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Pia Vindex: War and Decolonisation - Crete, Indochina, Algeria, Cameroon
Epic historical fiction focused on the German paratrooper (fallschirmjaeger) and legionary, Ulrich Werner, who fights in World War II and French decolonisation conflicts in Indochina, Algeria and Cameroon. In 1967, a torso washes up on the banks of the Mississippi. Flashback to 1950 - a battalion of Legion paratroops flies over the jungle in Indochina. Ulrich recollects. In Hannover 1940, he celebrates Christmas with his medical student girlfriend, Penelope. Clytemnestra, the disloyal wife of his mentor, Agemund Bokholt, sings arias.
Cassandra, the young daughter of the Nazi gauleiter, Joachim Zigethius, hands Ulrich a Roman Ring. Joachim antagonises Saadia Abécassis, an Algerian Jew. Fearful, Abécassis escapes to Indochina. There, he prospers laundering drug money through his tea and rubber estates. In 1941, Ulrich and his comrade, Agemund parachute onto the island of Crete. Ulrich spares a reprobate Greek prelate Hyperion Stefanidis.
As Germany's fortune turns, fallschirmjaeger are despatched to Sicily and Russia. In 1944, as the Eastern Front collapses, Ulrich is wounded and is evacuated to Warsaw by train where the professional soldier strikes up an uneasy friendship with Lacueva Destouches - a fanatical French Nazi volunteer. In the wrecked Fatherland, Joachim murders his nemesis, Agemund, involved in the Valkyrie conspiracy against Hitler.
After convalescence, Ulrich is posted to Normandy, but the Americans capture him and send him across the Atlantic. Meanwhile, as the Reich collapses, Clytemnestra Bockholt is killed during an Allied air raid but her lover, Joachim Zigethius, survives. After the War, his involvement with the secret rocket program shields Joachim from justice. Ulrich joins the Foreign Legion who ship him to Indochina.
To snuff out rebellion, the French deploy paratroops across the colony. The foreign mercenaries, Ulrich, Lacueva, Hyperion and a conflicted Arab, Mezrag el-Mokrani, fight in jungle battles along the Chinese frontier. In 1950, the Vietminh decimate the 1st Legion Parachute Battalion. In a desperate firefight on the banks of the Black River, near Hoa Binh, the Viets mortally wound Lacueva. A female helicopter pilot, Ishtari, evacuates him and, briefly, becomes Ulrich's lover. War drags on in the corrupt oriental French colonies.
In Laos, Cassandra Zigethius - now an anthropologist, rescues Ulrich from vengeful communists. Insurgency spreads to the Central Highlands. The Army orders Ulrich to protect Saadia's tea plantation where he seduces Circe Abécassis. The lovers fly to Saigon but Franchini and the Binh Xuyen mafia murder Saadia. As the situation in Dien Bien Phu deteriorates, Ulrich parachutes into the entrenched jungle camp. Wounded, Ishtari flies him out. The French lose the Pearl of the East.
In 1955, Ulrich disembarks in Algeria but soon becomes disenchanted with the new brutal conflict, fuelled by demographics and unresolved racist inequality. When the French guillotine his Arab friend, el-Mokrani, Ulrich quits the Army and becomes a journalist in America. He is sent to report 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 Zigethius now works with the hill-tribes. Before the communists burn her alive, the anthropologist inadvertently reveals the location of her father, Joachim, to Ulrich who hunts down his enemy. Includes extensive links to detailed notes.
Cassandra, the young daughter of the Nazi gauleiter, Joachim Zigethius, hands Ulrich a Roman Ring. Joachim antagonises Saadia Abécassis, an Algerian Jew. Fearful, Abécassis escapes to Indochina. There, he prospers laundering drug money through his tea and rubber estates. In 1941, Ulrich and his comrade, Agemund parachute onto the island of Crete. Ulrich spares a reprobate Greek prelate Hyperion Stefanidis.
As Germany's fortune turns, fallschirmjaeger are despatched to Sicily and Russia. In 1944, as the Eastern Front collapses, Ulrich is wounded and is evacuated to Warsaw by train where the professional soldier strikes up an uneasy friendship with Lacueva Destouches - a fanatical French Nazi volunteer. In the wrecked Fatherland, Joachim murders his nemesis, Agemund, involved in the Valkyrie conspiracy against Hitler.
After convalescence, Ulrich is posted to Normandy, but the Americans capture him and send him across the Atlantic. Meanwhile, as the Reich collapses, Clytemnestra Bockholt is killed during an Allied air raid but her lover, Joachim Zigethius, survives. After the War, his involvement with the secret rocket program shields Joachim from justice. Ulrich joins the Foreign Legion who ship him to Indochina.
To snuff out rebellion, the French deploy paratroops across the colony. The foreign mercenaries, Ulrich, Lacueva, Hyperion and a conflicted Arab, Mezrag el-Mokrani, fight in jungle battles along the Chinese frontier. In 1950, the Vietminh decimate the 1st Legion Parachute Battalion. In a desperate firefight on the banks of the Black River, near Hoa Binh, the Viets mortally wound Lacueva. A female helicopter pilot, Ishtari, evacuates him and, briefly, becomes Ulrich's lover. War drags on in the corrupt oriental French colonies.
In Laos, Cassandra Zigethius - now an anthropologist, rescues Ulrich from vengeful communists. Insurgency spreads to the Central Highlands. The Army orders Ulrich to protect Saadia's tea plantation where he seduces Circe Abécassis. The lovers fly to Saigon but Franchini and the Binh Xuyen mafia murder Saadia. As the situation in Dien Bien Phu deteriorates, Ulrich parachutes into the entrenched jungle camp. Wounded, Ishtari flies him out. The French lose the Pearl of the East.
In 1955, Ulrich disembarks in Algeria but soon becomes disenchanted with the new brutal conflict, fuelled by demographics and unresolved racist inequality. When the French guillotine his Arab friend, el-Mokrani, Ulrich quits the Army and becomes a journalist in America. He is sent to report 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 Zigethius now works with the hill-tribes. Before the communists burn her alive, the anthropologist inadvertently reveals the location of her father, Joachim, to Ulrich who hunts down his enemy. Includes extensive links to detailed notes.
