THE BOOKS OF PETER C. SMITH

RENDEZVOUS SKERKI BANK; a story of World War II

P/B 1983. ISBN 0-450 05457-8.

Seen through the eyes of two men, Royal Navy officer Richard Gibson and Luftwaffe officer Franz Petersen, the origins and early years of the Second World War are brought to life in this fine book. Separately the careers of the two men illustrate the slow awakening and then the grim reality of war, both afloat and in the air. Their paths and fates cross and re-cross and are fated to meet in a final incredible climax.

The pre-war intervention in Spain by both sides; the invasion of Poland; the ill-fated Norwegian campaign; the swift German victories in France and Flanders in 1940; the epic of the Dunkirk evacuation; the Battle of Britain; the grim Battle of the Atlantic; the dreadful Eastern Front and finally the epic Malta Convoy operations are all viewed from both sides as both young men mature and harden into supreme fighting men, one becoming the captain of a destroyer, the other the leader of a crack Stuka dive-bomber unit.

Finally they meet, although in a most unexpected and tragic way. Compared to "The Young Lions" in its epic sweep and its background accuracy this is one of the finest war novels. "Brilliantly researched" was the verdict of one London newspaper.

Publisher enquiries welcomed.