The failed partisan attack on the Saint-Nazaire submarine pens in the fall of 1941 is pure fiction. However, a courageous and destructive raid by British commandos in the spring of 1942 served as proof that England had not given up the fight. Among many fascinating accounts of this operation is Robert Lyman’s Into the Jaws of Death: The True Story of the Legendary Raid on Saint-Nazaire.
To you who have followed the Ryan Lemmon story from start to finish, I give my most sincere thanks and invite you to watch for future novels.
I must mention again the man whose courage, brilliance and inquisitive spirit inspired these stories. I can well imagine my late father, Leonard Lemon O’Bryon, a briar pipe in his hand and a glass of German pilsner at his side, reliving personal adventures which found reflection years after his parting in the challenges facing Ryan Lemmon.
My gratitude to my brother James E. O’Bryon, who first urged me to write a novel inspired by our father’s journals, and to Roy Leighton Malone III, who encouraged me to expand upon Corridor of Darkness and create the trilogy.
Finally, I am most grateful for the commitment and patience of my wife Dani in the critical editing of the books. Her unyielding efforts to make them as exciting and readable as possible contribute greatly to any positive reception they may find in the eyes of you, the reader.
Patrick W. O’Bryon
Cameron Park, California
Patrick W. O’Bryon travels to Europe as frequently as
possible to research his stories. He shares life’s adventures with his wife and some very demanding cats.
GLOSSARY
Abwehr—German Military Intelligence headed by Admiral Wilhelm Canaris
Arianisation— (Also Aryanisation) Nazi term for expulsion of non-Aryans, primarily Jews, from all aspects of public life
Auberge—Inn
Bahnhof—Rail station
BEF—British Expeditionary Force
Boche(s)—French slang for German occupiers
Cochon—French slang equivalent to “dirty pig”
COI—Coordinator of Information Office, set up by Executive Order in July 1941, the first agency established by “Wild Bill” Donovan to centralize intelligence-gathering activities of the United States in anticipation of entry into the war
Copain—Buddy, pal
Douane—French customs
Fallbeil--Guillotine
Flak—Flugzeugabwehrkanone, anti-aircraft gun
Gasogène—Wood-fired vehicle engine
Gasthaus—Inn or small hotel
Gestapo—Geheime Staatspolizei (Secret State Police), the branch of the Nazi Party Security office tasked with rooting out enemies of the Party, sister organization to the SD headed by Heydrich
Gestapa—Berlin headquarters of the Gestapo located at Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse 8
Heer—German army
KLV—Kinderlandverschickung, a wartime program to bring German children out of harm’s way by sending them to foster homes in the countryside
Kriegsmarine—German Navy
Kripo—Kriminalpolizei, investigative police for non-political crimes, sister branch to the Gestapo
Lebensraum—“Living space,” Nazi justification for aggressive territorial expansion
Luftpost—Air mail
Luftwaffe—German air force
Mischling—Racist Nazi term for anyone of mixed blood
MI6—British Military Intelligence (SIS)
Panzer—Armored tank
Passeur—A person who smuggled people illegally across the Demarcation Line between Occupied and Vichy France
Patrie—French homeland
Rassenschande—Racial shame or defilement caused by sexual relations between Aryans and non-Aryans
Rathaus—City hall, town hall
Schmiss—Facial scar from academic dueling, a badge of courage
SD—Sicherheitsdienst, the Nazi Party Security Service tasked with gathering intelligence, headed by Heydrich and in competition with Canaris’ Abwehr; Gestapo sister organization
SIS—British Secret Intelligence Services (MI6)
SOE—Special Operations, Executive. Covert British wartime organization set up to conduct intelligence-gathering, organize resistance, conduct espionage and sabotage in occupied Europe. See also SIS and MI6
Special War Problems Division— (SWP) Program developed within the US State Department to deal with, among other things, the exchange of nationals trapped behind battle lines
SS—Schutzstaffel (Protection Squadron), elite military unit of the Nazi Party (See also Waffen-SS)
Tirpitzufer—Berlin headquarters of Canaris’ Abwehr
Waffen-SS—Armed wing of the SS
WC—Wasserklosett, water closet or toilet
Wehrmacht—“Defense Force,” the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany consisting of the Heer (Army), the Kriegsmarine (Navy) and the Luftwaffe (Air Force)
Widerstand—German resistance to Nazism
Synopsis of the conclusion of
BEACON OF VENGEANCE, A Novel of Nazi Germany
“Eyes Only” for those who have already read
Beacon of Vengeance
Determined to put an end to his long-time nemesis, Ryan Lemmon forces a cyanide “kill-pill” into the mouth of Horst von Kredow. Ryan’s French resistance comrades confine the bodies of the Gestapo sadist and his thugs to military crates bound for the Eastern Front.
After a bloody gun battle at a Nantes warehouse, the partisans regroup at a doctor’s house on the Loire River. The friends intend to go separate ways. Erika and René Gesslinger will head east with their partisan group to sabotage the German U-boat pens at Saint-Nazaire. But first they must help troubled Nicole rescue her infant daughter from von Kredow’s hostage house.
Ryan returns to Paris with intelligence of strategic value to the Allied Forces and America’s Coordinator of Information Office. However, his personal focus is to reunite at last with a beautiful woman who has loved him for years, cabaret owner Marita Lesney.
Unknown to Ryan, Marita has incurred the wrath of a powerful Nazi by undermining the lucrative extortion racket run by his partner, a malicious Parisian gangster. A Gestapo team is heading to her nightclub to guarantee she pays with her life.
Fulcrum of Malice Page 33
