Channel of Invasion

Overview

Part two in the brilliant Tremayne Tresco trilogy – a fictional account of one of Second World War’s best kept secrets (1943 -1944)

A hidden and brutal war of subterfuge, stealth and deception is being waged along the English Channel and the Brittany coast. British Intelligence has cracked the Enigma Code and Allied forces have, for a short time, inflicted heavy losses on the U-boat Wolf-packs preying on shipping in the English Channel – until now.

Plans are also well advanced for the invasion of Normandy. Richard Tremayne the Flotilla Commander of a clandestine Special Force Naval unit operating from the rugged coastline of the Scilly Isles is once more in the thick of it.

Author Mike Williams again delivers a soul-stirring tale of heroism, courage and sacrifice from the ‘small boat men’ and remembers the men and women who remain unsung, but who gave so much in the protection of our coasts and helped liberate France.

This is the second novel to feature Richard Tremayne (described as a modern day Hornblower or Aubrey for the 1940s) in wartime operations set in the Scillies, the English Channel and Northern France.

Content

Principal characters
The Isles of Scilly
Tresco island
Brittany and the Cotentin Peninsula
0ne: Time to finish what we started…
Two: A new menace in the channel
Three: We’ll out-guile the bastards
Four: Success and disaster
Five: PoW– ‘In the bag’…
Six: Operation nimrod–
hunters hunted
Seven: Some catching up…
Eight: Beach reconnaissance
Nine: Laying some false trails
Ten: The deception spreads
Eleven: Invasion!
Twelve: An account settled
Epilogue
Appendix
Glossary of Naval and Royal Marine terms
Acknowledgements

Reviews

Praises For the Trilogy

Bertram Books Summer Magazine

‘Mike Williams let’s you imagine the dangerous waters and desperate times in which the men and women lived – and sometimes lost – their lives in this thrilling fictional account of true events.’

Homeport magazine

‘….an exciting journey across the black waters of the English Channel.’

Britain at War magazine

‘…. a great read about the operation of the SBS… It is a must for anyone who served in the RN and RM.’

Keith Rayner, Editor of Onward, the newsletter for HMS Fleetwood

‘I like to think of him (Tremayne) as a Richard Sharpe for the Second World War.’

Chris Thomas, Radio Scilly

‘This is a great story, an important one, and is very well told, as it deserves to be.’

Geoffrey Till, Professor Maritime Studies, King’s College London and Director of the Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies

‘…The story of the Scilly Islands flotilla is part of the larger issue of the small boat campaign of the Second World War. Amazingly, this bitter campaign has largely been forgotten, for books and films have tended to focus on the encounters of giants, battleships and aircraft carriers, both in the European and the Pacific theatres, or the major amphibious operations or the endless battle against German U-boats. Perhaps this is because, comparatively, so few people were involved. Or perhaps it because the strategic effects of the Scilly Flotilla in particular on the outcome of the war are harder to gauge since so much of it was shrouded in secrecy, being bound up with the complex and still contentious story of the French resistance. For all these reasons, small boat operations have been a sadly neglected part of our modern naval history. This is a real pity because, as Mike Williams has shown in this ‘factionalised’ account , the deadly doings of the small boat men were just as dramatic, just as heroic and just as absorbing as accounts of much larger campaigns and battles. We owe Mike Williams a great debt for bring this forgotten story alive, especially as he has done so with such grace and humanity and with a meticulous attention to detail that professional historians would envy. This is a great story, an important one, and is very well told, as it deserves to be._’

Geoffrey Till, Professor Maritime Studies, King’s College London and Director of the Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies

‘Tresco played an extraordinary part in the clandestine war against the Nazis. Mike Williams’ own experience with the Special Forces shines through as he skilfully spins an exciting tale around the true story. It is easy to imagine the tension, the bravery and the humour of young men who put their lives on the line to pull off one of the great intelligence coups of the war. A cracking read,’

Richard Barber, author of ‘The Last Piece of England’ and Editor of the Tresco Times

‘…this master of the written word soon has you in his grip. The hero is a modern day Hornblower and very believable at that.’

Sea Breezes magazine

The author

Michael Williams served eight years both full time and as a reservist, first in the Royal Navy [intelligence] as a Russian-speaking intercept operator, then in the Royal Marines [SBS and Commando], ending as a Second-in Command of a combined SBS and Commando RMR unit. He is married to the children’s author Brenda Williams. They live in Wiltshire and regularly go hill-walking and canoeing in the Isles of Scilly.