Seelőwe Nord

Driffield Post http://bit.ly/c1yOEo

Published Date: 03 March 2010

By Mike Brown

A FORMER Yorkshire soldier has published a war novel describing what might have been if German troops had parachuted into Driffield in 1940.

Andy Johnson was born in York and served for 24 years in the Coldstream Guards.

He saw service in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

His new book Seelowe Nord: The Germans Are Coming, is an alternative history of Operation Sealion, the proposed German invasion of Britain in 1940, which sees its 70th anniversary this year.

In the book, the invasion takes place on the Yorkshire coast when the Germans drop paratroopers on RAF Driffield and the town itself and launch a glider-borne assault against the gun batteries on Spurn Head.

The Germans then battle for Driffield along the Bridlington Road, with the town of Driffield and the surrounding villages becoming the scene of heavy fighting over several days.

Andy said: “For the reader who isn’t too fussed about the academic debate over whether Operation Sealion was ever a real possibility but who is keen to understand the sound, smell and feel of battle for the man at the sharp end, this book is an absolute must.”

The book was released at the end of February.