“Fog of War” is issue #5297 of the long-running British war story comic series COMMANDO, published by D.C. Thomson.
The last place Private Bill Tasker expected to find himself on his new deployment was at sea — surely that was for the Navy boys?
Yet there he was on the top‑secret Blackland Sands sea fort, defending the Thames Estuary from V1 bombs and E-boats.
But now it’s thick with fog, he’s lost his pals and a sinister German commando team is hunting him down — would it be the end of his military career?
Fog of War‘s art is by Argentine artist Khato, with a moody cover by Keith Burns.
AUTHOR’S NOTES
Fog of War is my hat-trick story for Commando, and my second World War II era tale after the RAF and POW tale J-For-Judas. I was inspired by some of my favourite war movies like Operation Crossbow and The Guns of Navarone to write a story about a special forces unit coming in to attack a remote enemy outpost – but rather than cast the Allies as the raiders, I flipped the script to make it a Nazi attack force raiding a British Army base.
I’ve always been fascinated by the Sea Forts off the East Coast of England, and when I hit on the germ of an idea for Fog of War, I knew they would be the perfect location! I invented the fictional “Blackland Sands” fort, inspired by the real Shivering Sands Fort out in the Thames estuary. The sea forts are an unusual piece of British military history, and you can still see them today – boat tours will take you around them, but sadly the rusted hulks are now too dangerous for visitors to go board.
I’m indebted to Bob Le-Roi, whose great site Fort Fanatics provided me with lots of useful information on the forts and their designer Guy Maunsell – the character of Royal Navy Captain LeRoi is named after him as a thank-you! I’d also be remiss if I didn’t note that Fog of War owes a debt to one of my favourite action movies – as a nod, a couple of characters are named after actors from that movie!
GALLERY
