The Judas Battalion

by Peter MacAlan

Austin Roberts has a plan. A plan he takes to his commanding officer, Brigadier Kylie…

They need to work together to bring the war to an end. They need to save the lives of tens of thousands. His plan is crazy … infiltrating a British agent into the Nazi British Free Corps.

With Hitler’s birthday coming up, it would be the perfect opportunity to assassinate Hitler.

With Hitler planning on parading bodyguards formed of British Fascists, it would be the perfect opportunity to bring the regime to its knees.

But who would be willing to put their life at risk?

They needed someone with enough confidence to carry out the assassination entirely on his own, with no assistance from the British at all.

Thirty-year-old Charlie Collins was serving his fourth month in the Military Detention Barracks in Colchester.

Sentenced to twelve years’ imprisonment, Collins doubted whether he’d survive. Convicted of mutiny, his death sentence had been reduced, but would that have been better?

Intelligent, quick witted and with the ability to improvise, Collins was Roberts’s man of choice for the operation.

When Collins’s train is hit, he takes the opportunity to escape from the Military Police, a perfect staging for the beginnings of Operation Hagen. Unsure of his own reasons, Collins wonders where his sudden patriotism comes from.

With a contact name from Roberts and a new alias, Collins finds himself heading to Germany, via Dublin and under the guise of an Irish sailor, he joins Hennessy on the Ard Rí.

Arrested on suspicion of being a spy, Collins manages to escape and make his way to the German Embassy in Germany.

With his life on the line … Collins sets out to bring an end to Hitler’s propaganda…

The Judes Battalion is a historical thriller filled with suspense and high stakes.

303 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 18, 1984

About the author

Peter Berresford Ellis (born 10 March 1943) is a historian, literary biographer, and novelist who has published over 90 books to date either under his own name or his pseudonyms Peter Tremayne and Peter MacAlan. He has also published 95 short stories. His non-fiction books, articles and academic papers have made him acknowledged as an authority on Celtic history and culture. Under Peter Tremayne, he is the author of the international bestselling Sister Fidelma mystery series. His work has appeared in 25 languages.

Reviews

[Cold War Conversations Podcast · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid and Pacey WW2 Thriller

Originally written in the 1970s this novel doesn’t show any age in its new release by Endeavour Press. It’s a pacey, page turning thriller with some solid historical research behind it.

The story revolves around NCO thirty-year-old Charlie Collins who is serving his fourth month of twelve years in the Military Detention Barracks in Colchester. He is recruited by British intelligence into a plan to assassinate Adolf Hitler by infiltrating a British agent into the Nazi British Free Corps.

MacAlan has obviously researched into the history of the British Free Corps which was a unit of the Waffen SS during World War II consisting of British and Dominion prisoners of war who had been recruited by the Nazis.

With a strong historical basis the author cranks up the tension as the book speedily moves to its climax. Well worth a read.

[Michael Dorosh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just reread this after reading it probably 20 years ago. This book has unfortunately not aged well. It's a serviceable thriller, though naturally, the success of the main character's real mission is never in doubt, particularly since Tom Cruise made the actual assassination of Hitler mainstream entertainment with Valkyrie. The author is a little too keen to show off his historical research, some of which shows it's pre-internet pedigree. The book has a number of bloopers such as identifying the Grossdeutschland division as an SS unit (they weren't), having SS men refer to each other as "Herr" (in fact, they didn't), or using in at least one case a rank title that never existed. The incorrect "Volkstrum" one associates with amateur enthusiasts makes an appearance (the actual word is "Volkssturm"). When this was originally written, few English-speaking readers would have known or cared about such details, but audiences have become much more sophisticated and there is much more public knowledge of the common errors of fact and nomenclature that the author makes.

The lack of sophistication extends to the style of prose, with some clunky writing that wouldn't make it through a modern editorial process. The version I have (and is illustrated - the Star Book printing of 1984) includes a few minor typos, again evidence that the book never received a thorough editing before publication.

There are probably too many characters, and instead of developing the main characters into believable flesh and blood people, MacAlan tries to weave in historical figures like Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler, for no real purpose other than to try and provide an epic feel to the story. The book opens with a set of minor characters on the Russian Front who play no part in the story and disappear for good after the first 8 pages. A number of minor characters confusingly share the name of historical figures while clearly not intending to be them - the character Fromm is a minor Gestapo man, not the general executed following the historical Hitler bomb plot, while "von Fegeleinn" is similarly not the historical Fegelein, better known as Hitler's brother-in-law. This just betrays either a lack of imagination on the author's part, or a belief that the reader wouldn't know who the historical men were.

Despite all this, the story is serviceable, and the storylines of the numerous characters all converge to the climax in creditable fashion. If you don't mind the paragraph-long history lessons which do more to detract from the pace than to provide necessary plot information, you'll enjoy the book. And some will like these historical details, even if not directly connected to the plot. This kind of writing was probably common once upon a time, but modern editors would likely blanch at many of the outdated techniques used to tell the story. For those interested in the historical British Free Corps, it may be a bit of a treat to see some of their historical figures mentioned, but none of them are really fleshed out or play much part in the proceedings, either and a potential source of conflict - this stranger dropping into the midst of the BFC - is largely uncommented on in favour of weaving tangential characters into the storyline. The main character asks several times "can it really be this easy" - and unfortunately that only reinforces the number of times events occur solely to satisfy the plot.

[Donna Twichell · Rating 3 out of 5]

(I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)

I was interested in reading this story because of its historical references and plot to assassinate Hitler, but it was not as exciting as I would have expected.

For me, it read quite slowly. I understand that it was important to build background and set up the plot, but it wasn't until two thirds of the way into the book that any real action started.

The set up and character development could have been quicker and more intriguing. Instead, however, it seemed to drag on and became a bit tedious.

But, when the action started, it was very good. The real historical figures, groups and incidents were interesting. And the assassination attempt, and set up leading to it, were exciting.

I wasn't happy with the very end though, because I wanted to know what happened to the main characters, especially Collins and Lottie Geis who were intriguing.

I do like that, as a sort of postscript to the book, the author gave us the history of what happened to Hitler and his associates just months after the date of this story.

Would I recommend the book? Yes, to someone who was extremely interested in history and with the disclaimer that it's real slow in the beginning but, if you stick with it, it gets better.

[John Purvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Judas Battalion” eBook was published in 2017 (original paper edition published in 1983) and was written by Peter MacAlan. Mr. MacAlan published seven novels.

I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence and Mature Language. The story is set during 1944. The primary character is Charlie Collins, a British soldier.

The Germans have formed an SS unit, the Britisches Freikorps, made up of British POWs. The Germans plan to use the unit to build tension between the British and the Russians. To highlight their existence, Hitler plans to use the unit as a special honor guard at his birthday celebration.

The British see this as an opportunity to kill Hitler and shorten the war. They find Collins in jail doing time for mutiny. He is only 4 months into a twelve year sentence and he has a bleak outlook for the future. He is approached with a wild plan to get him into Germany and into the British SS unit.

Collins takes the assignment even though it sounds like a suicide mission. He is completely on his own and goes though one misadventure after another in his attempt to reach Germany and find his way into the SS unit. Along the way the meets and falls in love with a German woman who is part of the growing resistance within Germany.

Will Collins be able to carry out his assignation mission? Will he be able to escape Germany and take the woman he has fallen in love with to safety?

I enjoyed the 7 hours I spent reading this 303 page World War II Fiction novel. Even though it was published more than 30 years ago, it still reads well. The characters were interesting and they plot had a few twists along the way. The cover art is OK. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

[C.A. A. Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad war thriller. If I was to be picky, and I must be, there was a lack of bite in the build up. But it did develop into an exciting story in the final third.

[Margaret Duke-Wyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Judas Battalion by Peter MacAlan

This is described as Historical Fiction, Mystery and Thriller and to a certain degree it ticks all boxes, but perhaps less a mystery.

I loved the main protagonist Charlie Collins and particularly liked the way his character was portrayed by outlining the reasons for his 12 year sentence of imprisonment. No James Bond here but a well-constructed, well-written narrative with plenty of historical fact and historical figures (i.e. Churchill) to underpin and secure the plot.

Clearly the aim of Operation Hagon did not succeed and that fact kept me thinking, how could Collins succeed giving the true facts. I need not have worried, the story and the ending were more than satisfactory.

If you like books like Frederick Forsyth and Robert Ludlum, I would be amazed if you did not enjoy this.

I was given an ARC of this book by NetGalley via my Kindle in return for an honest review.