Showing results by author "W. E. B. Griffin" in All Categories

They were the professionals, the men who had been toughened by combat in the mine-laden fields of Europe, in Korea, in Greece, in Indochina. Now, in the twilight of a dying decade, they must return to the United States to forge a new type of American soldier - one to be tested on the beaches of Cuba and in a new war yet to come....

It is April 1943, and Marine aviator Cletus Frade, Army demolition's wizard Anthony Pelosi, and communications expert David Ettinger are thrust again into the lethal nest of intrigue that is wartime Buenos Aires. A clandestine German vessel sets sail to resupply submarines in the South Atlantic...as a massive shipment of money earmarked for postwar Reich makes its way to South America...and a coup designed to topple the government reaches critical mass. In the midst of it all, the German-ordered assassination of Cletus Frade's father demands only one response: revenge.

From Shanghai to Wake Island, the Corps was America’s first line of defense as the winds of war exploded into the devastating surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. This is the story of the men of the Marine Corps, their loves and loyalties, an elite fraternity united by courage and honor, as they steel themselves for battle, prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice....

Desperate to find someone to unite the battling interests of General Douglas MacArthur, Admiral Chester Nimitz, and OSS Chief "Wild Bill" Donovan, President Franklin D. Roosevelt puts Fleming Pickering in charge of the OSS’s Pacific operations. Immediately, two urgent missions fall into his lap: to contact and rescue a band of former American servicemen and their dependents on the run from the Japanese in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia; and at the same time, to set up a weather station in the Gobi to help direct planned aerial attacks against Japan.

Two armed men board a 727 that has been all but forgotten at an airfield in Angola. Hijacking the jet, they then slit the throat of the lone crew and fly to parts unknown. The consternation is immediate, as the CIA, FBI, and other agencies race to find out what happened, in the process elbowing one another in the sides a little too vigorously. Fed up, the president of the United States turns to an outside investigator to determine the truth.

A political assasin is ready to make his move. The police department's only clue is a single, perfectly typed bomb threat. And worse yet, the police aren't sure they can trust their own people. In a few short days, the corruption of one cop - and the madness of an assasin - could blow the whole city sky high...

In November 1964, Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara went to the Congo with two hundred men, intent on making it his first step in taking over Africa and South America. He failed, thanks in large part to the efforts of an intrepid band of Green Berets. Licking his wounds, he retreated to Cuba to recruit more men and try the same thing in Bolivia. He failed there, too. In fact, he died there, and thus, despite his incompetence, became a glorious martyr to the cause. But who was trying to kill him, really - and who was trying to keep him alive?

While the bloody battle for control of the Solomons rages on, two Marines are trapped at a Coastwatcher station on tiny Buka Island. They are there to report on Japanese air activity, and their position is becoming increasingly perilous, even while their supplies are diminishing rapidly; if they are not rescued soon, they may never make it off the island.

Two brutal murders and millions of missing dollars in the growing UN/Iraq oil-for-food scandal have led Castillo and his team to an estancia in Uruguay, where the man they seek is murdered right before their eyes. Who is responsible? Most likely, the people higher up in the dirty-money chain - those willing to risk anything to keep their secrets from being revealed.

Charlie Castillo's secret unit has been disbanded - but that doesn't mean he's out of business. As experience has painfully shown him, there are many things the intelligence community can't do, won't do, or doesn't do well, and he has the men and assets to help set things straight.

As the Congo erupts in violent rebellion in 1964, old faces and new find themselves swept into a maelstrom of danger as the United States becomes more and more deeply involved. Husbands and wives, generals, colonels, and cocksure privates find that there is now not only a new breed of soldier, but a new breed of war - sudden, savage, played by no rules ever known before. To learn it, the men of the brotherhood must risk everything, but when the summons comes, they are ready to answer the call....

October 1945: The Germans and Japanese have surrendered. For Cletus Frade and his colleagues in the OSS, it should be time to pack up - but they have far more important things to do. Chief among them is the protection of their assets, especially the human ones. In the closing months of the war, the United States made a secret deal with the head of German intelligence’s Soviet section. In exchange for a treasure trove of intelligence - in particular the identity of the Soviet spies in the U.S. atomic bomb program - his people would be spirited to safety in Argentina.

They were the chosen ones - and the ones who chose to be the best. Never before had the United States given so select a group of fighting men such punishing preparation. Now they were heading for their ultimate test of skill and nerve and sacrifice, in a war unlike any they or their country had ever fought before, in a land that most of America still knew nothing about - Vietnam...

"From the devastating surprise attack on Pearl Harbor to America’s first bold counterstrike against the Japanese on the beaches of Guadalcanal, this compelling story takes you to the front lines of victory and defeat - and into the very heart of courage, loyalty, and valor. It is a heroic story of pride and passion you will never forget.... Griffin’s books are distinguished by their high action and suspense, his dashing irreverence toward high command, and his clear picture of war and its wartime leaders.” (The Florida Times-Union)

It's 1942. A Marine aviator, an Army paratrooper and demolitions expert, and a non-com radio man are on an impossible mission for the OSS - sabotaging the resupply of German ships and submarines - by any means necessary!

The story of one of the bloodiest conflicts of the Pacific, the epic struggle for Guadalcanal. Daredevil pilot Charles Galloway learns the hard way to command a fighter squadron. Lieutenant Joe Howard teams up with the Coastwatchers. Jack 'No Middle Initial' Stecker leads his infantry battalion into the thickest of the fighting, at a terrible price. And Navy Captain Pickering grabs a helmet and a rifle to join the ranks at Guadalcanal....

As Japanese forces close in for an all-out effort to recapture Guadalcanal from the American forces occupying the island, many fates converge and intertwine. First Lieutenant William Dunn, 21 years old but already one of the only two pilots remaining from his fighter squadron’s original 16, must learn what it is like to lead men - and to lose them. Hot-tempered Sergeant Thomas McCoy finds he has a hero’s welcome waiting stateside - if he can avoid a court-martial first. On a bloody island, Major Jake Dillon discovers just how much combat is involved in a combat correspondent’s life.

Dien Bien Phu. Saigon. Hanoi. In 1954, they were only exotic names from a French campaign halfway around the world. But now American fighting men - proven on the bloody beaches of Normandy and in the minefields of Korea - are summoned to help beat back the guerilla forces of Ho Chi Minh. To some, the “secret” war in Indochina was the depth of folly. To others, like the majors, it pointed to the heights of glory.

At a Mexican roadblock, a U.S. Embassy SUV is stopped at gunpoint, three of its passengers murdered, and a fourth kidnapped. Everything points to the drug cartels, especially when the kidnappers say they will return the hostage if a cartel kingpin is released from U.S. federal prison.But when word gets to Charley Castillo and his group of “retired” spies and special operators, they have their doubts.

It is the fall of 1950. The Marines have made a pivotal breakthrough at Inchon, but a roller coaster awaits them. The bit in his teeth, Douglas MacArthur is intent on surging across the 38th parallel toward the Yalu River, where he is certain no Chinese are waiting for him, while Major Ken McCoy, operating undercover, hears a different story entirely, and is just as intent on nailing down the truth before it is too late.