Fitzroy Maclean was one of the real-life inspirations for super-spy James Bond. After adventures in Soviet Russia before the war, Maclean fought with the SAS in North Africa in 1942. There he specialized in hair-raising commando raids behind enemy lines, including the daring and outrageous kidnapping of the German Consul in Axis-controlled Iraq.
Maclean's extraordinary adventures in the Western Desert and later fighting alongside Tito's partisans in Yugoslavia are blistering reading and show just what it took to be the British hero who broke the mould …
Introduction to the Penguin Edition 1
Acknowledgements 7
Part 1 Golden Road
I Internationale 11
II Through The Looking-Glass 18
III Casting About 30
IV Trial Trip 38
V Touch and Go 52
VI Cities of the Plain 65
VII Winter in Moscow 80
VIII Chinese Puzzle 122
IX A Little Further 138
X Bokhara the Noble 145
XI Across the Oxus 155
XII Homeward Bound 168
Part 2 Orient Sand
I Feet on the Gravel 183
II Special Air Service 190
III Outward Bound 199
IV Short Weekend 216
V Back to Benghazi 226
VI Long Trail 242
VII A Passage to Persia 263
VIII New Horizons 275
Part 3 Balkan War
I Inside Europe 303
II Arms and the Man 308
III Orientation 317
IV Alarms and Excursions 342
V Road to the Isles 357
VI Island Interlude 366
VII Back and Forth 378
VIII Outside World 388
IX Turning Point 401
X Back to Bosnia 415
XI New Deal 427
XII Change of Scene 442
XIII Island Base and Brief Encounter 457
XIV Ratweek -I. Plan 470
XV Ratweek - II. Fulfilment 484
XVI Grand Finale 498
XVII Who Goes Home? 515
Index 533
Illustrations
1 The Kremlin 265
2 The Silk Road
3 The Middle East: Sas Patrol
4 Leaving Siva
5 Long-Range Desert Group
6 Tito
7 Bosnia: In the Woods
8 Bosnia: All Round, the Snow Lay Deep
9 Dalmatia
10 Sir Fitzroy with Tito (on left)
11 Bokhara - First Light
Maps
Central Asia 11
The Western Desert 183
Jugoslavia 303
Anonymous
Posted Thu Feb 22 00:00:00 EST 2001
This is, first of all, a straightforward, though sensitively told, military adventure yarn. The inevitable clash of civilizations, the ominous background of the disintegration of the whole world in the flames of an insane war, the colourful local customs, myths, beliefs, habits and myths, the ethos of camraderie and the horror of betrayal and impending torture and worse - are all told captivatingly. As good as any action film and a lot deeper. as an old Balkan hand, I was especially interested in what the author had to tell about Tito and his partisans. You won't find this in history book, I grant you! Sam Vaknin, author of 'After the Rain - How the West Lost the East'.
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Overview
Fitzroy Maclean was one of the real-life inspirations for super-spy James Bond. After adventures in Soviet Russia before the war, Maclean fought with the SAS in North Africa in 1942. There he specialized in hair-raising commando raids behind enemy lines, including the daring and outrageous kidnapping of the German Consul in Axis-controlled Iraq.
Maclean's extraordinary adventures in the Western Desert and later fighting alongside Tito's partisans in Yugoslavia are blistering ...