Private Army

Raiding Forces, Volume 8

By: Phil Ward

Narrated by: Miles Meili, Shauna MacDonald

Raiding Forces is undergoing a major reorganization to be better able to carry out small scale raids against Rommel’s only hard topped road, the Via Balbia. It runs along the coast from Tripoli to Tobruk. The plan is for Raiding Forces to be able to strike from the desert out of the Great Sand Sea with gun jeeps and from the Mediterranean using amphibious DUKW’s.

While this is taking place, the unit is alerted for the invasion of Persia. US Army personnel who have resigned from the army in order to volunteer for the Middle East contingent of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) arrive and are integrated into the unit.

©2015 Phil Ward (P)2020 Phil Ward

Fun story

Mr Ward has an interesting way to describe the importance of attacking Lines of Communications. I would give 5 stats across the board but his drum rolls get under my skin. I'm looking forward to the next book.

NUMBER 8

This is the eighth in the series which tells you I have not found anything so far to discourage me, but I must admit that I am now beginning to sneer when I hear the same descriptive passages for the hundredth time - for example, 'he landed using the PLF (parachute landing fall) 5 points of contact on landing, etc" or another sexy and beautiful woman somehow adds herself to the hero's entourage and therefore needs to be described and featured in what are becoming very repetitive dialogue exchanges. Happily the end-of-chapter snare drum rolls have now been dropped from the production, something that should have happened on the first recording...but now strangely I miss them after having loathed them for seven installments. Then we have the female narrator who has always sounded as if she was phoning in her contribution from a callbox (literally) and keeps shifting characterisations none of which sound sexy or alluring or even likeable. Finally the similarity between these novels and those by WEB Griffin is no longer remarkable but very obviously intentional: it seems that Phil must have enjoyed WEB and then thought to himself 'why not do these from a British view point using British theatres of war but keeping the American hero in the foreground?'
All of the above griping might make one wonder why I am on number 8 - - well, because the semi-fictional stories and fast paced scene changes have kept me enjoying the novels so much that I usually download the next one while midway thru the last one.
Pause here while I download number 9...