Beaches of Blood

In German occupied France, our six Operation Hawkwind heroes are gathering information for their boss in England, Brigadier Wilson, working for Operation Overlord in command of the impending D-Day Invasion. They are: US airman Curtis Olson, RAF pilot Hartley-Penrose, commando sergeant Sam Haines, SOE agent Eric Baker, and French Resistance fighters Claude and Marie-Claire. At the same time, their old friend and German assassin Karl Kruger, is working on Field Marshall Rommel’s staff at his base at Chateau de La Roche-Guyon on the banks of the Seine. Because of their shared dislike of Hitler, Kruger has become Rommel’s confidante. But a suspicious Lieutenant Snyder is giving him a hard time, saying he is investigating his background before joining Rommel’s staff. Kruger is fearful his failed assassination attempt of Hitler will be uncovered. Rommel discusses with his staff the expected invasion of Europe from England, but no one knows where or when.
At the HQ of Operation Overlord at Southwick House outside Portsmouth, American Nazi spy, Cindy Walker, is taking photographs of the invasion plans she stolen. She escapes in a jeep and is chased across the southern coast of England by Brigadier Wilson before she escapes in a speedboat across the Channel. But the Hawkwind heroes have been ordered by Wilson to intercept her. The heroes split up and take a chance on meeting her at different parts of France: on the coast where she is expected to land, in Paris HQ of her spy masters, or at Rommel’s HQ at the chateau.
After numerous attempts to catch her they all focus in on Rommel’s HQ where the spy Walker is trying to convince Rommel’s staff she is a genuine spy with genuine information. With the connivance of Kruger, the Hawkwind heroes confront her outside the HQ and a gun battle ensues between them and Rommel’s barrier guards. She is wounded but her satchel containing the photos of the D-Day plans are not with her. Kruger has them hidden. Gestapo thugs come to take him away to Berlin. The heroes, wounded in the shootout, make a final attempt to retrieve the plans or discover if they have been delivered, during which time they rescue Kruger but the satchel is in Rommel’s hands.
The heroes escape back to Normandy and witness the opening hours of the invasion. At the chateau HQ, Walker dies without being believed she has the plans. Rommel and Kruger destroy them for it better the invasion take place so anti Hitler Germans can hopefully topple him and negotiate an honourable peace deal with the conquering Allies.
The book contains a fascinating authentic overview of the build up to the D-Day Invasion intercut with the action of our Hawkwind heroes.