Why Read It
Beyond all doubt
Commencing with the evacuation from Dunkirk. Over 400,000 thousand troops from the British Expeditionary Force and units of the French army retreated towards the French coast and the beaches of Dunkirk. Lieutenant Karl Vita, an officer in the British Intelligence Service, was asked to volunteer to command an armed trawler drawn from the Royal Navy reserve fleet. HMT Reese, with only days to get her and her crew ready for this massive rescue. The Prime Minister of England, Winston Churchill, ordered all available Royal Navy and merchant ships, including hundreds of privately owned vessels, to be ready to sail to Dunkirk on May 26th, 1940. Their mission to save as many of the troops stranded on those beaches as return them safely to England, THE MIRACLE OF DUNKIRK, came to an end June 4th. Karl Vita is mortally wounded as his vessel takes a direct hit from a German dive bomber, sinking by the bow. The surviving crew members carry their unconscious Captain into a lifeboat, rescued by a returning Royal Navy warship, and they return to England. Recuperating in a military hospital, Karl, bored by inactivity, enjoys flirting with the nursing staff before reuniting with his comrades in the BIS, including the beautiful Lieutenant Hazel Collins. Hazel is still in love with Karl from their time training in Scotland. Rekindling that attraction before she leaves on a dangerous mission back into the hell of occupied Europe.
Later in the year, Karl. and French officer Jean Yves Jerva returned to occupied France on an intelligence-gathering mission. Their cover appears to be working until the Gestapo exposes them. Taken prisoner, they are interrogated and mercilessly beaten to the point Karl considers taking his own life. In that moment of despair, the building is rocked by a massive explosion. Saved by French Resistance fighters, all the prisoners escape, leaving the Gestapo headquarters a pile of rubble. Karl requires immediate medical attention to his badly injured left eye; a French doctor makes the decision to fly him back to England accompanied by a French nurse. Recuperating for the second time in his family home, Karl decides to purchase a used car. Answering a classified advertisement, Karl and his Brother-in-Law set off to look at the MG sports car, instantly falling in love with this beautiful car; he is also smitten by its owner, the striking widow Claire McGiven. Their attraction is instantaneous, boring new feelings. From that moment on, Karl’s life would change forever, closing the door on his former wildlife.
