Flashman and the Third Reich - Paperback

Victory! Abdication! At last, Flashman gets his own back on the Prince of Wales, now Edward VIII, assisting from cover in his downfall but not before witnessing the Wall Street Crash and the rise to power of the Nazis and their takeover of Germany in 1933. Present at the Reichstag fire, Flashman continues on his merry way weaving in and out of the events that slowly but with ever-increasing pace engulfed the world in the second lethal maelstrom of the 20th century. With his contacts behind the scenes in SIS and with the Deputy Fuhrer, Rudolf Hess, Flashman is caught up in the murky world of peace negotiations, is present for the now Duke of Windsor's infamous tour of Germany in 1937 and the descent to war.Flitting from one side to the other, neither side entirely convinced of his loyalty to anyone bar himself, he takes part in the 'peace group' negotiations before finding himself back in Germany just after the outbreak of war having been shanghaied by one of the many shady organizations in the Third Reich. Rescued by the larger than life Hermann Goering, he encounters Hanna Reitsch, one of Germany's leading pilots before flying in action for the Luftwaffe AND the RAF in the Battle of France.Having escaped via the chaos of Dunkirk, he is back in the air for the Battle of Britain, the perhaps defining moment in British Imperial history and its final last stand when the sun really did finally start going down on the Empire.Battle won, for the moment at least, he finds himself deeply involved with the new head of SIS, Stewart Menzies and his group of high ranking plotters desperately trying to bring peace via the Deputy Fuhrer whose flight to Scotland and subsequent imprisonment causes violent upheaval in the ruling classes, not least the Royal Family. And finally, a Short Sunderland from 228 Squadron departs Scotland and crashes killing, officially, all on board including the King's brother, the Duke of Kent. Who, though, was the extra body?