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 The
author is apparently a prolific writer of war adventures and spy stories,
mainly using World War II and later periods for his settings. He warns us
from the start that his novel is a fiction, but the reader with some
general knowledge of the events described may be forgiven for comparing
this yarn with facts. This is not to point out errors but to note with
some amusement how far afield imagination can carry the novelist.
In mid September of 1939 the
hero, Capt. Alexander de Milja, is frantically burning the super secret
files of his Polish counter-intelligence department, specifically Folder
4088 which contains details of the city of Istanbul, the depths of the
Marmara Straits near the Black Sea, and elevations of an odd place called
Uskudar. All this takes place in Warsaw, and he is in a great hurry as
virtually next door German officers occupy Hotel Franconia. They drink
cognac served by, a frightened waiter but, obviously, they are up to no
good. Soon thereafter Col. Vyborg instructs de Milja to immediately line
up an emergency train; it will pretend to be for refugees, while in
reality 100 million dollars worth of gold will be hidden under the floor
of each coach. The slow train leaves punctually for points south, leaving
Warsaw, the grim Savka Fortress, and the Jablonka Bridge behind. The
locomotive engineer is a marvelous technician, and the precious train
runs smoothly via Lwów, eastern Czechoslovakia, Hungarian Uzhgorod,
reaching Romania with all refugees and the gold intact. There are a few
tense moments, but another Polish officer, Capt. Nom de Guerre, saves the
transport. The mission is accomplished, the gold is under way to the
West, but de Milja (the main hero) is bored doing nothing in Bucharest.
Hence he returns to occupied Poland, first encountering the Soviets in the
East and then the Germans in Warsaw. But he is a restless individual: in
January 1940 he steals a small plane for one trip, dropping leaflets on
Polish villages. They tell the unhappy populace that liberation is near.
Signed: the British Air Force, RAF.
From here on we know that our
hero will survive all the subsequent adventures and they will grab your
attention. Here are the main parts of his itinerary: by convenient train
from Warsaw to Gdynia, by boat to Sweden, a flight to France just in time
for the defeat in June 1940. The author is well acquainted with that
country and it is evident that he has little admiration for the French
Army. As expected, de Milja finds himself in various dangerous
predicaments from which he is rescued in daring ways. Soon he is in
England, preparing for an assignment in Eastern Europe. In the summer of
1941, the German invasion against the Soviet Union
begins. For unclear reasons he
parachutes east of the Bug River with the region of Volhynia as his
destination, with pockets full of czarist gold rubles; lots of partisan
activities take place. But soon de Milja heads for Warsaw, and here the
story ends. Perhaps the next volume will tell us more.
If you want to feel free from
the burdens of actual historical facts and let your imagination follow the
fortunes of our hero, then this is a good novel for you. It does not
pretend to be a commentary on the politics of the period; no important
personages are discussed in any, detail. But there are plenty of romantic
adventures.
George Suboczewski
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