The Gathering Storm - Men at Arms, Bk 1 Author:Con Sellers Set during the early years of World War II, prior to U.S. involvement. Retired Maj. Gen. Preston Belvale maintains his own private, well-equipped war room. He also has the clout to persuade the army to dispatch observers (who are also members of his family) to report to him personally, and the disjointed story shifts between observers. — Thus the... more » reader meets Capt. Keenan Carlisle, who travels with the "Japs'' in Manchuria until he is ambushed and taken by Chinese Communists who use him as their own emissary. In Europe, Maj. Chad Belvale gets a close look at the "Krauts'' and their lightning war as he makes his adventure-filled way back toward Dunkirk and evacuation; Belvale then operates out of England. And young Lt. Walton Belvale makes a stand with the last defenders of Warsaw.« less