The purpose of this series is to inform
the reader about the soldiers
who fought in those desperate times that followed the
Soviet
invasion of the western half of
Germany
.

In order to ensure that I have balance
,
I spoke to many veterans of that conflict
, men and women
,
who paraded under different flags
,
and faced each othe
r across the no
man’s
land
div
ide.

This
is a work about
human beings
,
and their capacity to endure.
In that regard, the books can sometimes depict matters graphically, the better to illustrate what our forefathers dealt with.

It is my hope that I have not judged
,
only reflected faithfully their actions, and more importantly, their spirit and courage
,
regardless of the colour of their uniform.

I confess that I have occasionally had to use some license to fill in small gaps in events
,
or
,
where conflicting accounts exist,
I have
examine
d
the facts and make a judgement on how best to present
disputed
events to the reader.

It is a fact that bravery knows no national boundaries
,
and that the other side always have their honourable and courageous men too. I hope that I have reflected that
,
and done due honour to all those about whom I have written here.

The events which brought me to write the ‘Red Gambit’
series have been outlined previously, as have the major contributions of some of the more important characters.

My
grateful
thanks
have
already been offered up to the families of
John Ramsey,
Rolf Uhlmann, Ernst-August Knocke and Marion J. Crisp. The contribution made by Vladimir Stelmakh cannot be overestimated
,
and the value of the personal documents of Arkady Yarishlov was immense.

I am indebted to those members of the French Deuxieme Bureau who risked much to ensure that their colleagues received the laurels they deserved, as I am to the Foreign Legion
librarians and
personnel
of all origins
,
who gave me all the information I asked for
,
and helped me understand the
e
spirit de corps of one of the world’s prime combat formations.

I
deliberately did not include
some others in
my first book. I omitted them to try and maintain some suspense for the reader who does not know everything of those times.
I make amends now.

Tsali Sagonegi Yona gave me much assistance
,
but modestly played down his role in certain momentous
actions
. It fell to his proud family and the keepers of his Aniyunwiya tribal heritage to enlighten me on his full contribution to the events of which I write.

Lieutenant-General Sam Rossiter
USMC [Retd]
proved a mine of information, not only on the clandestine world of special operations
,
but also on the machinations of SHAEF that escape
d
description by the formal historians and, on occasion,
by
Eisenhower himself.
Semper Fi!

Pompeia Collins was a very formidable lady, and she gave me everything I could ask for
,
and more
,
regarding her adopted son’s war.
Unfortunately
,
she passed away before she could see
stories of her Julius in print.

Access to the personal papers of Roberto Di Castillio de Sangre proved of great assistance, and introductions to a number of veteran’s helped fill in many blanks regarding the Spanish involvement.

My greatest omission was to fail to mention the assistance I received from the Nazarbayev family. Piecing together all the events from the word of mouth stories of the Nazarbayev’s themselves, anecdotes from comrades through to personal diary entries of those who fell before the firing ceased.
Thanks
to all of you
,
and my respects and sympathies for the sacrifices your family made for all of our
futures
.

With the help of all these documents, the personal memories of the above, and others, I have been able to put together a story of the last two years of World War Two
,
or as they became known
,
World War Three
, years which cost many lives
,
and which left such an indelible mark on those who fought on both sides.

The events that led up to the
Soviet
assault are well known. I
have tried to
combin
e
the human stories with the historical facts, and
to do
so in an even
and unbiased manner. In my humble opinion, the heroes
wear
different uniforms and only in one specific
area
are
they on common ground.

They are all ordinary human beings.

The story so far.....

As this book forms part of a series, I would recommend that you read all books in sequence.
‘Opening Moves’ deals with the political decision making behind the Soviet attack
,
and
the first assaults into Allied occupied
Europe
.

In any case, as a reminder, this is the story so far.

The Soviets have been presented with reasons, seemingly substantial, to suspect treachery from the Allies.

Stalin and his cronies harness the indignatio
n of the Soviet Officer Corps for
their own Imperial intentions, and plan a
lightning
attack on the Western Allies in
Germany
.

Elsewhere, the US Atomic Bomb test was a failure, and Soviet intelligence secures American information that permits their own Atomic project to advance.

Rumours of a Soviet attack do not arrive in time, despite the best efforts of some German POW’s, who work out what is happening, and make a daring bid to get to the Allied forces in Austria.

The war starts, commando attacks and assassination squads preceding the ground forces, Soviet air force missions reaping huge benefits and reducing the Allied air superiority to parity at best. Initial Soviet advances are made, but the resilience of the Allies is unexpected, and the Soviet leadership develops a sudden respect for the ‘soft’ capitalist troops. The war descends into a gutter fight, not the free flowing fight that the Soviet High
Command had envisaged would take place
once they broke through the front lines.

The
USSR
’s new ally, Imperial Japan, rearmed with captured
German
weapons, starts making inroads in
China
, as well as taking advantage of subterfuge to deal heavy blows to the US Pacific Fleet and Pacific ground forces.

The world is plunged again into combat.

Casualties are horrendous on both sides, and Allied commanders find themselves unable to regain the initiative, constantly responding
to
the Soviet assaults.

The German Army, displaying incredible resilience, commences reforming, promising to commit substantial numbers to the Allied forces.

The Soviet Navy plays
its
part, its
submarines, many of which are
former U-Boats
,
wreaking havoc on the Atlantic reinforcement programme.

However,
the American
war
machine begins to whirr again, once more underestimated by an enemy.

Men and weapons, slowly at first, begin to flow from the camps and factories.

Also, the Allied Air forces recover, showing great resilience and taking the Air War back to the Soviets.

In particular, the Soviets have failed to appreciate the heavy bomber force, a mistake of immense proportions, but perhaps understandable, given their own bomber force’s capabilities and the rushed nature of their strategic planning.

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Bound by Blood (The Contract Book 3) by Steele, Suzanne

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