John, congratulations on the new book, In For The Kill. Sergeant Harris returns after Target Arnhem. What has happened between the two books?
Thank you, Ollie. In For The Kill the third book in the Manner of Men series, begins just over a week after the conclusion of Target Arnhem. Sergeant Sean Harris and the survivors of the Arnhem mission are now safely back in England having successfully retrieved plans of a secret Nazi facility in Northern Holland, producing a new synthetic fuel for the German V2 rockets. With time being of the essence, their leave is cancelled and the men are to be dropped back into action to destroy the site.
Harris is a member of the airborne forces – is he based on a figure from Arnhem?
Harris is not based on any one soldier from Arnhem. He is pretty much an amalgamation of many. He is a tough, no-nonsense sergeant who expects his orders to be adhered to without question, but, at the same time, has a close affinity towards his men.
Like other characters in the book, he is fairly nuanced. Not all is as it seems with Harris. After five years of war, he has his demons, some of which surface from time to time. But it is his sense of responsibility to the men under his command that drives him on to complete the mission, and get all of them out alive. He is personally affected when any are killed or wounded. There is maybe a touch of ‘Paddy’ Mayne of the Special Air Service about him in that respect.
The 1st Airborne Division was decimated by Market Garden. Was it a challenge to base the story around the chaos and vicious fighting at Arnhem?
It was, particularly for Target Arnhem. As you say, the fighting at both the Arnhem bridge and Oosterbeek was particularly brutal, with both groups cut off from each other and pretty much fighting two separate battles where they were encircled by much larger and better equipped German forces. I wanted to do full justice to those men who fought so valiantly, and I hope that I have conveyed the horror and madness of what it must have been like to be involved in combat like that. I researched the battle very closely and read first hand accounts of soldiers who took part before starting the book. I hope it comes across as I intended.
What’s the mission for the novel?
With the new synthetic fuel about to be despatched to the V2 sites, Harris is sent back into Holland with his men to destroy the site and all the fuel stocks. The site also has a research facility in an underground complex, and so it requires ‘boots on the ground’ to ensure its destruction. To replace those men who did not make it out of Arnhem, three new characters are introduced to the team; an SOE officer, an SAS explosives expert and a special forces radio operator. There are also some recurring characters from the previous two books.
The group are to link up with the Dutch Resistance, who provide them with extra men and a place to hide out in the lead up to the mission. Once completed, they have orders to head back down to Arnhem to where a group of British soldiers are hiding in nearby woods. These were soldiers (evaders, escaped POWs and wounded) who had been left on the north side of the Lower Rhine after the evacuation of 25 September 1944. They were successfully brought back across the river under the codename Operation Pegasus in late October.
There is a sinister Gestapo officer involved – can you tell us about him?
Heini Böhmer was interesting to write and develop. He is a Standartenführer – a Colonel. Rather than be a stereotypical Nazi, Böhmer has something of a complex backstory. He has done well in the Gestapo and, up until very recently, was one of Heinrich Müller’s most trusted officers (Müller being the real head of the Gestapo at the time). Böhmer is tasked to go to the site and take charge of security, as the Germans are aware the British now have the plans and may be preparing an attack. Böhmer is war-weary and does not believe the Germans can now win the war. He is also suspected by Müller of having some involvement with the 20 July Plot to kill Adolf Hitler. With this in mind, Müller despatches another Gestapo officer, Wolfgang Beck, to accompany Böhmer, whose real mission is to spy on him.
As a former member of the RAF, can you tell us about their role in Market Garden?
This is true, many years ago I served with the RAF (for seven years). I have very fond memories of my service and am still very much interested in the RAF’s history. Their involvement in Market Garden was significant. Flying mainly from RAF Down Ampney in the Cotswolds, not only were they tasked with dropping 10,000 paratroopers into theatre, they also flew resupply sorties, under very heavy anti-aircraft fire. In one particular incident, a Dakota, piloted by Flight Lieutenant David Lord, was on a resupply mission to Oosterbeek. After coming under heavy anti-aircraft fire, the plane was badly damaged, meaning the dispatchers couldn’t release the canisters. Despite the heavy fire, and knowing how desperate the men on the ground were, Lord circled the aircraft around and went back in, to ensure the supplies were dropped. Unfortunately after dropping the canisters, the plane was shot down. He was posthumously awarded a Victoria Cross for the action.
XXX Corps were the ‘cavalry riding to the rescue’ in the words of General Horrocks, the commander. How desperate are the airborne troops in the story?
In Target Arnhem, things get very desperate indeed. Unable to get their charges across the river, Harris and his men are caught up in the bitter fighting at Oosterbeek, as they wait for the XXX Corps to relieve them. As time passes, and the fighting becomes one simply to survive, they get increasingly frustrated, until they come to understand that the tanks are not going to arrive before they’ll be decimated. Unfortunately, for the 1st Airborne, the cavalry did not ride to the rescue, despite their best efforts, and so the paratroopers were forced to abandon their positions and evacuate back across the river.
Will Sgt Harris return in another story?
Originally the Manner of Men series was going to be a trilogy, covering D-Day and Operation Market Garden. However, during the writing process for the three completed books, I felt there was scope to develop the characters further with more books. I really enjoy writing these novels, they are fun to do, and the characters have almost become like ‘friends’ to me. So I don’t want to abandon them just yet.
In fact, I have basic plot lines already drafted for a further seven books in the series. These would cover, among others, such topics as the Battle of the Bulge, Operation Varsity and Dunkirk, going back to the Harris’s origins and recruitment to the airborne forces. The trouble is that with my other writing and research commitments, it’s all about finding the time. But I fully intend to carry on with the series beyond In For The Kill at some point in the future.
John McKay is the author of In For The Kill, the newest release in The Manner of Men series, published by Sharpe Books.
