Need a couple to read for a trip down south when tent bound. Can swap with a few NZ Hunter mags or Rod and Rifle - recent editions.
Reside in the Christchurch Area. Anything out there?
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Need a couple to read for a trip down south when tent bound. Can swap with a few NZ Hunter mags or Rod and Rifle - recent editions.
Reside in the Christchurch Area. Anything out there?
Do you mean SVEN Hassle , ww2 novels ?
Those are bloody great books! Had the whole collection but sadly sold them all off while flatting. Have you had a look on Kindle? I just use the app on my phone and have hundreds of books with me all the time. Set the background to black and have white writing, nicer to read then
Yep, meant Sven Hassel. Same, had the entire collection late 70's then moved on. The history of the author itself is a story - passed away 2012. He served in WW2 and ended up in prison after the war for treason of all things? But the Penal Battalion - no other story like it. Prefer hardcopies if available?
Dont forget bloody road to hell in greece also look up leo kessler bit of a sven knock off but ok read
I still have the entire collection . Be honest not willing to part with any of them as took me years to track them all down but do know a local second hand bookshop that often has a couple of them hidden on the shelves and may be able to have a look for you see if any there ?
I also own the entire 'Sharp's' collection by Bernard Cornwell.... another great read about an English soldier during the English/French napolean wars .
The battle scenes in those books are quite vividly described and also well worth a read . It must have been terrifying to be formed up facing those huge cannons just waiting for the next ball to remove your head from your shoulders...
It was a while since I read it, but I seem to remember our very on Lieutenant General Bernard Freyberg, getting a mention in the Monte Cassino book. I think he called him the mad New Zealander but it was 40 yrs ago that I read it so could be imagining things
first read the March battalion when i was 15. Jolly good read.
Had a shit ton of them but suspect they were in in the box of books my mother said got wet and buggered in her shed while we lived in aussie
As a youngster I ate those books up, looking back now I realise they were most likely BS. The first one and maybe the second seem the closest to reality.
The author had a few allegations made against him but I think you have to look at it within the greater context. There was a lot going on, were those records lost or did they never exist?
At the end of the day truth is stranger than fiction, the stories seemed plausible to me. If anything I think they show what a crazy time it was. I cant even imagine what it would have been like to be caught up in all. The scale of the barbarity is difficult to understand in modern times.
I cant help with the books. Ive long lost mine but you should be able to find them in second hand shops. Maybe you could trade your mags for them?
Ebooks might be another option https://www.svenhassel.com/bookstore/
I quite liked "Wheels of terror" and "Cross of iron" as well.
Heres the movie to tide you over until you can pick a few up ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPXy7rNv-wo
FWIW One of the themes that interested me was the idea of localised ceasefires. Years later I was working with a Frenchman who had fought in Croatia as a volunteer. He said the Serbs would keep moving their blokes around as they would try and organise ceasefires as well. It just goes to show Soldiers often have more in common with their enemy than the people that sent them.
Legion of the Dammed was(I believe) a story of his exploits during the great fracas….
The others ( I think) were fleshed out stories.
The Commisars Gold (I reckon) was a story using the characters…..
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I read all of them too, and had a bunch. You dont see them around any more.
The author may or may not have had combat experience on the Russian front...not that it matters. But the little things seemed authentic. The books are a genre of their own, sort of like Spaghetti westerns are to normal westerns....
The book that was the quintessential Sven Hassel book to me, was Blitzfreeze.
I believe the first book which was mostly about being in a labour camp/penal battalion was based on the author's actual experiences, the rest were fiction. (I dont think anyone would really believe that the Germans armed penal battalions with tiger tanks and sent them to fight the Russians...)
I have a Sven Hassel book incoming. That movie made about the Penal Battalion is very low budget - needs a Peter Jackson remake! If you google Sven Hassels life - most of the real Hassel comes to light including his real name and his criminal back ground. The fella had a lot of secrets to his real past and exploits.
Hunteast - it's hard to say - the guy spreading all the defamation also claimed that Sven Hassel's wife wrote all his books. This seems unlikely. I remember seeing the guy confronting sven hassel on a talkshow just standing up in the audience and yelling, and it was hard not to come to the conclusion that he was a bit mad. Sven Hassel was the highest grossing Danish author at that time, and may have been a bit of a target.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hunteast
True - but really its about the quality of his books - all a bloody good read at the end of the day.
Read most of Sven Hassel and the Sharpe series.
Can any of you remember the Edge series of westerns? A high body count in each book and the last sentence of each chapter contained a terrible pun.
Edge and Steele..??Quote:
Originally Posted by Backcountry Bob
One used a Winchester, the other use a Colt Revolving Rifle….
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When do you head in ..got a second hand book dealer in Richmond that will have a few copies..happy to purchase and send down
Had about 17 of them (I thought I had them all but not sure) but gave them to a second hand book dealer about 15 years ago, from memory and as mentioned above Legion of the Dammed summed up his exploits, there was one other that was similar, I do recall the "SS General" as being brutal, a good read.
I always enjoyed this one...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6-YPiqOh_w
Funny as..
Yeap I was also a teenager digesting them all.... wheels of terror i think was the first, I will have a look in the attic.
My bad it was indeed Legion of the Dammed as his first novel.
Found this site too
https://www.svenhassel.com/about/
My trip fell through thanks to a couple of the group coming down with Covid 4-5 days out from flying in. Still managed to get a couple of Hassel's books though. Cheers.
there were a fairly high count of discarded panties too in some of the westerns of that time...Quote:
Originally Posted by Backcountry Bob
Edge also used a cut throat razor.Quote:
Originally Posted by Backcountry Bob
“He had no friends, but two companions, death itself and the acrid smell of gunpowder “ IIRC.
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if you like those books you should track down a copy of Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer.
This is one of the best books I have read.
A German officer escapes captivity and due to his fluency in the Russian language is drafted into the Russian Army.
True story too.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...black-fur-coat
That looks good, I just finished this https://www.amazon.com.au/Night-Bayo.../dp/1784384682Quote:
Originally Posted by norsk
Another one that was good, was Devil's Guard. It was about SS soldiers that joined the French Foreign Legioin after WW2 and went to fight the Viet Minh in Indochina. (Vietnam in the 50's) Great book. Purported to be based on a true story; there was an actual battalion of ex German soldeirs in the Foreign Legion in Vietnam.
Havn't seen a copy for years and years, but if you see one - get it. Great story and well told
If you aren't having any luck in the second hand shops, you can find these books on amazon if you have a kindle or similar.
agree was interesting I was put onto it a long time ago by my cousin who was a legionairre and it was part of their legion history as such.Quote:
Originally Posted by John Duxbury
My copy is falling apart, I've read it so many times:D
I’ve read several critiques that say it is a work of fiction. Good yarn though.
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Carlos Hathcocks story might be bullshit too, most of his claims don't stack up apparently.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dicko
Ha this bring back memories. I read a lot of them as a teen, my brother had quite a few of them. I think SS General and March Battalion were my favourites. And yea being older and wiser, they're almost certainly elaborate fabrications.
What claims? He never wrote a book. Or are you thinking of Chris Kyle?Quote:
Originally Posted by paremata
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_wzcrfiiw4
https://youtu.be/s_wzcrfiiw4?si=sKyYrHNX13sBMGey
paremata is right, the book titled the forgotton soldier by guy sajer is an absolute facinating read, I read it every year just to remind myself how lucky we are.cheers
I watched that video, its mostly taken from the book about him. https://www.amazon.com.au/Marine-Sni.../dp/0425103552Quote:
Originally Posted by Sh00ter