Characters / Cauldron

Americans

Alex Banich

CIA Moscow Station’s senior field operative.

• Secret Identity: As Nikolai Ushenko, Ukrainian black market merchant opportunist.

Joseph Ross Huntington III

Presidential advisor.

• Badass Bureaucrat: Flies to nominally hostile EurCon countries to try to undermine the alliance and succeeds at it.
• Beleaguered Bureaucrat: The events in Europe give his mind (and his stressed heart) a lot to deal with.
• Determinator: Downplayed, continuing light work despite a severe angina incident.

Erin McKenna

Department of Commerce analyst assigned to the US Embassy in Moscow.

• Love Interest: Of Alex Banich.

Harris Thurman

Secretary of State.

• Beleaguered Bureaucrat: Like Ross Huntington, the events unfolding in Europe give him a lot of trouble.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Due to his concern with limiting American involvement, he is not popular among the President's inner circle.

Vice Adm. Jack Ward

Commander of the US Second Fleet.

Germans

Lt. Col. Wilhelm von Seelow

Operations officer of the 19th Panzergrenadier Brigade.

• Frontline General: At one point, leads an attack while dismounted to rally his men.
• In-Series Nickname: “Willi”.

French

Nicolas Desaix

Director of the DGSE.

• The Big Bad: As Minister of Foreign Affairs, he takes the leading role in the French governing ministerial triumvirate.
• He Knows Too Much:After his arrest, dies of an induced heart attack inflicted by DGSE elements keen to protect themselves from prosecution.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Privately considers female defence ministers as ridiculous while meeting with the Belgian one.

Maj. Paul Duroc

DGSE special operative.

General Claude Fabvier

Commanding officer of EurCon’s IV Corps.

Michel Guichy

Minister of Defense and member of France's triumvirate.

• Driven to Suicide: Surrenders of French troops trapped outside the country lead to the minister shooting himself.

General Etienne Montagne

Commanding officer of EurCon’s II Corps.

Jacques Morin

Deputy Director of the DGSE and governing triumvirate member.

• Dirty Coward: Flees from the police when the French war effort collapses.

Hungarians

Col. Zoltan Hradetsky

Police commander of the Sopron District.

• Defector from Decadence: Turns from begrudging support of EurCon activities in Hungary to marching in the frontlines of a revolution that ousts the collaborationist government.

Vladimir Kusin

Leader of the Hungarian opposition movement.

• Earn Your Happy Ending: Survives the Budapest uprising and French imprisonment to return as the new President of Hungary.

Poles

First Lt. Tadeusz Wojcik

American-born F-15 pilot of the 11th Fighter Regiment.

• Ace Pilot: Shoot down quite a number EurCon aircraft throughout the course of the novel.
• In Seriesnickname: “Tad”.

Russians

Marshal Yuri Kaminov

Chief of Staff for the Russian Army.

Col. Valentin Soloviev

Senior aide to Marshal Kaminov.