The Sand Panthers (The Dogs of War)

by Leo Kessler

SS Assault Regiment Wotan had been sent to join the Desert Rats, their objective to liberate the Egyptian army and to wrest the control of Alexandria from the British forces. But the men of Wotan found that Rommel didn't want them, and as they set off into the unmapped waste of the desert, they realized that something about this mission was wrong—very wrong indeed. One thousand kilometers of uncharted desert lay before them: a blazing, barren, limitless hell, just sand and sun and sky—the only living creatures an enemy lying in wait for them, silent and unseen.

Genres: War, Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Pseudonym for Charles Whiting

Reviews

[Charles van Buren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many improbables

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This review is from: The Sand Panthers: SS Wotan and Rommel's Desert Rats (Dogs of War Book 8) by Charles Whiting using his pen name Leo Kessler. (Kindle Edition)

I have read several of Whiting's WW2 nonfiction books and enjoyed them but this historical fiction piece falls short. It would have been better as alternate history. As it is there are just too many improbables in the story to believe that it could have really happened. And, in the end, after all the fighting and intrigue, nothing really changed. The British won at El Alamein.

The subtitle of this novel refers to Rommel's desert rats. In WW2 the desert rats were specifically the British 7th armoured division.

[Roy Szweda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Preposterous nonsense but then what else would we expect from Mr K? In its favour it is as usual sub-200 read for those times when you don't need to focus or concentrate much. I like these kind of books as a hedge against tome/doorstop crime/thriller novels which too often do not deserve to take up so much of our time to get to the point... Kessler never writes "flabby fiction".
All that said you can care about the characters even though you know the key ones will always make it through to the next story. Reprehensible though they all are in this tale we encounter equally vile individuals, quite a few of them friend or foe... and some in between on both sides. But then this is war and there's no time for softies.
As to the veracity of the tale of Wotan helping out Rommel being his "desert rats" not The Desert Rats they were sort of up against I dunno. Tho they never come into contact. Rommel's Nazi affectations are still being discussed but it does make sort of sense he would send the Wotan gang on a suicide mission. But I have never read about such secret shenanigans behind Alamein. That is Mr Whiting's bailiwick I feel, the "untold" history of WW2 that is still too unpalatable for most.
So all in all read it as a kind of indulgence like I do but don't expect to much and at the same time don't fret about "wasted time" reading it... I got this book as a paperback yonks ago for tedious train journeys so am working through the series again before sending them off to the charity shop for others to enjoy.... or not...

[Steve Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

A silly and worthless piece of trash writing that portrays the SS as heroes and the British as ruthless criminals and deviants.

[Mati · Rating 2 out of 5]

Typical Kessler´s work: 1. bloody action in the most desperate place 2. Kuno the best from the rest 3. gays 4. whores 5. Schultze and booze

Wotan joined Africa corps for some action in desert. It is as crazy as it is written. There would not be Kessler´s book if some torturing of main characters - Kuno and the rest did not occure.