The Killing Ground

the long version

In the spring of 1943, following a string of successful counter-attacks by the partisans led by General Tito and spearheaded by his English lieutenant, Tony Davis, and Tony's beautiful French mistress Sandrine Fouquet, the Nazis determine to make an all-out effort to exterminate them. Appointed to the overall command is Tony's old enemy, SS General Fritz Wassermann, determined to avenge past defeats and the wound which has left him a cripple. Wassermann's offensive drives the Partisans into headlong retreat, a catastrophic episode which includes the attempted crossing of the Neretva River by twenty-five thousand people using a rope bridge, and which culminates in the capture of the pregnant Sandrine. But the tide of war turns, and re-armed and reinforced, the partisans stage a comeback in conjunction with the Russian advance into the Balkans. The question is, can Tony reach Belgrade in time to save Sandrine from the gallows. Here is concentrated action, adventure and romance, told against a background of real events.