Author Douglas W. Jacobson On The Katyn Order

Please give a warm welcome to author Douglas W. Jacobson as he visits Thoughts in Progress as the special guest blogger on a stop during his virtual blog tour with his latest release.

Doug is the author of THE KATYN ORDER. Thanks to Doug and Dorothy at Pump Up Your Book!, I have 1 copy of THE KATYN ORDER to giveaway to one lucky visitor. Please see giveaway guidelines at the end of this post.

Doug has stopped by today to tell us about his book.

The German War Machine is in retreat as the Russians advance. In Warsaw, Resistance fighters rise up against their Nazi occupiers, but the Germans retaliate, ruthlessly leveling the city. American Adam Nowak has been dropped into Poland by British intelligence as an assassin and Resistance fighter. During the Warsaw Rising he meets Natalia, a covert operative who has lost everything—just as he has. Amid the Allied power struggle left by Germany’s defeat, Adam and Natalia join in a desperate hunt for the 1940 Soviet order authorizing the murders of 20,000 Polish army officers and civilians. If they can find the Katyn Order before the Russians do, they just might change the fate of Poland.

THE KATYN ORDER is an historical novel set in Germany and Poland toward the end of World War Two. The story opens in the middle of the bloody urban battle of the Warsaw Rising where Adam and Natalia first meet - young battle-hardened freedom fighters both jaded by enormous personal loss. Their relationship is a tentative one, soon torn apart as the German forces put down the insurgency and demolish Poland's capital city. But they are destined to meet again in an even more dangerous mission - the search for Joseph Stalin's Katyn Order.

The secret murders of thousands of Polish officers at the hands of the Russian NKVD in the Katyn Forest in 1940 is without a doubt one of history's most heinous war crimes. Covered up for more than fifty years by Russian communists, the true facts about Katyn, and the infamous order signed by Joseph Stalin authorizing the murders, did not see the light of day until just a few years ago.

The Warsaw Rising of 1944, in which fighters of the Polish armed Resistance attempted to re-gain control over their capital city, is without parallel in human loss and destruction. The sixty-day struggle to the death resulted in more than fifty thousand casualties and the complete destruction of one of Europe's finest cities.

Caught up in the vortex of these two cataclysmic events, Adam and Natalia struggle to stay alive, fighting for freedom and clinging to an uncertain future in a world gone mad. The Katyn Order is a story of intrigue and danger, of human courage under extraordinary circumstances. But above all, it is a story of love and the quest for personal redemption. 

Doug, thanks for guest blogging. THE KATYN ORDER sounds like a fascinating novel with a mixture of everything needed to keep readers captivated from beginning to end.

Now a bit of background on Doug. He is an engineer, business owner and World War Two history enthusiast. Doug has traveled extensively in Europe researching stories of the courage of common people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. His debut novel, NIGHT OF FLAMES: A NOVEL OF WORLD WAR TWO was published in 2007 by McBooks Press, and was released in paperback in 2008. NIGHT OF FLAMES won the “2007 Outstanding Achievement Award” from the Wisconsin Library association.

Doug writes a monthly column on Poland's contribution during WW2, has published articles on Belgium’s WW2 escape organization, the Comet Line and other European resistance organizations. Doug's second historical novel, THE KATYN ORDER, which will be released this month, focuses on one of history’s most notorious war crimes, the Katyn massacre. For more on Doug and his writing, visit his website at www.douglaswjacobson.com. 

Now for the giveaway. The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only and will run until 8 p.m. (EST) on May 31. To enter for a chance to win a copy of THE KATYN ORDER, just comment on this post and be sure to include your e-mail address if it’s not included in your profile.

What are your thoughts on this terrible time in history? Do you enjoy historical novels?