Беар Гриллс - The Hunt [=The Devil's Sanctuary]

Chris Daniels and all at Hybrid Air Vehicles, for their unique insight and expertise on all things Airlander, and for pushing the envelope in terms of what is possible with such an airship; to Paul and Anne Sherratt, for such potent insight into Cold War relations immediately following World War Two; to Peter Fawbert, of Shindo Wadokai, for his self-defence and unarmed combat expertise; to Bob Lowndes, of Autism Wessex, for his psychology input.

And a final special thank you to Damien Lewis, trusted friend and author about many UKSF operators. Thank you for helping to build upon what we discovered together in my grandfather’s war chest marked ‘Top Secret’. Bringing those World War Two documents, memorabilia and artefacts to life, in such a modern context, has been the adventure of a lifetime.

This book is inspired by the true life exploits of my grandfather, Brigadier William Edward Harvey Grylls, OBE, 15/19th King’s Royal Hussars and Commanding Officer of Target Force, the covert unit established at Winston Churchill’s behest at the end of World War Two. The unit was one of the most clandestine ever assembled by the War Office, and its mission was to track down and protect secret technologies, weaponry, scientists and high-ranking Nazi officials to serve the West’s cause against the world’s new superpower, the Soviet Union.

No one in our family had any idea of his covert role as Commanding Officer T Force – ‘T’ standing for ‘Target’ – until many years after his death and the release of information under the Official Secrets Act seventy-year rule – a process of discovery that inspired the writing of this book.

My grandfather was a man of few words, but I remember him so fondly from when I was a child. Pipe-smoking, enigmatic, dry-humoured and loved by those he led.

To me, though, he was always just Grandpa Ted.

First published in Great Britain in 2018 by Orion Books

This ebook first published in 2018 by Orion Books

Copyright © Bear Grylls Ventures 2018

The right of Bear Grylls to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All the characters in this book, with the exception of those already in the public domain, are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978 1 4091 5692 5

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