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SS Wotan #1
SS Panzer Battalion
The third in this fictional series, The Dogs of War, by Leo Kessler. It was January 1940, and the coldest winter within living memory. The Western front was still paralysed by the phoney war, but, at the Adolf Hitler Kaserne, a new battalion of SS troops were being put through the most gruelling training programme in the history of the German army. SS Assault Regiment Wotan were preparing for a mission so secret that it was known only by its codename, Zero. Only the Vulture, Major Horst Geier, knew that the objective was the key Belgian fortress guarding the junction of the River Meuse and the Albert Canal. It was the most impregnable stronghold in Europe and had to be taken, regardless of the cost of human lives, if Hitler's handpicked SS Panzer troops were to turn the flank of the Maginot line and force the phoney war to explode into the Blitzkrieg
157 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 14, 2025
Hiçbir şey okuyamadığım bu birkaç ayda, okuma hızımı tekrar yakalamak için başvurduğum guilty pleasure kitabım oldu Kessler’in Dogs of War serisine ait bu kitap.
Kendisini Budapeşte’de gezerken girdiğim bir ikinci el kitap dükkanında buldum. Bir nefeste okunabilen, tam bir “pulpy war fiction.” Benim için keyifli olan kısmı ise teorik ve kurgudışı olarak, dolayısıyla gerçekten yaşananlar üzerinden çok okuduğum bir konunun, “pratikte” nasıl yaşanmış olabileceğini görmekti. Zira bütün olay “elit” bir saldırı taburu olan Wotan’ın etrafında dönüyor - Wehrmacht’taki disiplinin gözü kör bir teslimiyete nasıl dönüştüğünü defaatle okuduktan sonra SS’e bağlı böyle bir taburun çeşitli kıdemdeki askerlerinin “folk, fatherland, and führer”(!) adına hayatlarını nasıl adadıklarını kurgusal bir düzenekle görmek güzeldi.
Kessler’in kullandığı yazım tekniği (von Dodenburg’un günlüklerini güya bir sahafta bularak kitap haline getirmesi) de hikayeyi daha katmanlı ve “inanılır” kılmış, ben zaten bu teknikle yazılan kitapları (ki Gülün Adı ve Yüzüklerin Efendisi de onlardandır) çok severim.
Okura, Nazilerin yaptıklarını bir an bile destekletme çabasına düşmeden yine de onların gözünden cephedeki kilit noktaların saat saat nasıl ele geçirildiğini okutmak da takdir edilesi. Pulpy war fiction denen bu türü seviyor ve basit diyaloglara başvurmadan, katmanlı karakterler kullanarak cephe savaşı tasvir edebilen bir kitap okumak istiyorsanız tavsiye ederim; fakat toksik masküliniteden yılabilirsiniz o başka - ama SS genel olarak başka nedir ki zaten.
They responded with all the fervour of their youthful hearts, typical products of the National Socialist dream, with its loud effrontery, brown-shirted vulgarity and jackbooted cruelty and which would soon demand its sacrifice in blood from them.
Kendisini Budapeşte’de gezerken girdiğim bir ikinci el kitap dükkanında buldum. Bir nefeste okunabilen, tam bir “pulpy war fiction.” Benim için keyifli olan kısmı ise teorik ve kurgudışı olarak, dolayısıyla gerçekten yaşananlar üzerinden çok okuduğum bir konunun, “pratikte” nasıl yaşanmış olabileceğini görmekti. Zira bütün olay “elit” bir saldırı taburu olan Wotan’ın etrafında dönüyor - Wehrmacht’taki disiplinin gözü kör bir teslimiyete nasıl dönüştüğünü defaatle okuduktan sonra SS’e bağlı böyle bir taburun çeşitli kıdemdeki askerlerinin “folk, fatherland, and führer”(!) adına hayatlarını nasıl adadıklarını kurgusal bir düzenekle görmek güzeldi.
Kessler’in kullandığı yazım tekniği (von Dodenburg’un günlüklerini güya bir sahafta bularak kitap haline getirmesi) de hikayeyi daha katmanlı ve “inanılır” kılmış, ben zaten bu teknikle yazılan kitapları (ki Gülün Adı ve Yüzüklerin Efendisi de onlardandır) çok severim.
Okura, Nazilerin yaptıklarını bir an bile destekletme çabasına düşmeden yine de onların gözünden cephedeki kilit noktaların saat saat nasıl ele geçirildiğini okutmak da takdir edilesi. Pulpy war fiction denen bu türü seviyor ve basit diyaloglara başvurmadan, katmanlı karakterler kullanarak cephe savaşı tasvir edebilen bir kitap okumak istiyorsanız tavsiye ederim; fakat toksik masküliniteden yılabilirsiniz o başka - ama SS genel olarak başka nedir ki zaten.
They responded with all the fervour of their youthful hearts, typical products of the National Socialist dream, with its loud effrontery, brown-shirted vulgarity and jackbooted cruelty and which would soon demand its sacrifice in blood from them.
June 2, 2012
I’ve been hearing about Leo Kessler for some time. Some books I’ve read were translated to Portuguese and it was a long time ago. When I saw this collection I immeaditely bought 7 books. So far I’ve read this one and I was most pleased. Leo KeSSler is a knowed prolific World War II writer called Charles Whiting and he have written more than 100 books with different pen names.
This one is the third book of its most famous series. Dogs of War. This book it’s the third in this series but it’s the first chronological order.
January of 1940 was the coldest winter within living memory so far… but the Winter of 1943/1944 was harsher (as they would feel in the eastern theatre. So far, the Western front was still paralysed by the phoney war, but, at the Adolf Hitler Kaserne, a new battalion of SS troops were being put through the most gruelling training programme in the history of the German army. SS Assault Regiment Wotan were preparing for a mission so secret that it was known only by its codename, Zero. Only the Vulture, Major Horst Geier, knew that the objective was the key Belgian fortress guarding the junction of the River Meuse and the Albert Canal. It was the most impregnable stronghold in Europe and had to be taken, regardless of the cost of human lives, if Hitler's handpicked SS Panzer troops were to turn the flank of the Maginot line and force the phoney war to explode into the Blitzkrieg.
The characters even if Nazis easily seduce us and in the end we are cheering for them. There are several sub-plots that will be taken care of in the next chapters. I would advice anyone to start reading from this book and not the First in the Series.
It’s a great book and we get the feeling that “Kessler” knows it’s historiy. It has some pictures/maps to make it easier for us to read and imagine. It’s not pure history but in the end we get the feeling to read more about it. Not only History but Kessler books.Along with Sven Hassel books, this ones are the best. (There is also Iron Cross.)
This one is the third book of its most famous series. Dogs of War. This book it’s the third in this series but it’s the first chronological order.
January of 1940 was the coldest winter within living memory so far… but the Winter of 1943/1944 was harsher (as they would feel in the eastern theatre. So far, the Western front was still paralysed by the phoney war, but, at the Adolf Hitler Kaserne, a new battalion of SS troops were being put through the most gruelling training programme in the history of the German army. SS Assault Regiment Wotan were preparing for a mission so secret that it was known only by its codename, Zero. Only the Vulture, Major Horst Geier, knew that the objective was the key Belgian fortress guarding the junction of the River Meuse and the Albert Canal. It was the most impregnable stronghold in Europe and had to be taken, regardless of the cost of human lives, if Hitler's handpicked SS Panzer troops were to turn the flank of the Maginot line and force the phoney war to explode into the Blitzkrieg.
The characters even if Nazis easily seduce us and in the end we are cheering for them. There are several sub-plots that will be taken care of in the next chapters. I would advice anyone to start reading from this book and not the First in the Series.
It’s a great book and we get the feeling that “Kessler” knows it’s historiy. It has some pictures/maps to make it easier for us to read and imagine. It’s not pure history but in the end we get the feeling to read more about it. Not only History but Kessler books.Along with Sven Hassel books, this ones are the best. (There is also Iron Cross.)
December 30, 2009
A guilty pleasure.
I came across the books of Leo Kessler at an early age in the shelves of a used bookstore in Sudbury, Ontario. Gritty, pulpy war fiction - the kind that is meant to be read in the outhouse at your summer cottage.
The cheeseburger of fiction - I love these books still.
Yours in storytelling,
Steve Vernon
I came across the books of Leo Kessler at an early age in the shelves of a used bookstore in Sudbury, Ontario. Gritty, pulpy war fiction - the kind that is meant to be read in the outhouse at your summer cottage.
The cheeseburger of fiction - I love these books still.
Yours in storytelling,
Steve Vernon
April 30, 2020
Kessler's WWII novels are my very guilty pleasure reading, featuring SS Assault Regiment Wotan, led by The Vulture, Major Geier, and featuring a bunch of officers, NCOs and regular troops we follow from the early days of Blitzkrieg success in 1940 to the bitter end of Adolf Hitler's Thousand Year Reich. The books are violent and sexist, make you root for SS 'heroes'. This is pulp fiction, war porn, writing from the pov of the defeated Germans, and they were hugely popular. This one is the first in chronological order and introduces Kuno von Dodenburg, the ideal, and idealistic, SS officer, charming, charismatic, brave, a gentleman out for glory and the establishment of a New Order in Europe. And roguish Schulze, indefatigable ladies man. Their first mission, following extensive training, sees the regiment involved in the assault on a supposedly impregnable Belgian fortress guarding the way Hitler has chosen to invade France. It's simple stuff, quick to read and, dare I say it, fun.
January 13, 2020
3.5*
This is actually book 1 of Wotan, yet book 3 of 'The Dogs of War' compendium which is suprising and as such the timelines have been jumping around a bit. Still as a standalone read I found this the most entertaining of the Wotan books to date as the Wotan have to take the famous Belgian fortress Eben-Emael and we also get a nice look into the early days of both Wotan and WW2.
This is actually book 1 of Wotan, yet book 3 of 'The Dogs of War' compendium which is suprising and as such the timelines have been jumping around a bit. Still as a standalone read I found this the most entertaining of the Wotan books to date as the Wotan have to take the famous Belgian fortress Eben-Emael and we also get a nice look into the early days of both Wotan and WW2.
August 22, 2020
First action for the Wotan
Solid three stars for the vividly described action scenes. Great for lovers of mass produced pulp fiction. Loved it as a teenager but now in my sixties found the writing too ribald and juvenile while also lacking in substance. Would have added a star for more memorable characterisation.
Solid three stars for the vividly described action scenes. Great for lovers of mass produced pulp fiction. Loved it as a teenager but now in my sixties found the writing too ribald and juvenile while also lacking in substance. Would have added a star for more memorable characterisation.
November 25, 2021
Мајсторски изведено и исклучително забавно...
Топло ја препорачувам на секој љубител на историска фикција и воена историја.
Имам уштр да учам од Leo Kessler a.k.a. Ian Harding a.k.a. Duncan Harding a.k.a. K.N. Kostov a.k.a. John Kerrigan a.k.a. Klaus Konrad... Charles Whiting
Топло ја препорачувам на секој љубител на историска фикција и воена историја.
Имам уштр да учам од Leo Kessler a.k.a. Ian Harding a.k.a. Duncan Harding a.k.a. K.N. Kostov a.k.a. John Kerrigan a.k.a. Klaus Konrad... Charles Whiting
March 9, 2023
The War is raging
This instalment drags you deeper into the indomitable darkness of war, however, as with previous entries drink, sex, and food keep the Wotan going. Such a reminiscing read, of boy hood.
This instalment drags you deeper into the indomitable darkness of war, however, as with previous entries drink, sex, and food keep the Wotan going. Such a reminiscing read, of boy hood.
November 17, 2018
Soviets: YOU HAVE AN ANTI TANK RIFLE! OVER THERE IS A TANK! FIGURE IT OUT!
March 23, 2021
On to book 4
November 3, 2023
A good book, worth reading. No rambling dialogue.
November 7, 2009
The look from the other side of the front line is always refreshing and Leo Kessler made another good job with his SS Wotan series. The opening of Blitzkrieg by crushing trough Maginot line. Kuno von Dodenburg was still young and still so fresh but performing nicely trough the heat of action. Yes, SS Wotan showed what it was made of. Action and very clear view from the other side made that book unique and worth of reading. There were little here and there from actual historical things to the fictional things. It was one of the most plastic book of the series. The characters were not cartoon board straight but had some development.
February 27, 2016
Nice to revisit these old chestnuts after all these years as I go through my teen paperbacks prior to letting someone else enjoy them via the charity shop.
Not for the squeamish but good solid action fun like a comic without the graphics.
However true this tale might be it might serve to whet your appetite to find out more about the remarkable attack on the Belgian forts of Eben-Emael like through the Osprey book. But this book is not so much about the glider troops as the SS follow-up. Quite why we might root for these characters when they are the "baddies" baffles me. They are relatively short so relatively guilt-free fodder for that boring train ride.
Not for the squeamish but good solid action fun like a comic without the graphics.
However true this tale might be it might serve to whet your appetite to find out more about the remarkable attack on the Belgian forts of Eben-Emael like through the Osprey book. But this book is not so much about the glider troops as the SS follow-up. Quite why we might root for these characters when they are the "baddies" baffles me. They are relatively short so relatively guilt-free fodder for that boring train ride.
February 11, 2023
SS Assault Regiment Wotan at the beginning of the War. At the end of The Phoney War. The Vulture and Major Horst Geier will lead the SS Regiment against a Belgian stronghold. I read a number of these pulp war stories when I was younger and impressionable. I have a different outlook now. Even when I was younger, I thought some of these stories were exceptionally violent. But then that is why they sold. If you are a fan of high adrenalin WWII war stories you might like this. But be warned. Leo Kessler war fiction takes no prisoners. NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews