Overview

James Leasor first heard of The Unknown Warrior's unique assignment from Major General Sir Leslie Hollis, KCB, KBE, Senior Military Assistant Secretary to the War Cabinet and Chiefs of Staff Committee. Some years later, when more had been made public about the immense secret contribution to victory of these deception plans, Sir Ronald Wingate, Bt., CB, CMG, CIE, OBE, recalled this episode, in which he had played such an important part. At that time, James Leasor was working on Green Beach, which described an incident in the 1942 Dieppe landing, when another volunteer, Flight-Sergeant Jack Nissen, a radar expert in the RAF, accompanied the Canadians to assess a new German radar station at Pourville. Because of Nissen's knowledge of Allied radar, orders were given that if capture seemed likely he was to be killed by his escort of 12 soldiers. Lord Mountbatten was horrified at these orders. He remarked that there had been no need whatever to put radar secret at risk when members of X-Troop were trained for such tasks. He suggested that James Leasor should write a book based on the experiences of these men. The Unknown Warrior is the true story of one of these men and his amazing part in the deception plans to persuade the Germans that the invasion would happen near Calais and not in Normandy and thus ensure that they did not commit their reserves until too late. Born to a humble German background, with a Jewish father and Catholic mother, he was brought up as English due to a mix-up when he was very small. Not really sure of his real name or nationality he is initially interned by the British but enlists for service and ends up in X-Troop. He volunteers for an unknown secret mission which sees him dropped in France, pursued by both the Resistance and the Germans, briefing first Rommel and then Hitler in a role that saved perhaps thousands of lives.

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9781908291042

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James Leasor was one of the bestselling British authors of the second half of the 20th Century. He wrote over 50 books including a rich variety of thrillers, historical novels and biographies. His works included the critically acclaimed The Red Fort, the story of the Indian Mutiny of 1957, The Marine from Mandalay, Boarding Party (made into the film The Sea Wolves starring Gregory Peck, David Niven and Roger Moore), The Plague and the Fire, and The One that Got Away (made into a film starring Hardy Kruger). He also wrote Passport to Oblivion (which sold over 4 million copies around the World and was filmed as Where the Spies Are, starring David Niven), the first of nine novels featuring Dr Jason Love, a Somerset GP called to aid Her Majesty's Secret Service in foreign countries, and another bestselling series about the Far Eastern merchant Robert Gunn in the 19th century. There were also sagas set in Africa and Asia, written under the pseudonym Andrew MacAllan, and tales narrated by an unnamed vintage car dealer in Belgravia.

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