge to their own power. Captain Blackwood soon discovers there is more to leading his men than holding firm in the line of battle. Love, hate, ambition, and envy are forces with which he must contend. In the heat of Africa, and later in the bitter Crimean War, these obstacles become an even greater threat than the enemy to the success of the campaigns.

UK Edition

US Edition

China, 1900 ... This is the second book in the Blackwood saga. Captain David Blackwood, at twenty-seven, is already a hero of the Royal Marines Light Infantry and holds England’s highest award for valour, the Victoria Cross. Nevertheless, he has yet to discover the ultimate in passion, courage, or fear. These he will experience in the bloody battles of the Boxer Rebellion. Blackwood's detachment is among the first to meet the fanatically cruel Chinese, roused to a frenzy of hatred for the "foreign devils" by their Empress Dowager. During one of the initial clashes between the British and the Chinese, the Marines rescue a German countess from whom Blackwood will learn some of life's less violent lessons. The detachment is ordered to escort her on a treacherous journey up the narrow Hoshun River under heavy fire. Blackwood arrives at his destination only to find that it has been burned and looted, and he is forced to turn back. Even the harrowing return trip pales, however, beside the task he faces on reaching Tientsin — to command a handful of men against wave after wave of suicidal attacks.

UK Edition

US Edition

Sicily, 1943 ... They were the men and women of the Royal Navy’s Special Operations units. Carrying out lightning raids on hostile coasts, they became a navy within a navy — each hand-picked for their individual skills, and all of them courageous. Against the mighty backdrop of World War II they performed their small but deadly operations — living often beyond hope, sometimes beyond mercy. This is the dramatic story of a handful of such people.

UK Edition

Summer, 1944 ... She had preyed for years on the defenseless merchant marine of every nation passing through the Baltic, a cruel outlaw scourge, flying the broken cross instead of a skull and bones. Now the Nazi heavy cruiser Prinz Luitpold is herself on the run — and fighting for her life in a desperate race across the vast killing ground of the Atlantic. Captain Dieter Hechler is forced to withdraw from the waters he dominated for years — under heavy fire. Whipped by gale-force winds and a fierce barrage of armor-piercing shells, the once-proud Prinz cannot escape unscarred. The target of underwater assassins, air assault, and a relentless pursuit by a vengeful Allied fleet, Hechler has given up on victory. His only hope is to survive.

UK Edition