ADVENTURE IN DIAMONDS

by David E. Walker ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 20, 1956

A secret operation and not in the records is this one day mission in May, 1940, to Amsterdam to cheat the Germans of gems and industrial diamonds, with their terrific war potential. Its high level importance released a destroyer to carry Walter Keyser, now a British subject, and Jan Kors Smit, Dutch, of Smit & Zonen, internationally known diamond merchants, and Major Dillon of Intelligence, to Holland, with clearances from the British War Office and the Netherlands Legation, where, on Whit Monday, with banks and offices closed, it was their job to persuade the dealers to deliver their stocks for transport to, and storage in, England. The passage across the Channel had its dangers, landing and transportation to Amsterdam had theirs and, once with Jan's father, there was the tormenting wait for the decisions of the men with whom he conferred. Danger too from fifth columnists in Dutch uniforms, from possible invasion (Holland surrendered the next day) and from all of their wanderings around the city had to be faced and when Jan's father handled over his stones there was the agony of watching the others part with theirs -- with no insurance, no security that they would be returned in the future. There were difficulties on the return route -- refugees, the boat to take them to the destroyer and the chances of meeting her -- which were dissipated when, once aboard, they headed to England. This -- reading like fiction -- is quite a tale in which private citizens play a part that no one else could, on a day when any moment could have meant disaster. Played up and popular.

Pub Date: Aug. 20, 1956

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1956

Categories: NONFICTION