Commando #5885: The Last Prussian

by Robbie MacNiven, Esteve Polls (Artist), Neil Roberts (Cover Art)

The proud son of a long line of Prussian warriors, Oberst Max Von Riedesel has military service in his blood. He believes he has seen the worst of war, but the Second World War has shown him another side of his beloved Germany. Riedesel does not approve of the Fuhrer’s Reich — his duty is to his people. His countrymen in the SS, though, will make any sacrifice for their misguided ideals. Before long, Riedesel will face a terrible choice — where exactly do his loyalties lie?

Kindle Edition

Published September 18, 2025

About the author

Robbie MacNiven is a Scottish author and historian. His published fiction includes over twenty novels in genres ranging from sci-fi and fantasy to historical fiction, written for publishers such as Black Library, Titan, Rebellion and Aconyte Books. He has also written novellas, short stories, audio dramas, comic scripts and graphic novels, has worked on narrative and character dialogue for multiple digital games (SMITE: Blitz, Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground, Raid: Shadow Legends), and has written colour text and branching narratives for multiple RPG and game rulebooks, including the award-winning Undaunted series by Osprey Games. In 2022 his X-Men novel "First Team" won a Scribe Award for tie-in fiction.

On the non-fiction front, Robbie specialises in Early Modern military history, particularly focusing on the 18th century. He has a PhD in American Revolutionary War massacres from the University of Edinburgh - where he won the Compton Prize for American History - and an MLitt in War Studies from the University of Glasgow. Along with numerous articles for military history magazines, he has written eight books on 18th century conflicts including the American Revolution and the Seven Years War, seven for Osprey Publishing and one for Helion Books. He has also written the scripts for over a dozen episodes of the hit YouTube educational channel Extra History.

Outside of work and writing, his passions include historical re-enacting, gaming, and football.

Reviews

[Al Berry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Normally I prefer some of the older Commando reprints to new stories, however this one is excellent, very good art and and interesting story with Wehrmacht troops fighting the SS in a Castle in Germany in the last days of the war.