Boarding Party [Large Print] [Hardcover]

James Leasor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1980

Filmed as The Sea Wolves, this is the story of the undercover exploit of a territorial unit. The Germans had a secret transmitter on one of their ships in the neutral harbour of Goa. Its purpose was to guide the U-boats against Allied shipping in the Indian Ocean. There seemed no way for the British to infringe Goa’s Portuguese neutrality by force. But the transmitter had to be silenced. Then it was remembered that 1,400 miles away in Calcutta was a source of possible help. A group of civilian bankers, merchants and solicitors were the remains of an old territorial unit called The Calcutta Light Horse. With a foreword by Earl Mountbatten of Burma.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

ROBERT W. HARRIS has been a freelance writer and designer since 1990. He has written twelve books, including DOS, WordPerfect & Lotus Office Companion and When Good People Write Bad Sentences. His books have been main selections in the Small Computer Book Club and the Book-of-the-Month Club. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Ulverscroft Large Print Books; Lrg edition (June 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0708905021
• ISBN-13: 978-0708905029
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,288,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well written history of a small but important action, July 24, 2011

By 

Colin Povey "cpovey" (Clearwater, FL, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: BOARDING PARTY (Hardcover)

Boarding Party tells the story of a secret British mission during WWII to disable an illegal German transmitter (illegal because the ship the transmitter was aboard was interned in a neutral country) that was sending U-boats exact information about shipping in the Indian Ocean during 1943. The story was good enough that a Hollywood movie was made of the story in 1980, entitled The Sea Wolves.

How destructive was this transmitter? In the 11 days before the attack, German U-boats sank 12 Allied ships in the Indian Ocean, whereas in the rest of the month, they sank only one.

What makes the story especially compelling is that regular soldiers or sailors could not carry out the attack-if they had been captured, the German would have pushed the Portuguese to throw the British out of their harbors and airfields, places essential to the conduct of the war for the allies. Instead, the British relied upon a bunch on business men, bankers, lawyers, accountants, and the like to do the deed, because if they were caught, they could say they did it on their own, without official instructions or knowledge.

I won't give away the rest of the story, about how a party played a crucial role in the attack, and how the prostitutes of the harbor town where the attack took place did their part to win the battle.

An excellent story, well written, and moves at a good pace for a true story.