Col. John Randal and Raiding Forces continue the mission in Book XI, Raiding Rommel. OPERATION CRUSADER has had a devastating effect on the Desert Patrol gun jeep patrols due to the constant non-stop pace of operations and being misused by Middle East Command. The new US troops of the 575th Parachute Infantry Regiment (Separate) (Special) aka ‘Rangers’ are being amalgamated into Raiding Forces after rotating through the British Commando School and completing ‘Blood in the Sand’ training under Capt. ‘Mad Dog’ Reupart and Sgt. Maj. ‘March or Die’ Mikkalis ably assisted by the ex-French Foreign Legion veterans of Blue Patrol. Brandy Seaborn alerts Col. Randal to a SOLID GOLD mission to assassinate Nazi Hauptman Alfred Seebohm, Rommel’s Merlin — the commander of the Afrika Korps signals intelligence unit that has exploited the Eight Army’s total lack of radio security. Meanwhile ‘Wild Bill’ Donovan, the chief of the Office of Strategic Services, invites Col. Randal to become the head of Special Projects.
Phil Ward is a decorated combat veteran commissioned at age nineteen. A former instructor at the Army Ranger School, he has had a lifelong interest in small unit tactics and special operations. He lives in Texas on a mountain overlooking Lake Austin.
The story itself is great, or I would not have read the 11 books. My only criticism is the author's continuous and repetitive use of a full paragraph of dialogue and/or descriptive simply repeating information covered earlier...as if it was new information. That get tedious after a few chapters. As a reader, it comes across as a means of filling up the book with cut and paste paragraphs which fill up the book far more than they advance the story. As stated, the story is a great one and I am thoroughly enjoying it (but for this little distractions).
The continuing adventures of Col. Randal, Lady Jane and the Raiding Forces. Along with the fighting continuing in North Africa the Col. is called to Washington to become part of OSS. With Rommel at a stand still the Raiding Forces are ordered to up the attacks on the supply lines without Col. Randal as he is called to England for a mandatory vacation which turns into another mission. Keep them coming looking forward to book 12.
Reading this series of books are a WW2 history buff, your missing out of a lot of historical action in a fictional setting. The character are well developed and the places and many of the people interacting with the characters are real. The story cover some areas that I was unfamiliar with as most of my study centered in the Pacific naval war. This opened a new front of study for me.
This book covers a lot of ground! There's a lot going on. Trying to stall Rommel's advance, Randall's group seems to be the only ones who have had success. Some of the raids were pretty intense! Mr Ward describes these situations well. I am glad the situation around Lady Jane is concuded! Looking forward to the next book!
Goodness me I enjoy these books. I was bereft when I reached the end as I enjoy the characters, the missions and the armaments so much. A big thank you to Phil Ward who continues to produce an outstanding and gripping read.
I really enjoy this series of books. I like the realism of the units,players and how some of these units ha e evolved into units active today. As I stated when I first read this saga; " it reads like a movie from that time period".
Raiding Rommel was a great read as well as all previous books in this series. The authors use of detail and battlefield humor is a good mix and the action makes it hard to put the book down. I look forward to the next installment of Raiding Forces.
Thoroughly enjoyed this series so far. Looking forward to number twelve. Probably will be disappointed when I've read the last one, that there will be no more to follow.
As always the history behind these military actions is intriguing. Its good to understand the nature of the men and women behind the scenes. My only complaint is that he references Texas Ranger legend Frank Hamer as Frank Hammer.