Burmese Coast, 1944 . . . After four years, the tide of war
is turning in North Africa and Europe. The conflict in Southeast Asia,
however, has reached new heights of savagery. The Special Operations
mission off the Burmese coast requires volunteers. Both men with nothing
to live for as well as men with everything to lose. Men
like Lieutenant James Ross, awarded the Victoria Cross for his work in
underwater sabotage, or the desperate amateur Charles Villiers, heir to a
fortune now controlled by the Japanese. A two-man torpedo--The
Chariot--is the their ultimate weapon in a high-risk war. Cast loose
into the shadows before an eastern dawn, the heroes or madmen who guide
it will strike terror into the heart of an invulnerable enemy, or pay
the ultimate price for failure.
Praise for Douglas Reeman--
"Vivid naval action at its most authentic." --Sunday Times
"If
anyone deserves to be 'piped' into bookshops with full naval honours,
it is Douglas Reeman, without question master of both genres of naval
fiction-historical and modern." --Books Magazine
"Mr. Reeman writes with great knowledge about the sea and those who sail on it."
--The Times
Singapore, November 1941:
Lieutenant Ralph Trewin, proud recipient of the Distinguished Service
Cross, arrives in Singapore as second-in-command of the shallow-draught
gunboat, H.M.S. Porcupine. To Trewin, still suffering from
wounds received during the evacuation of Crete, the tiny British fleet
of antiquated river gunboats appears wholly inadequate for what is to
come. And, everyone in the entire garrison seems inexperienced and naive
about the gravity of the threat approaching from the north.
Within
months Japan takes Singapore and the British lose their most important
outpost in Southeast Asia. Yet throughout a miserable and bloody
campaign Trewin and his captain learn to draw on each other's strengths
and weaknesses, and together forge the little gunboat into a symbol of
bravery and pride.
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