Book Dedication
‘Opening Moves’ is dedicated to a man who exhibited the very highest level of courage and bravery under fire in one of the truly exceptional stories of World War Two.
I cannot begin to comprehend the metal of a man who exposes himself to enemy fire holding nothing more than a set of bagpipes. So to you, Piper Bill Millin, my humble admiration and thanks for your service. May you rest as peacefully as your love of the Pipes will permit.
Although I never served in the Armed forces, I wore a uniform with pride and carry my own long term injuries from the demands of my service. My admiration for our young servicemen and women serving in all our names in dangerous areas throughout the world is limitless.
As a result, ‘Help for Heroes’ is a charity that is extremely close to my heart. My fictitious characters carry no real-life heartache with them, whereas every news bulletin from the military stations abroad brings a terrible reality with its own impact, angst and personal challenges for those who wear our country’s uniform.
Therefore, I make regular donations to ‘Help for Heroes’ and would encourage you to do so too.
The Foreword
This is a work about men and their capacity to endure. I hope it is balanced and even, just telling how it was for the soldiers of both sides that fought and died in those troubled times. The references, evidences, and memories that I have been able to consult have been strangely both starkly detailed and sketchy in equal measure, possibly because the mind can be very selective when it wishes to be.
So I have tried as best I can to tie in personal contributions with the general military and political facts we all now accept. I admit that I have tried to tell little of the politics, save those details that I have considered essential and concentrated upon using the personal details and evidence to weave the story of those awful times in a way that best shows the reader what incredible men all our grandfathers were.
It is a fact that bravery knows no national boundaries and that the other side always have their honourable and courageous men too. I hope that I have reflected that and done due honour to all those about whom I have written here.
My prime interest has always been the World Wars, probably because I grew up with their first-hand effects upon my family. The Great War laid my family low, my great-grandfather’s three brothers, and two cousins, permanently entrusted to the soil of France, from where none returned; there were no tales of heroism or of horror brought home from the front in the Great War.
Whereas, for the conflicts of 1939-1945 and 1945-1947 stories abounded, tales of great-uncles and family friends who perished in the sands of North Africa, fought in the waters of the North Atlantic, were enslaved as prisoners in the jungles of Burma or who died violently on the farmlands of Germany. I would polish an array of medals for Granddad on the occasions he ventured out for reunions and events, and I often listened to the conversations of old men around tables on a warm summer’s eve, when stories of those times came alive in their words.
I always wanted to write something; not just something to satisfy my own desire for the immortality of a writer, but something that would pay tribute to the good and brave of all sides who fought and died in those difficult years.
I suppose I was destined to write this particular book. By accident, happenstance or coincidence I came into possession of the knowledge to construct this account, varying from the writings of participants, through official documentation that I hunted out onto personal interviews with surviving combatants or their families.
Synchronicity took over, that turn of events that make that of which you mused possible if not likely, and Madame Fate started to weave her web over me, delivering into my possession the means to do something really special.
The first set of memoirs that came into my hands were those of SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Rolf Uhlmann, formerly of the 5th SS Panzer Division “Wiking” and whose exploits in the conflict are now the stuff of legend. A hand written personal journal of his war that was never published was offered to me to consult by the woman into whose hands it had been entrusted, on her explicit understanding that I would faithfully reflect its contents. This I now do Krystal, in tribute to both of your men, so lie easy in your eternal rest.
It was my privilege to meet with the family of the legendary SS-Standartenfuhrer Ernst-August Knocke, who were able to furnish me with private papers and anecdotes as told them by their husband and father. It was they who secured me an introduction to a secretive and proud group of men who were vilified in the days after the German surrender, despite the sacrifices they made in the name of their country. To all of you my thanks, but especially to Anne-Marie, his wife, and a woman I greatly admire.
On my first trip to Russia, an official research visit to some of Russia’s Military museums, I was approached in my hotel by an old gentleman who knew surprisingly much of my purpose. He offered to loan me an unpublished document written partially by Colonel [Polkovnik] of Tank Troops Arkady Yarishlov, referring to his role in the Great Patriotic War from 1941 through to its bloody end when it was entrusted to one of his comrades. That comrade then gave me the responsibility to use it wisely and ensure its main author received the laurels he truly deserved. I hope that I have done so and honoured a brave man. To Stefan, who completed the writings, translated them, and filled in missing information, I thank you for seeking me out and entrusting me with those precious documents and the story of a true soldier.
Gaining access to the fourth set, namely the soon to be published memoirs of Vladimir Stelmakh, was more bizarre. A shared moment with an old man looking at a famous battle-damaged tank in the Kubinka Museum led to an enduring friendship and access to the kind of intimate information historians can normally only dream about, particularly your intermediary work with the family of one of the Soviet Union’s greatest General’s and heroes and the incredible documents they permitted me sight of. Without your direct support for my cause, much of the important events in Moscow during September 1947, one of the most remarkable elements of the history of World War Three, would never have been fully known. Thank you my friend.
The fifth set I had access to all the time but never knew it. My grandfather, Major John Ramsey, was something of an amateur writer and left many papers relating to his wartime exploits, typically penned in a self-effacing fashion as befitted the modest man he was. My grandmother casually told me of their existence over Roast Pork one Sunday, shortly after I returned from my trip to Russia. It never occurred to her to offer them beforehand and never occurred to me that such things existed. Of his actions, we British know much already. Thank you Nan. If only I had been old enough to understand the nature of the medals I diligently polished!
Last but one are the papers and letters of General de Division Christophe Lavalle, soldier of France and officer of the Légion Étrangère, who escaped the conquest of his country and found ever-lasting glory at Bir Hakeim and beyond with his beloved legionnaires. It was his relatives who were able to smooth my way into the records of the Légion Étrangère, without which access much of this story could not have been properly told.
Lastly, came the documents of and recorded interviews with Brigadier-General Marion J. Crisp, US Paratroops, who carried his carbine from D-Day to the final battle and upon whom fell a terrible responsibility in those last bloody days.
The intertwining of their war is remarkable and will be revealed as the text progresses.
I was able to piece together the last mission of Flight Sergeant Andrew McKenzie VC from enemy accounts and squadron records only, but what he achieved is well known today and I have just added a little meat to the bones of what this bravest of men did one hazy summer’s day. I am proud that my research was able to ensure that his incredible bravery and self-sacrifice was finally rewarded.