AUTHOR FAVOURITES: BLACK TRAFFIC by DAVID EDGERLEY GATES

DAVID EDGERLEY GATES writes thrillers, spy stories and ‘noir’ westerns.

He tells me a favourite of his own works is BLACK TRAFFIC, first in a series of ‘Cold War’ books. The setting is 1960s Berlin, where an American and a Russian intelligence operative form an unlikely alliance to solve a couple of murders, whilst delving into the murky world of spies, drug runners and contract killers.

I plundered Wikipedia for the following:

The Berlin Wall was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Constructed by the German Democratic Republic (aka the GDR or East Germany), starting on 13 August 1961, the Wall cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany, including East Berlin.

The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area (later known as the 'death strip') that contained anti-vehicle trenches and other defenses. The Eastern Bloc portrayed the Wall as protecting its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the 'will of the people' in building a socialist state in East Germany.

The West Berlin city government sometimes referred to it as the 'Wall of Shame', a term coined by mayor Willy Brandt in reference to the Wall's restriction on freedom of movement. Along with the border between East and West Germany, it came to symbolize physically the 'Iron Curtain' that separated Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War.

During this period over 100,000 people attempted to escape and over 5,000 people succeeded in escaping over the Wall, with an estimated death toll ranging from 136 to more than 200 in and around Berlin.

Political leaders across the world railed against the division and oppression the wall represented.

On 26 June 1963 U.S. President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin. Speaking before an audience of 450,000 he declared 'Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was … "I am a Roman citizen". Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner!"... All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner!"' (Which does mean ‘I am a Berliner’ despite misinformation to the contrary.)

In a speech at the Brandenburg Gate on 12 June 1987, U. S. President Ronald Reagan challenged Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union, with: ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this Wall!’

Presidents Reagan and Kennedy

Indirectly, Gorbachev complied.

Mikhail Gorbachev

In 1989 a series of revolutions in nearby Eastern Bloc countries—Poland and Hungary in particular—caused a chain reaction in East Germany that ultimately resulted in the demise of the Wall. After several weeks of civil unrest, the East German government announced on 9 November 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin. The Wall was officially opened, therefore it was no longer a wall.

Crowds of East Germans crossed and climbed onto the Wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. Over the next few weeks, euphoric people and souvenir hunters chipped away parts of the Wall. The 'fall of the Berlin Wall' paved the way for German reunification, which formally took place on 3 October 1990.

The Wall falls 1989

Demolition of the wall officially began on 13 June 1990 and finished in 1992.

I thought of movies with a similar 1960s Berlin/ Cold War backcloth to BLACK TRAFFIC, like ‘The Spy who came in from the Cold,’

Richard Burton in ‘The Spy who came in from the Cold (1965)’

Funeral in Berlin,

Michael Caine in ‘Funeral in Berlin (1966)’

and ‘The Quiller Memorandum.’

Senta Berger and George Segal in ‘The Quiller Memorandum (1966)’

I don’t normally put myself in these blogs but I couldn’t resist this: I visited Berlin in 2017. Here are my feet (literally) across the wall, or at least where the wall used to be.

REVIEWS of BLACK TRAFFIC:

‘I like nothing better than a ripping good tale of espionage… David Edgerly Gates delivers in full… He is a master at his craft.’

‘Black Traffic is the BEST Cold War novel I've read in a long time.’

‘A thrilling read.’

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Traffic-David-Edgerley-Gates-ebook/dp/B00BNPY2EG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1510232861&sr=11&keywords=black+traffic+david+edgerley+gates&dpID=41rVeOKyE7L&preST=_SY445_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

AUTHOR FAVOURITES: THE BONE HARVEST by DAVID EDGERLEY GATES

DAVID EDGERLEY GATES writes thrillers, spy stories and ‘noir’ westerns. He tells me a favourite of his own works is THE BONE HARVEST, second in a series of ‘Cold War’ books. He says: ‘I knew going in that THE BONE HARVEST would be about the nuts and bolts - the gear, the manpower, the physical resources – what it takes to mount an actual spy operation.’

During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan American military intelligence op Dix Apodaca tangles with a KGB colonel; also the Afghan resistance, Pakistani security services, drug and gun runners and rivals in the intelligence community, in a shifting landscape of betrayal.

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is not within my area of expertise so I’ve leaned on Wikipedia for the following:

The Soviet–Afghan War lasted from December 1979 to February 1989.

The Afghan government, having secured a treaty in December 1978 that allowed them to call on Soviet forces, repeatedly requested the introduction of troops into Afghanistan in 1979. They wanted them to provide security and to assist in the fight against the mujaheddin rebels. With a deteriorating security situation, large numbers of Soviet troops began to land in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, on December 25th, 1979.

Soviet troops in Afghanistan

Insurgent groups known collectively as the mujahideen, as well as smaller Maoist groups, fought a guerrilla war against the Soviet Army and the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan government, mostly in the rural countryside. The mujahideen groups were backed primarily by the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan, making it a Cold War proxy war.

Mujahideen fighters Afghanistan 1985

Many nations since the time of ALEXANDER THE GREAT have intervened in Afghanistan but have been repeatedly defeated by the tenacity of the defenders and the difficulties of the terrain. The same fate befell the Soviet Union.

A statue of Alexander the Great

The Soviet Army of 1980 was trained and equipped for large scale, conventional warfare in Central Europe against a similar opponent, i.e. it used armoured and motor-rifle formations. This was notably ineffective against small scale guerrilla groups using hit-and-run tactics in the rough terrain of Afghanistan.

The Russians used large-scale offensives against Mujahideen strongholds, such as in the Panjshir Valley, which temporarily cleared those sectors but killed many civilians in addition to enemy combatants. Once the Russians did engage the enemy in force, they failed to hold the ground by withdrawing once their operation was completed. The killing of civilians further alienated the population from the Soviets.

Civilian casualties in the conflict were appalling. Between 562,000 and 2 million civilians were killed and millions of Afghans fled the country as refugees.

The promotion of MIKHAIL GORBACHEV to General Secretary of the Soviet Union in 1985 and his 'new thinking' on foreign and domestic policy was likely an important factor in the Soviets' decision to withdraw.

Mikhail Gorbachev

The first step of the Soviet Union's exit strategy, beginning in 1985, was to transfer the burden of fighting the mujahideen to the Afghan armed forces, with the aim of preparing them to operate without Soviet help. Soviet forces continued withdrawing until the final troop withdrawal on February 15, 1989. This left the government forces alone in the battle against the insurgents, which continued until 1992 when the former Soviet-backed government collapsed.

Officially the Soviet forces lost 14,453 killed whilst Mujahideen losses included 57,000 killed.

The Soviets' failure in the war (which is sometimes described as the Soviet Union’s Vietnam War) is thought to be a contributing factor to the fall of the Soviet Union. 

Movies that feature this conflict include:

‘RAMBO 3’ (1988) with SYLVESTER STALLONE. It originally ended with the statement: ‘This film is dedicated to the brave Mujahideen fighters of Afghanistan.’ 

‘THE BEAST’ (1988) about the crew of a Soviet T-55 tank during this conflict (below.)

The 1987 JAMES BOND movie ‘THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS’ with TIMOTHY DALTON as Bond (below.)

5 Star REVIEW of THE BONE HARVEST: ‘Very enjoyable. Can’t wait for his next book.'

https://www.amazon.com/BONE-HARVEST-BLACK-TRAFFIC-Book-ebook/dp/B018PK1212/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

and https://www.amazon.co.uk/BONE-HARVEST-BLACK-TRAFFIC-Book-ebook/dp/B018PK1212/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=the+bone+harvest+david+edgerley+gates&qid=1563704921&s=gateway&sr=8-3