Lions of the Desert: A True Story of WWII Heroes in North Africa (World War Two Series)

LIONS OF THE DESERT is the true story of the WWII 1941-1942 Desert War in North Africa and Operation Condor, a story that has captivated the minds of authors, historians, and filmmakers for three-quarters of a century. The story is told through the eyes of six legendary historical figures that lived through the epic events: Scottish Colonel David Stirling, leader of the Special Air Service, a brigade of eccentric desert commandos that raided Axis airfields and supply lines; German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, commander of the vaunted Africa Corps, who very nearly succeeded in driving the British out of Egypt; Egyptian Hekmat Fahmy, the famous belly dancer, regarded as a Mata-Hari-like German agent in previous accounts but in fact a far more intriguing and ambiguous character in real life; Major A.W. Sansom, head of the British Field Security unit that hunted down Axis spies and pro-German Egyptian nationalists operating in Cairo; Johannes Eppler, the notorious German spy of Operation Condor whose real story is finally told; and Colonel Bonner Fellers, the U.S. military attaché in Cairo, who was privy to Allied secrets in the North African theater and inadvertently played an important role in intelligence-gathering activities for both sides in the campaign. Winner Readers' Favorite Book Awards Winner Beverly Hills Book Awards Winner National Indie Excellence Book Awards Award-Winning Finalist Foreword Reviews' Book of the Year Award-Winning Finalist American Fiction Best Book Awards LIONS OF THE DESERT is the true story of the WWII 1941-1942 Desert War in North Africa and Operation Condor, a story that has captivated the minds of authors, historians, and filmmakers for three-quarters of a century. The story is told through the eyes of six legendary historical figures that lived through the epic events: Scottish Colonel David Stirling, leader of the Special Air Service, a brigade of eccentric desert commandos that raided Axis airfields and supply lines; German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, commander of the vaunted Africa Corps, who very nearly succeeded in driving the British out of Egypt; Egyptian Hekmat Fahmy, the famous belly dancer, regarded as a Mata-Hari-like German agent in previous accounts but in fact a far more intriguing and ambiguous character in real life; Major A.W. Sansom, head of the British Field Security unit that hunted down Axis spies and pro-German Egyptian nationalists operating in Cairo; Johannes Eppler, the notorious German spy of Operation Condor whose real story is finally told; and Colonel Bonner Fellers, the U.S. military attach in Cairo, who was privy to Allied secrets in the North African theater and inadvertently played an important role in intelligence-gathering activities for both sides in the campaign. "LIONS OF THE DESERT is the true story of the WWII 1941-1942 Desert War in North Africa and Operation Condor, a story that has captivated the minds of authors, historians, and filmmakers for three-quarters of a century. The story is told through the eyes of five legendary historical figures that lived through the epic events: Scottish Colonel David Stirling, leader of the Special Air Service, a brigade of eccentric desert commandos that raided Axis airfields and supply lines; German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, commander of the vaunted Africa Corps, who very nearly succeeded in driving the British out of Egypt; Egyptian Hekmat Fahmy, the famous belly dancer, regarded as a Mata-Hari-like German agent in previous accounts but in fact a far more intriguing and ambiguous character in real life; Major A.W. Sansom, head of the British Field Security unit that hunted down Axis spies and pro-German Egyptian nationalists operating in Cairo; and Johannes Eppler, the notorious German spy of Operation Condor whose real story is finally told. A timeless tale of WWII espionage, romance, and derring-do in the North African desert--based upon what really happened."--Page 4 of cover