Pia Vindex

Epic historical fiction with a focus on airborne operations spanning World War II and French decolonisation conflicts in Indochina, Algeria, and Cameroon. Detailed geospatially-referenced notes supplement the text. The first part of the trilogy is set in WWII: Merkur (Crete 1941), Fustian (Sicily 1943), Dnieper-Carpathian (Ukraine 1943-44), Carentan & Brest (Normandy 1944). Part Two is embedded in Indochina where the French deploy paratroops across the colony in a futile attempt to snuff out rebellion. Tonkin actions include Lea (1947), Phu Tong Hoa (1948), Dong Khe & Colonial Route 4 (1950), Nghia Lo (1951), Red River Delta (1951), Hoa Binh (1951-52), Lorraine & NaSan (1952). Laotian engagements involve Sam Neua & Muang Khoua (1953). The narrative shifts to the central highlands - Atlante & Dak Dhoa (1954) then the hell of Dien Bien Phu (1954). The last chapters feature the Algerian War, decolonisation in Cameroon and, finally, the Vietnam War - Ia Drang Valley (1965) & Long Tan (1966) battles.

In 1967, a torso washes up on banks of the Mississippi. Flashback to 1950 - a parachute drop in Indochina. The legionary, Ulrich, heads into battle again and recollects. In Hannover 1940, he celebrates Christmas with his medical student girlfriend, Penelope. Clytemnestra, the disloyal wife of his mentor, Agemund, sings arias. Cassandra, the daughter of the Nazi gauleiter, Zigethius, gives Ulrich a Roman Ring. Zigethius antagonises Weis, an Algerian Jew. Fearful, Weis escapes to Indochina. There, he prospers laundering drug money through his tea and rubber estates. In 1941, Ulrich and Agemund parachute onto the island of Crete. Ulrich then fights in Sicily, Russia, and Normandy. In 1944, Zigethius murders Agemund, involved with the Valkyrie conspiracy. That year, the Americans capture and imprison Ulrich. Clytemnestra dies in an Allied air raid. Her lover, Zigethius, however, escapes justice because of his involvement with the secret rocket program. After the War, Ulrich joins the Foreign Legion who ship him to Indochina. He fights in jungle battles along the Chinese frontier where the Vietminh annihilate the 1st BEP. After a firefight near Hoa Binh, a female helicopter pilot, Ishtari, evacuates the wounded and, briefly, becomes Ulrich's lover. In 1953 in Laos, the anthropologist, Cassandra, rescues Ulrich from vengeful communists. Insurgency spreads to the Central Highlands. Ulrich protects Weis' tea plantation but seduces his daughter, Circe. As the situation in Dien Bien Phu deteriorates, Ulrich parachutes into the entrenched jungle camp. Wounded, Ishtari flies him out. The French lose their oriental colony and, in 1955, Ulrich disembarks in Algeria but soon becomes disenchanted with the brutal conflict, fuelled by racist inequality and shifting demographics. When the French guillotine his Arab friend, Ulrich quits the Army and becomes a journalist. He reports on the independence struggle in Cameroon. Meanwhile in Algeria, Circe joins the reactionary OAS but blows herself up in a bungled terrorist attack. In 1965, Ulrich returns to the Far East to report on Ia Drang and Long Tan battles. In Vietnam, he encounters his former lovers. For a while Ishtari ferries wounded GIs to Penelope - now a trauma surgeon - but the pilot is shot down. Cassandra works with the hilltribes. Before the communists burn her alive, the anthropologist inadvertently reveals the location of her father, Zigethius, to Ulrich who hunts down his enemy.