β Scribed by Edward Fairfax
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
The Angel Strikes is set in the Napoleonic Wars, but written from the Prussian perspective, from within occupied territory. The Angel Strikes is fast-paced, tense, historical fiction, containing a rich vein of wry humour. The book explores ignored history.
The story immerses the reader in the turmoil suffered under occupation. Paul Brandt (as he will become) guides the reader telling his story honestly. He and two uncles are all that remains of a band of Russian peasants fleeing west from starvation and worse. They must fight their way through lands populated by bandits and highwaymen. They stop for winter in a forest south of Berlin.
You will be involved in English duplicity as Viscount Castlereagh deceives Bonaparte. You will meet Clausewitz, Gneisenau, Scharnhorst, Blucher and von Boyen as they perfect their plans to defeat the French invader following Napoleon's victory at Jena-Auerstedt. You will meet Tsar Alexander I as Napoleon Bonaparte, the Corsican runt to us the Tsar's nickname for him, closes on Russia's Holy city -Moscow, You will meet General Yorck as he juggles his duty to his Prussian King against the survival of the Prussian Auxiliary force conscripted into the French army marching east and into the Russian winter.
Paul Brandt is a survivor fleeing starvation in Russia. With his uncles they take refuge in a forest south of Berlin in 1805. They go to the aid of a coach under attack by robbers, but the passenger dies leaving the promise of a better future in his luggage- if only they could take it! On a winter road they meet Rosina and her mysterious charge Anna. In exchange for shelter Rosina agrees to teach the men how to read. They need to understand the papers in the luggage.
But it was an English coach and the French want it. It hides more papers -papers Paul never found. The English also want it back. What happens when Paul's uncle tries to sell the coach to the French?
The refugees must flee again. They pass the battlefield of Jena-Auerstedt and the legend of The Angel of Jena is born.
'When there is nothing good to speak of there will always be the story of the Angel of Jena- a boy who held his nerve and stood his ground. Wherever he goes, our men will rally.'
Paul Brandt has a great deal more to do. Who is Rosina? What is her mission? Why do they head south to Saalfeld? They must travel further to Rodental before anything starts to make sense.
Even as the grip of the French invader tightens over the German speaking lands the population strives to recover its freedom. The Prussian army reforms and learns new strategies under new leaders. Wellington pushes at Soult in Spain, but by 1812 every road leads to Moscow and Paul and three quarters of a million men must march along it. Bonaparte's army includes half a million French troops, but it is his plan to sacrifice the conscripts from Prussia and Austria in any battle against the Tsar's troops. He is in the midst of half a million deadly enemies. Paul must learn, not just to survive, but to lead if he is to return home where he will face a complex future to say nothing of culpability for grand larceny.
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