GIMLET GOES AGAIN
First Published in November 1944 - 185 pages
A short two page introduction
sums up the story from 'King
of the Commandos' and we then
jump (quite literally) straight into the story as Gimlet and Cub parachute back
into France. Meeting up with the "Fleas" again and their leader, the
Fox, they are shown the body of a dead Frenchman. This man was Jacques Catron
and he was a member of the French Underground. He was supposed to meet a
contact at the Restaurant des Voyageurs but he was shot and wounded by
the Germans before he could do so and later he died. The Fox has found out that
the Nazis plan to replace Jacques with a spy. If a spy infiltrates the French
Underground, many lives will be lost. Gimlet dresses in the dead man's clothes
and goes to the rendezvous in the place of Jacques. Jacques did not know the
man he was supposed to meet and the man did not know Jacques. At the restaurant,
a German Unteroffizier arrests Gimlet and it turns out that this man is the
contact. Cub sees a man with a pale face and it is this man who is the spy
posing as Jacques. The "German" is in reality an Englishman known as
"Numero Neuf" (number nine) and he was expecting vital information
from Jacques. Trapper arrives with the Fox having been fetched from where he
was manning boats for the commandos' escape. Numero asks Gimlet and Cub to go
to Paris to find out the information that Jacques had been sent with. Numero
knows an address where they can go to contact the French Underground. On the
train to Paris our two heroes are arrested by the Gestapo but freed by a member
of the French Underground. In Paris, Gimlet goes to the address given, but the
Gestapo have arrested everybody and laid a trap for anyone that comes along.
Gimlet is captured but Cub, who waited nearby, is alerted to the fact that
something is wrong when the pale faced man from the Restaurant des Voyageurs
arrives. Cub is able to stop a French Underground member going to the same
address as he recognised him as the man who helped them on the train by killing
the Gestapo agent. This man is called Dominique and together with Cub they
organise an escape for Gimlet and others, when a German lorry comes to collect
the prisoners. Taken to meet the mysterious Monsieur Rouge, the head of the
French Underground, Gimlet learns the vital information. The Renault motor
works in Paris are being used to produce aero engines but the Germans are
holding about 100 commandos prisoner in the works to stop it being bombed. The
French Underground have tunnelled under the works and plan to free the
prisoners so the Renault works can be bombed the same night. They have arranged
a cycle race out of Paris to Rouen and by this means the prisoners will be
given bikes and got out of Paris. Once at a safe house, French Underground
members will complete the race so that nothing seems suspicious. Gimlet decides
that the escaped commandos will have to take a German airfield so that British
transport planes can land and take them all away. Returning to Caen and the
"Fleas'" HQ, Gimlet and Cub find not only Trapper but also Copper
waiting for them. Also present is Numero. Bomber command has to be contacted to
co-ordinate with the raid. The four commandos return to Paris to carry through
the plan. At the Paris railway station, the commandos have to fight their way
through Germans. The plan goes ahead smoothly with the tunnel being opened and
the prisoners being evacuated. Things then go wrong when the tunnel is flooded.
The French are forced to blow it up and leave our heroes trapped in the Renault
works. Needless to say, they manage to fight their way out. Stealing a German
car, Gimlet and Co. catch up with the escaping commandos on their bikes. One
final checkpoint has to be got through and then the attack on the German
airfield has to take place after supplies are dropped by the Royal Air Force. The German airfield is taken and it is
Biggles who is piloting the aircraft that lands first. On pages 181 onwards,
Biggles has a page full of rather banal dialogue and Ginger gets a few lines as
well. (Again, one must ask whether this makes the book a Biggles book?). The story ends on page 185 with everyone
getting home safely and Cub's father wanting to send Cub to an officer-training
unit.
Gimlet Goes Again
Subtitle - King of the Commandos in another adventure with
Fighting France, and the Grey Fleas of the North.
Publication Details - originally published by University of
London Press Ltd.
First Edition
Frontispiece
Click on the Frontispiece to enlarge it
Paperback