Author Archives: kmcauliffe

Soldiers for Hire

Issue Number: 5106

There was no turning back for Joe Lane and Ian Benson. Fugitives from the British Army because of a moment of madness, they fled to Europe. It was 1936, and in Spain a savage civil war was raging. What better way to hide from justice than as hired soldiers in a foreign war? But they […]

Mission of No Return

Issue Number: 5104

Twickenham, Murrayfield or Cardiff Arms Park would have cheered them to the echo for their accurate passing. But it wasn’t a rugger ball the paratroopers passed to each other as they dashed across the German line of fire. It was a deadly bazooka shell – and they weren’t playing just to add a few points […]

The Land Army Marches

Issue Number: 5103

Deafening engines rumbled over a small farmhouse in Norfolk. It was not the hum of a healthy plane, and the listeners below knew a crash landing would be imminent. What they didn’t know, and what they dreaded, was whether the aircraft was theirs… or Jerry’s. But, the next morning, when the four young workers of […]

Strike from the Sea

Issue Number: 5102

Before the war, Lieutenant Steve Pitt had been a fisherman off the east coast of England. The boat-handling skills he had learned then were perfect training for what he was doing now — leading hit-and-run raids from the sea to strike at the southern defences of Nazi-held Europe. But hard and dangerous as his days […]

Viva Villa!

Issue Number: 5101

With nothing but a Colt-Browning machine gun, a Winchester Repeating rifle and a six shooter, the Gomez brothers hardly stood a chance against the advancing Federal Cavalry. But, holed out in an adobe hut, they swore they would defend the villagers of Puebla. They fought for Pancho Villa. They fought for the revolution. They fought […]

Clash of Giants

Issue Number: 5100

The British Cruiser tanks swarmed over the desert. As fine a show of armoured might as ever gladdened an infantry regiment who needed help. But beneath the tank crews’ khaki uniforms beat Nazi hearts with nothing but hate in them. And soon the barrels of British guns would be turning on British troops… Story: Allan Art: Bellalta […]

Into the Wild

Issue Number: 5099

In 1944, a team of Commandos led by Captain Tom Wilson trekked through the dawn-lit Bialowieza Forest in Poland. The forest was quiet, but it felt like they were being watched by a presence in the woods. Their mission was the extraction of a Polish scientist, a specialist in eugenics and a guest of ruthless […]

The Sappers

Issue Number: 5098

We call then the Royal Engineers but they began as the Royal Sappers and Miners. And one of their original jobs was to dig ‘saps’ – dark, dangerous tunnels which stretched far under enemy lines. Pack a picked spot with explosives and bang went a target in a spectacular explosion. They were still practising this […]

Singapore Strike!

Issue Number: 5097

With his scrawny, bony frame, people often underestimated Fred Burton. But when two East London thugs took him for an easy target – they got a nasty surprise in the shape of a punch, kick and wallop from a Chinese sailor experienced in the art of Shaolin Kung Fu. After that, Fred became obsessed with […]