There are instances of heroic deeds that had no immediate witness, such as the Scholls's attempt in 1943 to raise their nation's conscience, suppressed by Hitler's propaganda machine. The Canadian physicist Dr. Slotin acted in 1946; but since 'the bomb' was supposed to be fail-safe, his feat was not released to the public. A KGB commissar gagged Captain Marinesco in 1945, just as Moscow's rulers silently did away with Colonel Maleter in 1956 as a hindrance for their political ambition. In the case of Parteigenosse Duckwitz in 1943, nobody discovered that he was behind the betrayal of the Nazi plan, and he wouldn't publicise his disloyalty to his Fuhrer. It took faith and courage for a Palermo priest to go up against the Sicilian Mafia in 1993. Holding out against impossible odds was a Yankee pilot in a clapped-out aircraft in 1941, and a British battalion against an entire army in Korea 1951. And there is the sergeant who in 1916 blundered into an 'impregnable fortress' and then took it single-handedly.
These are a few brave man and women who dared to stand up and be counted. Some had to pay a bitter price for remaining loyal to their principles, but all of them changed the course of history.
The Hinge Factor (1999)
From the wooden horse of Troy to the Gulf War, military history has been as much marked by chance and error, as by gallantry and heroism. Many conflicts have been decided by the caprice of weather, bad intelligence, heroism where it wasn't expected, or individual incompetence. In military terms, the incident that can swing a battle from victory to defeat in a moment is known as the Hinge Factor.
THE HINGE FACTOR vividly describes battles which demonstrate this phenomenon - including the circumstances behind the loss of the Holy Cross, through to the attack of African war bees in 1914, to Star Wars weaponry described in the Gulf War. This enthralling book demystifies the general belief that battles are always won due to the brilliance of a general and will both inform and entertain a wide audience.
