THE RACE FOR THE MACENTA DIAMONDS is a graphic World War Two thriller inspired by real events. Diamonds are vital components of the precision tools used in the manufacture of armaments. At times of war an adequate supply is therefore absolutely crucial. This was especially true for Nazi Germany during the years of World War Two. They did not have the ready sources available to the British from their South and West African mines and when, at a particularly critical point in their preparations to invade Russia, they learned that the Macenta diamond mine - located in the middle of the tropical rainforests of then still French Guinea - held a huge stock of diamonds they immediately took steps to capture these. However, through their Bletchley Park Enigma interceptions, the British became aware of the German intentions and, determined to stop them, took urgent steps to prevent this. It set in motion a frantic no-holds-barred race across the Sahara Desert and through the Guinea rainforests by contingents of the warring factions. The German Brandenburg company, commanded by a fanatical Nazi officer determined at all costs to secure the diamonds for his Fuhrer and Fatherland, routed the British Long Range Desert Patrol unit sent to intercept it and left in its wake a trail of cold-blooded killings, including the callous slaughter of an entire company of their Vichy French allies, as it carried on with its mission. Arriving too late at Macenta, they continued the chase on foot through the dense Guinea woodlands to catch the lone agent, sent secretly from the United Kingdom, who had succeeded in procuring and smuggling the diamonds out of Macenta with the aid of his African friends. The chase finally ended in a man-to-man fight between the Nazi fanatic and the secret agent, and the annihilation of the German contingent. The Germans lost that race but many afterwards queried whether the success of the operation really contributed to the subsequent defeat of Nazi Germany. One man though, a man who should know, the man at the top who ordered it, never had any doubts.