Jackals’ Revenge

'YOU WANTED TO SEE SOME ACTION - WELL YOU'RE GOING TO GET IT NOW. YOU'RE GOING TO GET IT NOW ALL RIGHT.'

Friday 24th May, 1940

Private Johnny Hawke, aged sixteen, awakens to artillery fire.

Hours later, Stukas scream down from the sky. Messerschmit fighters roar towards his regiment. Trucks burst into flames.

Now men and mules lay dead and dying, severed limbs twisted grotesquely as blood soaks the cobbled streets.

Young Private Hawke just wants to do his duty and serve his country. But as he - and his fellow soldiers - prepare to stop the German advance, there's only one question on everyone's lips.

HOW WILL THEY SURVIVE?

Pilot officer Archie Jackson, 19, is in control of the RAF's newest fighter aircraft, a Supermarine Spitfire.

Now he has the Luftwaffe in his sights and only one thing matters: defending Britain.

Suddenly planes are falling from the sky, exploding and spiralling into the English Channel.

France has fallen and the swastika flies over Occupied Europe. Only these young pilots - barely out of boyhood - stand between Britain and a Nazi invasion . . .

Duty Calls: Battle of Britain, throws you deep into the heart - and horror - of Britain's darkest, and finest, hour.

** Historian James Holland is the bestselling author of the Jack Tanner adult war fiction books. Duty Calls is his first series for younger readers, and showcases his expertise on the Second World War.

** James Holland presented Battle of Britain: The Real Story on BBC2.

‘This is a battle piece of the finest kind, detailed, authentic and largely written from original documents. Mr. Leasor has a formidable gift of narrative. Never has this story of hate, violence, courage and cowardice been better told.’
Cecil Woodham-Smith in the New York Times

A year after the Crimean War ended, an uprising broke out in India which was to have equal impact on the balance of world power and the British Empire's role in world affairs.
The revolt was against the East India Company which, not entirely against its will, had assumed responsibility for administering large parts of India. The ostensible cause of the mutiny sprang from a rumour that cartridges used by the native Sepoy troops were greased with cow's fat and pig's lard —cows being sacred to the Hindus, and pigs abhorred by the Mohammedans. But the roots of the trouble lay far deeper, and a bloody and ineptly handled war ensued.
The Red Fort is a breathtaking account of the struggle, with all its cruelties, blunderings and heroic courage. When peace was finally restored, the India we know today began to emerge.