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The Common Smith VC Adventures book cover 1
The Common Smith VC Adventures book cover 2
The Common Smith VC Adventures
Series · 2 books · 1993-1996

Books in series

The Baltic Run book cover
#1

The Baltic Run

1993

From the carnage of war a new hero is born.1920. The slaughter of World War One is over, but already secret little wars are breaking out all over 'New Europe'. Sub-Lieutenant de Vere Smith VC, at twenty the youngest Victoria Cross holder in the British Empire, is asked by the head of the Secret Service to help convoy arms to the Poles, under threat from Russia and Germany. Jumping at the chance, Smith refits his old patrol boat, Swordfish and sets off for the Baltic. But enemy agents are everywhere, determined to stop Swordfish before its mission can even begin... The first thrilling adventure in the Common Smith VC series, full of subterfuge and daring, from a master of the action novel.
Death Trap book cover
#5

Death Trap

1996

Common Smith is in a race against time to retrieve sensitive British intelligence before it falls into enemy handsYugoslavia, Winter 1924. The British official courier plane from Cairo to Gibraltar has been forced down in the mountains off the Yugoslavian coast by snow. The plane was on its way to London bearing vital documents about Moscow's plans for the Balkans, including an uprising in Yugoslavia. It is vital that no one finds these plans, including the Royal Yugoslavian Secret Police, for they too have communist sympathisers in their ranks.Now, in a race against time, Common Smith and the crew of the Swordfish must sail to the island of Vis, then up the River Dvar and smuggle themselves into the snow-bound mountains. Their recover the British airmen and the sensitive documents they were carrying.But the elements and Yugoslavian Secret Police are not the only forces Common Smith is contending with. A mysterious Communist leader is hiding out in these mountains with his men, and they know about the crash too...A gripping, edge-of-your-seat race against time from one of the masters of military adventure fiction.

Author

Charles Whiting
Charles Whiting
Author · 51 books

Charles Whiting was a British writer and military historian and with some 350 books of fiction and non-fiction to his credit, under his own name and a variety of pseudonyms including Ian Harding, Duncan Harding, K.N. Kostov, John Kerrigan, Klaus Konrad, and Leo Kessler. Born in the Bootham area of York, England, he was a pupil at the prestigious Nunthorpe Grammar School, leaving at the age of 16 to join the British Army by lying about his age. Keen to be in on the wartime action, Whiting was attached to the 52nd Reconnaissance Regiment and by the age of 18 saw duty as a sergeant in France, Holland, Belgium and Germany in the latter stages of World War II. While still a soldier, he observed conflicts between the highest-ranking British and American generals which he would write about extensively in later years. After the war, he stayed on in Germany completing his A-levels via correspondence course and teaching English before being enrolled at Leeds University reading History and German Language. As an undergraduate he was afforded opportunities for study at several European universities and, after gaining his degree, would go on to become an assistant professor of history. Elsewhere, Whiting held a variety of jobs which included working as a translator for a German chemical factory and spells as a publicist, a correspondent for The Times and feature writer for such diverse magazines as International Review of Linguistics, Soldier and Playboy. His first novel was written while still an undergraduate, was published in 1954 and by 1958 had been followed by three wartime thrillers. Between 1960 and 2007 Charles went on to write over 350 titles, including 70 non-fiction titles covering varied topics from the Nazi intelligence service to British Regiments during World War II. One of his publishers, Easingwold-based Rupert Smith of GH Smith & Son said he was a quiet man and prolific writer. "He's one of a band of forgotten authors because he sold millions of copies and still, up to his death was doing publishing deals.He was the kind of man who was very self-effacing, one of Britain's forgotten authors, still working at 80 years of age, with his nose down and kicking out books." Charles Henry Whiting, author and military historian died on July 24 2007, leaving his wife and son.

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