by Ed Ruggero
Thanks, too, to Rob Cannon, U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1990, whose navy training included firefighting and damage control, and who later served twenty-two years in the Charlotte, North Carolina, Fire Department. Rob helped me understand and imagine the terror of a shipboard fire.
Thanks to Elena Stokes and Brianna Robinson of Wunderkind PR, who helped me come to grips with marketing in the digital age.
Thanks to Robin Michener Nathan, who, in spite of evidence to the contrary, still has faith that I can handle social media.
Thanks to Kristin Sevick and the indefatigable team at Forge, who have built a community with their writers and who are living proof that work can be fun.
Thanks to Matt Bialer of Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, for his patience, guidance, and grit in the face of personal adversity.
And, as always, thanks to my wife, Marcia Noa. As I finished chapters I read them to her at our kitchen island. She always made great suggestions, confessed her love for various characters, her skepticism at some plot points (which did not survive revision), and who asked the most important, encouraging question, “What happens next?”
Ed Ruggero
Lewes, Delaware
March 2020
FORGE BOOKS BY ED RUGGERO
Blame the Dead
Comes the War
OTHER TITLES BY ED RUGGERO
Nonfiction
Duty First: A Year in the Life of West Point and the Making of American Leaders
Combat Jump: The Young Men Who Led the Assault into Fortress Europe, July 1943
The First Men In: U.S. Paratroopers and the Fight to Save D-Day
Army Leadership (with the Center for Army Leadership)
The Leader’s Compass (with Dennis F. Haley)
The Corporate Compass (with Dennis F. Haley)
Fiction
38 North Yankee
The Common Defense
Firefall
Breaking Ranks
The Academy
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ED RUGGERO is a West Point graduate and former U.S. Army officer who has studied, practiced, and taught leadership for more than twenty-five years. He has appeared on CNN, History, Discovery Channel, and CNBC and has spoken to audiences around the world on leadership, leader development, and ethics. He lives in Philadelphia. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraph
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Forces
Author’s Note and Acknowledgments
Forge Books by Ed Ruggero
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
COMES THE WAR
Copyright © 2021 by Ed Ruggero
All rights reserved.
Maps by Jon Lansberg
Cover design by FORT; photographs by Trevillion, Getty Images, and Shutterstock.com
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
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New York, NY 10271
www.tor-forge.com
Forge® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: Ruggero, Ed, author.
Title: Comes the war / Ed Ruggero.
Description: First Edition. | New York: Forge, Tom Doherty Associates Book, 2021. | Series: Victory in Europe series; book 2 |
Identifiers: LCCN 2020042320 (print) | LCCN 2020042321 (ebook) | ISBN 9781250312877 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781250312860 (ebook)
Subjects: GSAFD: War stories.
Classification: LCC PS3568.U3638 C65 2021 (print) | LCC PS3568.U3638 (ebook) | DDC 813/.54—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020042320
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020042321
eISBN 9781250312860
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].
First Edition: 2021