Their more unorthodox weapons were lengths of steel wire and knives with double-edged blades, and some of their most prized possessions were gold teeth snatched from corpses. The 'Disciplinary Regiment', a tank company in Hitler's army - without a tank to its name - was fighting a brutal war against[...]
LEGION OF THE DAMNED was the first of 14 novels written by Sven Hassel, a Danish volunteer who served in the German army throughout World War II. Never before had violence been described in such hideously graphic detail: it was a far cry from British or American war novels. Based on Sven Hassel's ow[...]
Sven Hassel and the few surviving men of his unit are posted to Italy, where the armies are locked in battle around the ancient hilltop monastery of Monte Cassino. Hitler has ordered that every position must be held until the last, and every lost position recaptured by counter-attack. In the face of[...]
In SS GENERAL Sven Hassel and his diminishing band of veterans are plunged into the maelstrom of Stalingrad. Radio Moscow boasts that one German soldier dies every minute as the Germans fight their way house -by- house to the banks of the Volga. Then the Russian counter-attack leaves the German 6th [...]
I had a grenade in my hand. So, no doubt, did the English private. I tore out the pin with my teeth. Lay there and counted. Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four...It is Hitler's last chance to save The Third Reich...Millions of Allied troops have landed in Normandy. The orders are clear[...]
The Commissar had the biggest secret of the Russian war. He had hidden 30 million dollars of Soviet gold behind Russian lines - and Porta was determined to make sure his band of prison-soldiers got their share. For enemy gold they were prepared to take the company through the ice and blood of the So[...]
It was supposed to be Hitler's glorious conquest of Russia...The 27th Penal Regiment has been ordered to invade the Soviet Union. They are half-starved and ill-equipped. To reach Moscow they must defeat the fearsome Red Army. But instead, they find themselves at the mercy of an even deadlier enemy: [...]
There were not so much people as animals. Sometimes small and frightened, huddling together in cattle cars, wounds gaping, tongues swelling even as they licked the moist frost from the walls...Grievously wounded - having survived the operating table and the perilous journey West on a freezing freigh[...]
'They beat me,' whispers the artillery officer, 'Smashed my teeth in, sent an electric current through me. They want me to confess to something I never did.' Sven Hassel and his comrades are fighting on the Finnish front, facing an arctic winter more ferocious than anything they've ever known. But i[...]
'An extraordinary book, which has captured the attention of all of Europe' - NEW YORK TIMES 'LEGION OF THE DAMNED is an incredible picture of totalitarianism, of stupefying injustice ...He is graphic, at times brilliantly so, but never brutal or bitter. He is, too, a first-rate storyteller' - WASHIN[...]
Danger was forgotten, death was forgotten, the war was forgotten. They only knew they had to kill...The figures in khaki were no longer soldiers, no longer men. Sven Hassel and his comrades are once more hurled into the ferocity of the frontline. The Eastern Front is a sight of unprecedented destruc[...]
The Russian uses his machine pistol like a scythe. Feldwebel remains standing for a fraction of a second. The rain of bullets pours into him, making him twitch violently. He falls to the floor. The Russian grins. There is no doubt that he is enjoying himself. Sven Hassel and his comrades are ordered[...]
A sudden curtain of silence fell over the burning city. All that could be heard was the steady crackling of flames...Hitler's penal regiments advance on Poland. Himmler has given the order: Warsaw must be razed to the ground. But the Polish Home Army are not willing to give in to the German troops s[...]
'This is a book of horrors, and should be left alone by those prone to nightmares. Sven Hassel's descriptions of the atrocities committed by both sides are the most horrible indictments of war I have ever read ...A great war novel!' Alan Silitoe Stationed on the Russian Front and now equipped with [...]
Sextonde dygnet sedan vi lamnat fronten stannade det langa godstaget med ett ryck. Vi raknades bara som gods - soldater i krig. Porta reste sig upp ur kreatursvagn nr 9, tittade ut genom skjutdorren och konstaterade kort: Vi ar i Hamburg-Altona. Gamle tog likgiltigt emot en rapportsedel: 2 plutonen,[...]
"Ett sönderslitande brak. Stridsbunkern slungas ur sitt läge. Fullträffar. Ljuset slocknar. kablarna är avslitna. Granaterna är värre än bomberna. Man kan lättare beräkna var en bomb kommer att slå ner och det ljud som granaten ger ifrån sig är infernaliskt jämfört med bombens ..."[...]
"Tolv dygn satt vi på tåget från Hamburg och nu stod vi på rullbanan Pinsk-Gomel. Regementet låg enligt pappren förlagt i Petrikova. Den som en gång varit på en rullbana glömmer det aldrig. I en snörrät linje sträcker den sig mot fronten, en av tusentals hjul och miljontals fötter tillk[...]
"Det värsta var att dra sig tillbaka. Man springer för livet med döden i hälarna och reträtt mot givna order bestraffades inför krigsrätt. Det drabbade också officerare vid 27:e pansar, officerare som såg mer till sitt manskap än att de avlagt trohetsed till Fürern ... "[...]
"Men en dag, på permission hos vackra Wera, anar Porta plötsligt en möjlighet att välbärgad kunna dra sig ur kriget. med osviklig uppfinningsrikedom sätter han sin helgalna plan i verket.
- Med guld i bagaget köper vi oss ut ur både sovjetparadiset och tusenårskriget, flinar Port[...]
Sven Hassel on sotakirjallisuuden kiistellyimpiä hahmoja, ja hänen kirjojensa todenperäisyydestä käydään yhä kiivaita väittelyitä. Sven Hassel ja hänentaistelutoverinsa Vanha, Porta, Legioonalainen, Pikkuveli ja muut antisankarit ovat jääneet pysyviksi kulttihahmoiksi sotakirjallisuutee[...]
Stalingradin ratkaiseva taistelu on hävitty, ja saksalaiset sotajoukot joutuvat koville. Tappio alkaa näyttää varmalta, mutta natsihallinto ei luovuta. Sven Hassel taistelutovereineen komennetaan rintamalta Hampuriin vartioimaan Gestapon erityisvankilaa. Vankien kohtalot puhuvat karua kieltä Ge[...]