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| Either Way Dead |
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ISBN: 978-0-953173-75-4
LC#:
00 135418
Author:
Tony Gyles
Binding:
Paper Trade
Pages:
300
Trim Size:
6x9
Width:
0.75
Foreign Language:
English
Editors:
Norman Stobart
Illustrations:
B/W Photos
Publication Date:
6/1/00
Distributor:
National Book Network, B&T
Type:
Fiction
Price: $12.95
Title pending
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"An ultimste thriller with the spice of suspense peaking in every chapter-a wonderful portrayal of a frightening scenario at sea." -Captain Carl Swanson, USMM, (Ret.)
The RMS Queen Mary and her sister ship the Queen Elizabeth were converted to troop carriers during World War II. Known as the "Grey Ghosts" they came and went with such speed and secrecy that, to watchers from the shore, they would suddenly appear off Staten Island out of a grey fog or, as dawn broke, be swinging at anchor at the Tail o' the Bank" on a dull rain swept day - disappearing again just as suddenly. Before the day was half through they would be a hundred miles out into the vast heaving Atlantic, sailing mostly unescorted with their valuable human cargoes, their course determined by intelligence data received form the Admiralty in a constant stream of one-way coded communications. To sink one, or both of these ships was the dream of every U-boat commander, but their speed was no match for these giants of the sea, even given a lucky interception.
Either Way Dead is the chronicle of the conception, gestations and birth in the distant and unforgiving waters off Iceland, of Operation Konigin. The target? The pride of the British Merchant Fleet-the Queen Mary.
The embryo for Operation Konigin was not dreamed up by admirals surrounded by staff officers in some beautifully wood-paneled room in an occupied French ch‰teau. Instead it began in a whore-house in l'Orient; in a smoke-filled room stinking of spilt beer, over-perfumed women and the body odor of men who knew that their lives could be very short. A U-boat Captain made a drunken remark about putting one up the "Queen," which provoked someone to draw a ribald cartoon of a wolfpack, with D.F. loops tuned onto a large spark emitting from an advancing ship. The ship bore the name Queen Mary with its forward funnel the upper torso of a bare-breasted woman wearing a crown. A U-boat appeared to have just fired a torpedo that took the form of a rampant penis. The caption read - "One up a Queen!" The cartoon ended up on a notice board in Naval Headquarters, Berlin, where it caught the eye and interest of an Admiral....
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