The Coastal Forces Books
Autumn 1941 and a fierce war rages amid the treacherous waters of the Dover Strait. It is fought by the gun and torpedo boats of Britain’s Coastal Forces: fast, frail vessels that do battle against the best of Germany’s Kriegsmarine. The crews are mainly volunteers; men plucked from civilian life and new to the maelstrom of brutal combat. Each take a different route to meet such a personal challenge and prove every bit as powerful, and vulnerable, as the craft in which they serve.The gripping naval action in Hellfire Corner is set against a backdrop of war-ravaged Dover, a town reeling from the terrors of nightly air raids and daily artillery bombardment.Authentic detail, tense personal dynamics and tales of individual heroism combine to give a rare and compelling insight into a fascinating aspect of World War Two history.
January 1942, and the crew of MGB 194 return from leave to find their gunboat allocated to a different flotilla. And new men have joined; fresh faces who must earn the title of shipmate, while some may not be all they seem… But the action is hotting up off the South Coast of England; all too soon they meet with the enemy in the worst of circumstances while a later secondment involves them in one of the most audacious raids in history. With captivating historical detail, tense naval action and gripping personnel dynamics, Bond gives an insight into British Coastal Forces during WW2; its light, powerful, but ultimately vulnerable craft, and the men that sailed them: the Glory Boys.
1942, and America has entered the war against Germany yet, for those manning the powerful, but vulnerable, gunboats of Britain’s Coastal Forces, victory remains a long way over the horizon. Though faster than most conventional warships, the light wooden craft can be destroyed by a single, well-placed shell. Their nighttime mid-Channel meetings with the German Kriegsmarine are brisk and brutal, with success often measured by whoever stays afloat, although daytime brings a more normal life for their volunteer crews. These are men new to the sea, and new to a world filled with extreme danger and ruthless contrasts. A world where close associations soon form and are quickly relied upon. A world where lives are made, changed and, too often, lost on the savage waters of the Narrow Seas.