Zero Hour Trilogy
4 total works 3 total works planned
Well Past Trouble is the last in the Zero Hour trilogy and sees Robbie and his men's endurance, spirit and bond tested to their limits.
March, 1945 - With the Germans in retreat, the Allies begin to look toward the ultimate prize: Berlin. But first they must cross the heavily-defended Rhine into Germany's industrial heartland. In the savage fighting for this crucial gateway, Robbie Stokes and his airborne division must drop into enemy territory and hold off German reinforcements.
Exhausted after fighting through France and the Netherlands it falls to Robbie to lift his company for one final operation and the push into Germany. But despite his experience, nothing he's seen yet can prepare him for what they find as the Germans retreat and their cruelty is revealed.
The end is insight, but Robbie and his men will have to fight every inch of the way.
Written by a retired British soldier, Deep Trouble is the first in a trilogy of novels telling the breathless, vivid story of one young recruit's experience of one of the greatest military invasions ever launched.
6 June 1944 - Somewhere over the Normandy coastline, Robbie Stokes sits in a glider, his Bren resting on the floor between his outstretched legs. The nose lowers and the glider descends rapidly: ten minutes of stomach-churning twists and turns until suddenly the call goes up to 'BRACE'. The belly makes contact with the ground and the first Allied troops tumble out into occupied Europe.
For Robbie Stokes it is the beginning of 72 hours of brutal and relentless conflict: a test of character, a test of nerve, a test of comradeship, of the band of brothers around him. If they fail, then the Allied invasion fails. They must succeed on their longest day.
The operation to Pegasus Bridge is one of the most famous of the Second World War. Taking place six hours before the famous Normandy landings, when six gliders deposited the 2nd Battalion, Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry behind enemy lines with the orders to take and hold the bridges at Bénouville and Ranville.
Part of this work has been previously published under the title, Well Past Trouble.
Double Trouble is the sensational, breathless sequel to Deep Trouble and tells the story of one of the most famous operations of the Second World War: 50,000 airborne troops, nine days of fierce fighting, one bridge too far.
September, 1944 - Just three months after D-Day and the Allied invasion is getting bogged down in France. The commanders need a change of tactics. Cue Operation Market Garden - the largest and most audacious airborne raid of the war.
Fresh from D-Day, Robbie Stokes finds himself drafted into an airborne division and landing in occupied Netherlands. Greeted by a hail of German flak and bullets it quickly becomes clear that the operation is not the surprise it should be. Battle-hardened in Normandy, Robbie finds himself forced to take a leading role as he and his platoon try and break through to Arnhem Bridge.