My second WW2 action thriller is due to be released in October. It introduces Cornish mining engineer Harvey Tremayne.
He is driven by revenge. Managing the world’s richest diamond mine in former German South West Africa, he clashes with a colonial resistance group, intent on restoring their homeland. They smuggle diamonds for the Nazi military rearmament programme. Tremayne got in their way. They killed his wife. Now he’s hunting for them.
In this fast paced action thriller, his search takes him to places even more dangerous than the terror-filled trenches of his WW1 service. In the process, he is drawn into the shadowy world of the British Secret Service. They are hunting the same enemy but for a different reason.
Days before WW2 is declared, he tracks his nemesis to the unforgiving, blistering desert that is the diamond rich Forbidden Zone. The land is merciless in protecting its ancient, glittering treasures. And offshore, the icy sea guards the land with its own deadly secrets.

On the 4th November 1918 the 6th Dorsetshire Regiment fought their last battle of WW1 in the Mormal Forest. 13 soldiers died that day and my Grandfather, Herman Alfred Pike, was wounded. The story of that day's fight can be found in my book Mud, Blood and Bayonet.
A group of 56 Brits travelled to Locquignol to take part in the memorial service on the 4th November 2018. The Somme Battlefield Pipe Band marched in front of the procession and played in the church.

'Mud, Blood & Bayonet - The Story of the 6th Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment, 1918 Day by Day' is about the Battalion my Grandfather fought with, in 1918.
For those who had ancestors in the 6th Battalion they will be able to follow where they were, what trenches they were in and the bloody action they experienced, day by day, 100 years on.
The book will be available shortly in soft and hard cover through Amazon.

The proof copy of Mud, Blood & Bayonet, The Story of the 6th Dorsetshire Battalion in 1918, day by day, has been approved and is now at the printers. I am hoping that  it will be available on Amazon in early - mid December. It will be in hardback and softback format.  Watch this space!

Whilst recently researching the WW1 diary of the 6th Dorsetshire Regiment I was amazed to find a document mentioning my Grandfather, 20652 Private Herman Alfred Pike. He had been responsible for delivering two prisoners to the Brigade Prisoners Cage as the attached Prisoner Receipt shows. His Battalion captured the stronghold of Quentin Redoubt near Gouzeaucourt, taking many prisoners. This the only document pertaining to my Grandfather's war that I've found. Sergeant J.G. Andrews who signed for them was part of the Mounted Military Police, responsible for prisoner interrogation.

My Grandfather fought with 'A' Company of the 6th Dorsetshire Regiment from April to November 1918. I have been researching the battles his Regiment, and consequently he, were involved in and there are several bloody encounters. Imagine a hot summer night on the Somme in 1918. You put on your primitive and restrictive gas mask, and wade across a river, sweating and unable to see clearly, whilst being shelled by high explosives and poisonous gas and targeted by machine guns from the hill above. Sounds like a movie score doesn't it?  But this actually occurred on the night of 21/22 August 1918, crossing the River Ancre and attacking the German strong hold of Thiepval Ridge. And my Grandfather, aged 18 was in the lead Platoon when they crossed. This is but one of several such bloody battles.

​The picture shows British Troops along the devastated River Ancre.

If you have read a copy of my WW2 spy thriller, Break in Communication, thank you, I hope you enjoyed it. Please do add a review on Amazon if you'd like to. Just click on ​http://amzn.to/2hECA58

​Happy new year to you all.
​

If you'd like a great autumn / winter night read, you could try WW2 spy thriller Break in Communication. If you're not sure, please click on   http://amzn.to/2g6luYT   to  'Look inside' on Amazon Kindle.