Africa 1941

Raiding Forces #9

by Phil Ward

In Book 9 of the Raiding Forces Series U.S. Lieutenant Colonel John Randal returns in Africa 1941. Lieutenant Colonel Randal has established a clandestine base at Oasis X on the far side of the Great Sand Sea from which to launch hit and run gun jeep raids on isolated enemy positions, airfields and fuel tank farms up to a thousand miles behind the lines with Desert Patrol while his Sea Squadron carry out amphibious pinprick Commando raids off a Landing Craft Tank along the Mediterranean Coastline. Raiding Forces is also tasked with raiding the Italian roadhouses located every fifteen miles along the only blacktopped road Rommel has in Africa, which runs from Tripoli to Tobruk, the Via Balbia. Lieutenant Commander Ian Flemming, RN recruits Raiding Forces to conduct ‘pinch operations’ targeted against remote Africa Korps weather stations to capture code books, keys and signals devices that can be used by MI6 to penetrate the Ultra Secret German Enigma machines. In addition he has to spring Colonel Dudley Clarke from a Spanish prison and rescue his men being held in two Italian POW camps.

Genres: Military Fiction, History, War

280 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 6, 2016

About the author

Phil Ward is a decorated combat veteran commissioned at age nineteen. A former instructor at the Army Ranger School, he has had a lifelong interest in small unit tactics and special operations. He lives in Texas on a mountain overlooking Lake Austin.

Reviews

[Barry]

Phil Ward has done his usual brilliant research and given us a great book of Raiding Forces war against FM Rommel and the Nazi war machine. Wonderful history as fiction. Book takes the war right up to the Attach on Pearl Harbor and the Americans being about to enter the war. Wonder what will happen with American John Randall who has been officering and tirelessly working for Britain?

[abram blue lieberman]

Ward does it again

Another stellar book by ward. His books are too good. I read them so fast and then have to wait for the next one. Always worth the wait.

[Todd]

This book is the 9th in the Raiding Forces series. The setting is North Africa just prior to a major British offensive. Lieutenant Colonel John Randall is reorganizing his raiding force to align with changing strategic objectives. Many of the cast of characters from the previous novels in the series return. The scope of the novel is wide covering a lot of geography as well military operations. real life individuals interact with with John Randall and become part of the storyline. The pace of the book overall is brisk with some lulls to spend time discussing the weapons. However, the end seems like a rush from one operation to another. The author, however, tried to maximize the description of the operations and the ensuing battles with some success.

I read several of the Raiding Forces earlier but let them drift away from bookcase. I picked this one up because of my interest in the war in North Africa and the LRDG and SAS. I learned a few new things and it helped me to organize some of the events for me. I will return to the 10th book in the series which picks up the back and forth along the Via Balboa after I have tried another author Stuart Minor who also has several books on the war in North Africa.

I gave the book 3 stars, a good, solid read. I found at times the story drifted away from a high level engagement with characters who face one of the most challenging situations imaginable – war. The constant use of nicknames for major characters and the continued descriptions of the beauty of the female characters ("The snow-blonde Vargas Girl-looking Royal Marine pilot," and "drop dead gorgeous." However, the author does a real good job of describing their excellent skills.) was somewhat distracting after awhile, reminding me at times of pulp fiction. But all-in-all, it was a good read and I will return to Lieutenant Colonel John Randall, Zorro, Baldie, Rocky, Lt. Plum-Martin, Flash Bang Gordon and the rest. I look forward to riding along in a gun jeep in the "Blue" for a nice escape from a New Hampshire winter day.

[David L Hartman]

Is it the transfer to Kindle ebook format that is introducing numerous grammatical errors, loss of continuity within a sentence due to missing words, even misspellings of character names? I find this disruptive to the story line. Plus, the author really does not know small arms. Enjoy the story but don't think you learned anything about small arms nomenclature, even calibres. I suspect if we took time to check on aircraft and vehicle identifiers, there would be numerous errors. He keeps admitting to not knowing where the expression "jeep" started - it is a contraction of GP, for general purpose. By the time they went overseas, Willys, Ford, and I believe Bantam, were all producing jeeps. And one of my real complaints - he has the Sea Squadron riding around on an LCT, then using DUKWs to get to shore, why didn't they just pull the LCT onto the beach and drop the ramp? Having made that transit more than once, I know it works. Off the beach the LCT would outrun a DUKW. But it is still a fun read.

[Peter Hendrycks]

This book is filled with action, from front to back! I have to say that my respect continues to grow. How these men keep up this pace is incredible! How stressful it must have been! All I can say is that I am glad I was not inside one of those truck stops when Raiding Forces came calling! It also seems as though the rest of the campaign, other than Raiding Forces, us not going well. It would appear they need more men like Randall. Every move in this book is very well described. It feels like you are in that jeep with them while its all going down. Looking forward to the next in the series!

[Richard Cowart]

Another action packed historical novel

Another thrilling installment in raiding forces action packed series. We continue to follow Randle and his ever growing entourage through Libya, Egypt and Crete. A very enjoyable series that I am looking to continue reading.

[Heidi Pearson]

Excellent!!

Believe this is number 9 in the series. Just ordered # 10. Thoroughly enjoyable reading. What's interesting is that not having been around during this time frame, I don't know how much of this stuff is real and how much is made up. I like it this way!!!!

[Paul Grogger]

The story continues with more developments

Some things are bound to go wrong. If it can happen it will. The Germans can't be wrong all the time. It's lucky that the enemy was wrong more than right.

[Jim Purcell]

Once again, the Lt Col's plans bump into the glass ceiling of GHQ decisions that result in team deaths and casualties by their inappropriate use. The learning curve for senior military staff remains steep and not effective. A major rebuild will be required as America enters the war.

[William]

Another great book!

Shows how screwed up the British were in the beginning of ‘41, a fun read. The twists and turns of war are shown well. Not to see if I can find the next book.

[John Scheibelhut]

On land and at sea, adventure after adventure.

Another good story about dessert fighting. Lots of shootouts and grins. This is my kind of story. A fun read.

[Rae S Kinzer]

Good read

I really enjoyed this book. It had slot of action although it's hard to believe that they don't lose more men than they do.

[Selina Sorrow]

Africa book 9

The book and series are very good. Hard to put down.Good reading. I recommend this series to everyone. Thank you

[Gerald Good]

Great again

The raiders are at it again. Carrying out raids of all types in various territory.
How does Ward dream this all up?

[richard sorkness]

I recommend reading the prior Raiding Forces novels for a full appreciation of John Randall and his terrific strategies and weapons knowledge and bravery.
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[kevin royal]

Good action book

[Ed Obarowski]

Another great book in the Raiding Forces series. These books pull you and and hold onto you until the very last page.

[HARRY L WINTERS]

Excellent Come Back, Much better depth!

The last two books of this series were frustrating due to a lack of depth in the story lines though still entertaining and were shorter than earlier books in the series. This installment however amassed much more detail in the story line and has better follow through on the plot while maintaining the premise of the series. The action sequences are fuller and more thought through, even more believable than earlier episodes! The author seemed to add more personal depth to the interactions of the main characters which allows the reader to relate better to the humanity of the characters during a high pressure wartime scenario. He also allows the reader to see some of the mistakes that were made by the "powers that were" which helps the reader understand the difficulties of leadership during that era. I thoroughly enjoyed this "episode" of Raising Forces and am excited to see what the next will bring.

[William]

at series could not stop till I read them all