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Mark Bowlin

Two very different cousins head to Italy to fight in World War II in this absorbing novel, a winner of the Military Writers Society of America Gold Medal.

The first novel in the Texas Gun Club series, this is the story of two cousins and their journey from south Texas to the distant shores of wartime Italy. 

Sam Taft is a rancher, fiercely devoted to his wife, Margaret, and intent on surviving the war and returning to Texas. Each skirmish, every battle, is one step closer to home. His cousin Perkin Berger was a student of history at the University of Texas, and is eager for adventure. The impulsive Berger finds the war a lark, a grand journey—until the harrowing realities of warfare begin to set in. 

Set against the backdrop of the battle of Salerno, The Texas Gun Club is meticulously researched and faithful to the saga of the soldiers from Texas in 1943 Italy, written with rich authenticity by a retired naval officer.

The Small Press

The Texas Gun Club

For these World War II soldiers, Highway 6 is the road to Rome—and to victory…

Fall, 1943: The Allied advance up the Italian peninsula has ground to a halt and the prospect of taking Rome before Christmas seems more distant than ever. In their first action since Salerno, First Lieutenant Sam Taft and the soldiers of Able Company are sent to wrest a lonely stretch of road from the German defenders.

 The Italians call it Highway 6, but the boys of the Texas Gun Club know it as Victory Road. As Sam slugs it out in the valley, somewhere beyond the highway high up in the mountains Captain Perkin Berger, Sam’s cousin, struggles against harsh elements and murderous German intelligence agents in his quest to be the first American into San Pietro…

Victory Road

In WWII Italy, two soldiers have been granted a week of leave—but R&R is not in the cards for them…

January 1944: The great Allied advance up the Italian peninsula has come to a halt before the formidable German Gustav Line at Monte Cassino. For the American soldiers in the valley, there is nothing to do but wait as General Mark Clark prepares his plan to shatter the German defenses and continue Fifth Army’s march to Rome. 

Captain Perkin Berger and First Lieutenant Sam Taft are spared the monotony of waiting. They’re given a week of well-deserved leave in an Adriatic resort town, where they have no responsibility other than relaxation. Proving the old maxim that no plan survives first contact with the enemy, Sam and Perk find themselves involved in the Canadian battle at Ortona, and once again they are thrust into the middle of a secret war between the Third Reich and the Vatican. When the cousins return from their R&R, it isn’t long until the order is given. Against all sound military judgment, the exhausted and under-strength Gun Club is to cross the Rapido River and breach the Gustav Line—alone…