Thor's Anvil

Начало книги

As you may have noticed, I’m a serious and lifelong student of WWII. I can remember reading Sink the Bismarck in Middle School, and have loved all the battles on sea and land ever since. A warmonger? No. A man in love with this history? Yes. So please pardon me if I build a level of detail into these stories to properly honor that history, and the men and women who lived it through. Sometimes the outcome of a battle or entire campaign can hinge on one division, one regiment, one battalion, even one man. I try to go to each of those levels in my recounting of the war, Strategic, Operational and Tactical. And I try to give you a chair in the briefing rooms, and sometimes even get you inside the heads of all the main historical figures.

In the author interview for this book, I talk more about all this, and why my understanding of the history reaches deeper than the sweeping overall strategy of things. But I haven’t lost sight of where the series all began, on that ship in the Norwegian Sea. I know some of you are out there just wanting to walk that deck. Don’t worry, there will be lots more action featuring the original cast and crew to come. Yet the series isn’t just named after that ship, but also the man that gave the ship his name. One of the principal historical figures is young Mironov—Sergei Kirov, and his struggle to save his nation is at the heart of this story. The lines of fate run through him in very many ways, and his tale will continue in this volume, along with Fedorov’s mission.

Читать дальше →