The March on London: Covert Operations in the Battle of the Bulge December 1944

by Charles Whiting

By the autumn of 1944 it was clear to all who wished to see that Germany was facing inevitable defeat. Many there were, however, who did not wish to see. One of these was Adolf Hitler himself, who decided that the tide of war could be turned by one massive thrust through the Ardennes to retake the channel ports on which the Allied supply line depended. Others equally blind to reality were to be found in prisoner-of-war camps scattered throughout the British Isles. These hardcore fanatics, or 'blacks' as they were labelled in the current jargon, dismissed the truth as crude allied propaganda and chose rather to believe Hitler's boast that the Ardennes offensive would indeed drive the allies out of Europe once more. What could they, pent up as they were, do to help their comrades fighting to the death in the snow-clad forests above Bastogne? To start with they could stage a mass escape and create thereby a security scare of unprecedented magnitude. If enough escaped they would then march on London, with who knows what results. Naturally enough there are few written records of this extraordinary story and Charles Whiting has pieced it together largely through interviews with the few survivors from those dramatic days. It is indeed a most remarkable tale, but one which, as the author himself admits, leaves quite a number of intriguing questions unanswered.

181 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1992

About the author

Charles Whiting was a British writer and military historian and with some 350 books of fiction and non-fiction to his credit, under his own name and a variety of pseudonyms including Ian Harding, Duncan Harding, K.N. Kostov, John Kerrigan, Klaus Konrad, and Leo Kessler.

Born in the Bootham area of York, England, he was a pupil at the prestigious Nunthorpe Grammar School, leaving at the age of 16 to join the British Army by lying about his age. Keen to be in on the wartime action, Whiting was attached to the 52nd Reconnaissance Regiment and by the age of 18 saw duty as a sergeant in France, Holland, Belgium and Germany in the latter stages of World War II. While still a soldier, he observed conflicts between the highest-ranking British and American generals which he would write about extensively in later years.

After the war, he stayed on in Germany completing his A-levels via correspondence course and teaching English before being enrolled at Leeds University reading History and German Language. As an undergraduate he was afforded opportunities for study at several European universities and, after gaining his degree, would go on to become an assistant professor of history. Elsewhere, Whiting held a variety of jobs which included working as a translator for a German chemical factory and spells as a publicist, a correspondent for The Times and feature writer for such diverse magazines as International Review of Linguistics, Soldier and Playboy.

His first novel was written while still an undergraduate, was published in 1954 and by 1958 had been followed by three wartime thrillers. Between 1960 and 2007 Charles went on to write over 350 titles, including 70 non-fiction titles covering varied topics from the Nazi intelligence service to British Regiments during World War II.

One of his publishers, Easingwold-based Rupert Smith of GH Smith & Son said he was a quiet man and prolific writer.

"He's one of a band of forgotten authors because he sold millions of copies and still, up to his death was doing publishing deals.He was the kind of man who was very self-effacing, one of Britain's forgotten authors, still working at 80 years of age, with his nose down and kicking out books."

Charles Henry Whiting, author and military historian died on July 24 2007, leaving his wife and son.