I’d picked up “What Became of Gunner Asch” by H. H. Kirst at a small raddiwallah shop – hadn’t heard of the author or the book but the back cover looked promising:

“Gunner Asch, yesterday’s scourge of the Nazi war effort, is now a respectable civilian. But his appetite for trouble is as strong as ever, as the local military discover.

Major Bornekamp, of the blood and iron school, is Asch’s favourite target.

Lieutenant von Strackmann, a blockhead of the old sort, falls into every trap Asch lay...