Lieutenant Douglas SAS Series

My holiday fiction reading consisted of Douglas Jackson's series of six novels, which chronicle the exploits of an SAS officer during World War II. There is currently a Kindle deal on Amazon for £1.99. 

This is ideal holiday reading. Each book is relatively short and requires little effort. Old school action fiction is the best description I can give.

Douglas is a tank officer, fighting in the desert war, when he is recruited into the SAS. The first volume starts just before the Battle of El Alamein, with our hero being inducted into the ways of the SAS. He takes part in the typical SAS raids against airfields behind enemy lines. This is Rogue Heroes in print, except that Douglas is a bit more sane. He is also drawn into a relationship with a British nurse who turns out to be a German spy. All very much in The Key to Rebecca territory. The action shifts to Tunisia, where his team targets the German command HQ. There is also a parallel story with a team of German Brandenburgers who clash with Douglas's team in most volumes.

The next volume sees Douglas being landed in Yugoslavia to make contact with Tito. Needless to say, this was my favourite. He arrives just as one of the major German offensives starts against the partisans. Fighting across rivers, over mountains, etc. There are a couple of historical errors here; the worst is placing the Serbian collaborationist government led by Nedic in Croatia!

The third story takes his team into occupied France to destroy a Luftwaffe squadron using glider bombs to attack Allied convoys. Here, he meets the inevitable stunning female SOE agent, and a relationship that continues for the rest of the series.

The fourth story involves attacking a secret nerve gas research establishment near Penamunde. This is where the storyline becomes a bit too far-fetched, but needless to say, our hero pulls it off and even manages to whisk the evil SS scientist away. Only for the Russians to pinch him.

In the fifth book, Douglas is tasked with assassinating Rommel just before D-Day. The basic premise here is fine. However, an SOE operative goes with his team, who not only knows the planned date and landing beaches, but also about the plot to kill Hitler. Even worse, this operative tells Douglas all this. It is just like Overlord security didn't matter a jot!

The final book is a joint SAS/US Ranger operation to destroy a German atomic bomb research site. In this version of history, the Germans are ahead of the Allies and have a bomb and aircraft ready to bomb New York. Needless to say, the parallel Brandenburgers meet up, and all is well. We like a 'good' German ending.

If all this sounds a bit too far-fetched, even for fiction - well, it is. However, if you can put your historical sensitivities to one side while lounging on the beach, then this is fast-paced boys' own adventure writing at its best.  At this price, you can't go far wrong.