The Volunteers

______________________________Other sailors volunteered to fight.They volunteered to die.They were the men and women of the Royal Navy's legendary Special Operations units, spoken of in hushed tones by even the most battle-hardened seamen. Carrying out lightning raids on hostile coasts, they became a navy within a navy - each hand-picked for their individual skills, and all of them courageous beyond words in the face of immense danger.Against the mighty backdrop of World War II they performed their small but deadly operations - living often beyond hope, sometimes beyond mercy. This is the dramatic story of a handful of such remarkable people: the Volunteers.______________________________Douglas Reeman is the author of dozens of bestselling novels about the vicious, heroic world of naval warfare. He served with the Royal Navy on convoy duty in the Atlantic, the Arctic and the North Sea.