A PAIR of Shropshire authors will visit Whitchurch next week to talk about their latest work, an account of German soldier during the Second World War.

Kenneth Ballantyne, in collaboration with Jim McNally, has released 'The Waffenmeister', an account of an ordinary German soldier's experiences during the Second World War, which eventually brought him to England as a prisoner and then saw him working for GKN Sankey in Shropshire.

The reader is put at the very heart of Heini Elfner's story, beginning with his father's time in the trenches of the Western Front and then afterwards following Heini as he grew up in Germany during the chaotic inter-war years of hyper-inflation, the rise of Hitler, and the lost hope of the 1938 Munich Crisis leading to the Second World War.

Kenneth explained the premise of the new book.

He said: "Called up into the Germany Navy, Heini joined a coastal artillery unit and served on Heligoland and at Emden where he was almost killed by American B-17s in a carpet-bombing raid.

"Then, posted to the Adriatic, he faced British naval gunnery and the daily low-level strikes by fighter-bombers.

"Then he fell in love with a beautiful young Italian femme fatale, who unbeknown to him was part of the Resistance helping the British.

"The operational information which he innocently shared with her was passed on to Allied Intelligence, a betrayal which nearly cost him his life.

"Later captured by a group of Yugoslav partisans which included an all-female execution squad, it was his skills as a waffenmeister (a weapons master) which saved him.

"Following a daring escape from the Yugoslavs in broad daylight, he was hidden by Italian friends in Trieste before surrendering to the British, but only after several hilariously failed attempts.

"It was as a British prisoner that he met the young Pavarotti, then just a lad singing with his father to entertain customers in the local trattoria.

"In 1946, Heini came to Britain as a prisoner to join a team digging out unexploded Luftwaffe bombs.

"Later, rather than return to his home in Jena, by then under Russian control in communist East Germany, he stayed, married, and worked for GKN Sankey engineering her in Shropshire."

This is the latest in Kenneth's series of books telling the true stories of veterans.

He added: "The Waffenmeister gives a fascinating and unusual insight into the conflict from the German side as well as life for ordinary people in Germany during the 1930s."

Ballantyne and McNally will be at Bookshrop in Green End between 11am and 2pm on Saturday, June 26 to talk about the books and sign copies.