Vermisst: Missing in Russia

by Jonathan Nicholas

Young Paul Goetz loves aeroplanes and so joins the Luftwaffe as soon as he can. Like so many, he’s taken in, swept along in the unquestioning tide of excitement, keen to be airborne as a fighter pilot.

His first posting sees him sent to Leningrad in December 1941. His squadron shoot down huge numbers of enemy aeroplanes and victory seems certain, but the war drags on for a second winter, becoming increasingly difficult. Comrades are lost or reported ‘Vermisst’ – missing – and he learns of terrible German activities across the east. Then, Paul’s nightmare becomes reality, when his engine fails behind enemy lines, and he is captured…

Missing in Russia is a rarity; an English-language novel written from a German viewpoint. Rich in historical details and packed with exciting aerial combat scenes, it is a gripping war story of extreme conditions, and survival in the harshest captivity.

457 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 24, 2023

About the author

Jonathan Nicholas was born in Norfolk, England and grew up in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. At the age of eighteen he left the UK and travelled the world with nothing more than a back pack, a sketchpad, and a diary, returning to the UK several years later, much thinner but with a stack of completed diaries. He then spent the next thirty years working as a police officer, almost always in uniform and on the 'front line' in some very challenging areas of inner-city England. An avid diary writer, in 2011 he turned his attentions to professional writing, and for a while he wrote a regular column in the UK police magazine 'Police Review'. Jonathan was commended several times during his police career including being awarded Community Police Officer of the Year in 2007.
His first book, 'Hospital Beat' describes in honest detail his ten years spent policing a busy inner-city hospital. Sadly some parts of the book were deemed 'personally unacceptable' to a minority of influential persons within Nottinghamshire Police who then effectively caused it to be banned worldwide until Jonathan left the police when he retired in February 2014.
His second book, 'Kibbutz Virgin' is now widely acknowledged to be one of the best factual accounts yet written about the Israeli kibbutz volunteer experience, and is based in the troubled border region of Israel, Lebanon and Syria. It provides an insight into why 400,000 non-Jews from around the world worked in Israel for no pay.
'The Tragic Romance of Africa' is a harrowing true tale of 1950s colonial Africa, and is Jonathan's first book ghost written for another.
His book 'Oz - A Hitchhiker's Australian Anthology' details a very unusual twelve months he spent hitchhiking around Australia, and it proves you really can cross a continent on as little as twenty dollars!
‘Who'd be a Copper?' is a factual account of Jonathan’s thirty years as a police constable in uniform, providing candid & surprising details of British inner-city policing.
‘Cherry Picking’ is Jonathan’s second outing as a ghost writer, for goal keeper Steve Cherry, who played for various top U.K. soccer teams.
Jonathan has written a dark dystopian thriller in the pen name of Dan Hastings; ‘Active’ explores what might happen to the West if overrun by violent religious fanatics.
His latest work is a fact-based historical novel about a real-life RAF pilot in North Africa during WW2; ‘Kittyhawk Down’ follows Sgt Dennis Copping as he joins up until he disappears into the desert, where his aeroplane was later found in 2012.
Jonathan is currently working on another historical novel about a real pilot in WW2; ‘Vermisst’ is about Luftwaffe fighter pilot Paul Ratz whose aeroplane was found in Russian woodland in 1989.
Please see the website for further details and to read excerpts from all Jonathan's books.
Jonathan has had a lifelong interest in aviation and obtained a glider pilot's licence and a private pilot's licence in 1978. He is now a full-time author and currently lives in Nottingham, England. He is married with two children.

Website: www.jonathannicholas.org.uk

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Reviews

[Robin Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jonathan Nicholas is a brilliant storyteller. Here, with formidable literary skill he recreates events in Hitler's disastrous attack on Russia, seen through the eyes of a young aviator, Paul Goetz.
A young man's understanding of the horrors of war is full of poignant moments, making this a compellingly readable novel. The detail is harrowing and brutal. Paul's loss of innocence and naivety, and his gradual acceptance of the terrifying cruelties inflicted by both sides of the conflict convinces by its integrity, depth of research, and an evocative narrative finesse. Eighty years on it still has the power to shock with the intensity of the harsh realities of war and its human cost, as events so terrible become a stark reminder that in war there are no victors, only the dead and vanquished.

[Ron Baumer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly heartbreaking and inspirational story. The hardships endured by these men during the war was truly heartbreaking. The savagery between the two armies was intense and harrowing. The story is a great read that will hold your attention!

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

This man is abusive on twitter so will never read this trash