From the Author:
Although I have attempted to be as accurate as possible concerning the historical setting of the novel (i.e.) the retreat to the Dniepr and the scorched earth policy enacted by the Wehrmacht, I wouldn't characterize the novel as strictly historical fiction. I began Red Vengeance in 1997 without a clear intention of writing a full blown novel and especially a book that was over 400 pages in length. I had a few ideas in my head that I wanted to get down on paper and wanted to discover where it would lead. I did a lot of research on the topic and the more I did the more I got hooked. World War 2, and especially the manner in which the war was played out in Russia, was apocalyptic in scope. Researching the material would be at times both emotionally and psychologically daunting. The novel is certainly not an 'entertainment' nor do I consider it an adventure; although, for the sake of expediency, it's tagged as such. I'm reminded of something the French author, poet, and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry had written, "War isn't an adventure... it's a disease."
From the Back Cover:
September 1943. The Wehrmacht has instituted a policy of scorched earth in the southern Ukraine as it retreats to the Dnieper River. Entire armies, civilians, even animals are herded west to escape the onslaught of the Soviet Red Army. All but one man, Captain Hans Falkenstein, or "Mad Falkenstein" as he has come to be known, is determined to remain on the barren burning steppe in an effort to complete his singular mission. While the countryside erupts into flames Falkenstein and a ragtag group of panzergrenadiers, assembled from the whirlwind of a losing war, are pressed into service to help the Captain complete his cycle of revenge. Their orders are to hunt down and destroy the T-34 Soviet tank known as Red Vengeance. A front line myth, Red Vengeance is known as an unstoppable beast by the war weary German troops. Its appearance signifies doom for men, machines, and entire armies. Stalingrad, the winter offensives, Kursk, and now this retreat to form a coherent line of defense along the opposite bank of the Dniepr, Red Vengeance appears yet again. For Falkenstein, Red Vengeance is personal. It destroyed his entire patrol and he emerged from the wreckage of that first encounter terribly maimed... in body and mind. He is of the firm conviction that this T-34 is no mere machine but an embodiment of satanic evil. As Falkenstein leads his small vulnerable unit headlong into the abyss, Red Vengeance awaits like a predator, with a gaping, bloody maw.
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