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Major John Bold #1
Bugles at Dawn
On the eve of the battle of Waterloo, and a meeting with Wellington himself, John Bold flees to India.
He joins the 6th Bengal Infantry, and is confronted by a country where peace is an unnatural state as Mahratta chieftains plunder each other's territory.
Riding high as commander of an irregular unit, John Bold is awarded a lieutenant's commission by Lord Hastings, the Governor General.
He christens his half-squadron native cavalry formation 'Bold's Horse' and spearheads the British break-up of Mahratta power.
Can he stick to the protocol of British India and still remain his own man?
Will John and his men complete their mission and escape with their lives?
Or will 'Bugles At Dawn' signal a far worse fate than anything he was fleeing back in Europe.
'Bugles At Dawn' is an expertly plotted historical adventure from a master story-teller.
'A dramatic recreation of a thrilling era.' - Robert Foster, best-selling author of 'The Lunar Code'.
Charles Whiting (1926-2007) was one of Britain’s most prolific military writers, with over 300 books to his credit. He saw active service in the Second World War, serving in an armoured reconnaissance regiment attached to both the US and British armies. His books therefore possess the insight and authority of someone who, as a combat soldier, actually experienced the horrors of the Second World War. Under the pen name of Leo Kessler he also wrote a series of bestselling military thrillers, including ‘Guns at Cassino’ and ‘Valley of the Assassins’.
Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.
He joins the 6th Bengal Infantry, and is confronted by a country where peace is an unnatural state as Mahratta chieftains plunder each other's territory.
Riding high as commander of an irregular unit, John Bold is awarded a lieutenant's commission by Lord Hastings, the Governor General.
He christens his half-squadron native cavalry formation 'Bold's Horse' and spearheads the British break-up of Mahratta power.
Can he stick to the protocol of British India and still remain his own man?
Will John and his men complete their mission and escape with their lives?
Or will 'Bugles At Dawn' signal a far worse fate than anything he was fleeing back in Europe.
'Bugles At Dawn' is an expertly plotted historical adventure from a master story-teller.
'A dramatic recreation of a thrilling era.' - Robert Foster, best-selling author of 'The Lunar Code'.
Charles Whiting (1926-2007) was one of Britain’s most prolific military writers, with over 300 books to his credit. He saw active service in the Second World War, serving in an armoured reconnaissance regiment attached to both the US and British armies. His books therefore possess the insight and authority of someone who, as a combat soldier, actually experienced the horrors of the Second World War. Under the pen name of Leo Kessler he also wrote a series of bestselling military thrillers, including ‘Guns at Cassino’ and ‘Valley of the Assassins’.
Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.
382 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 8, 1990
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About the author
Charles Whiting
258 books52 followersCharles Whiting was a British writer and military historian and with some 350 books of fiction and non-fiction to his credit, under his own name and a variety of pseudonyms including Ian Harding, Duncan Harding, K.N. Kostov, John Kerrigan, Klaus Konrad, and Leo Kessler.
Born in the Bootham area of York, England, he was a pupil at the prestigious Nunthorpe Grammar School, leaving at the age of 16 to join the British Army by lying about his age. Keen to be in on the wartime action, Whiting was attached to the 52nd Reconnaissance Regiment and by the age of 18 saw duty as a sergeant in France, Holland, Belgium and Germany in the latter stages of World War II. While still a soldier, he observed conflicts between the highest-ranking British and American generals which he would write about extensively in later years.
After the war, he stayed on in Germany completing his A-levels via correspondence course and teaching English before being enrolled at Leeds University reading History and German Language. As an undergraduate he was afforded opportunities for study at several European universities and, after gaining his degree, would go on to become an assistant professor of history. Elsewhere, Whiting held a variety of jobs which included working as a translator for a German chemical factory and spells as a publicist, a correspondent for The Times and feature writer for such diverse magazines as International Review of Linguistics, Soldier and Playboy.
His first novel was written while still an undergraduate, was published in 1954 and by 1958 had been followed by three wartime thrillers. Between 1960 and 2007 Charles went on to write over 350 titles, including 70 non-fiction titles covering varied topics from the Nazi intelligence service to British Regiments during World War II.
One of his publishers, Easingwold-based Rupert Smith of GH Smith & Son said he was a quiet man and prolific writer.
"He's one of a band of forgotten authors because he sold millions of copies and still, up to his death was doing publishing deals.He was the kind of man who was very self-effacing, one of Britain's forgotten authors, still working at 80 years of age, with his nose down and kicking out books."
Charles Henry Whiting, author and military historian died on July 24 2007, leaving his wife and son.
Born in the Bootham area of York, England, he was a pupil at the prestigious Nunthorpe Grammar School, leaving at the age of 16 to join the British Army by lying about his age. Keen to be in on the wartime action, Whiting was attached to the 52nd Reconnaissance Regiment and by the age of 18 saw duty as a sergeant in France, Holland, Belgium and Germany in the latter stages of World War II. While still a soldier, he observed conflicts between the highest-ranking British and American generals which he would write about extensively in later years.
After the war, he stayed on in Germany completing his A-levels via correspondence course and teaching English before being enrolled at Leeds University reading History and German Language. As an undergraduate he was afforded opportunities for study at several European universities and, after gaining his degree, would go on to become an assistant professor of history. Elsewhere, Whiting held a variety of jobs which included working as a translator for a German chemical factory and spells as a publicist, a correspondent for The Times and feature writer for such diverse magazines as International Review of Linguistics, Soldier and Playboy.
His first novel was written while still an undergraduate, was published in 1954 and by 1958 had been followed by three wartime thrillers. Between 1960 and 2007 Charles went on to write over 350 titles, including 70 non-fiction titles covering varied topics from the Nazi intelligence service to British Regiments during World War II.
One of his publishers, Easingwold-based Rupert Smith of GH Smith & Son said he was a quiet man and prolific writer.
"He's one of a band of forgotten authors because he sold millions of copies and still, up to his death was doing publishing deals.He was the kind of man who was very self-effacing, one of Britain's forgotten authors, still working at 80 years of age, with his nose down and kicking out books."
Charles Henry Whiting, author and military historian died on July 24 2007, leaving his wife and son.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 23, 2025
Plot-- a young officer at Waterloo strikes an officer who was being cowardly to get him to advance his unit. the coward is politically protected and powerful, so the Duke assigns the main character a new name and arranges for a commission with the Company army in India. After somehow avoiding improbable assassination plots by the coward's family. Then he has adventures there.
It was pretty good, except things like the plot went too far over the top. There were also too many characters who were just too much for a non-comedy action novel. In particular, with one exception every woman with a name in the book was a nut or a slut-- with one exception and she was killed first.
It was pretty good, except things like the plot went too far over the top. There were also too many characters who were just too much for a non-comedy action novel. In particular, with one exception every woman with a name in the book was a nut or a slut-- with one exception and she was killed first.
March 18, 2015
Quite in the mould of Wheatley's Roger Brook series and giving focus to some less used eras and climes but towards the end, starts to lose the element of suspense and the ending is a little less satisfying with quite a few points unresolved (indicating a sequel? in which case it will be fine). And that graphic descriptions seem a little overdone..
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews