Commando Himmler

Legion of the Damned #9

by Sven Hassel

Burning, looting, raping, murdering, Hitler's Penal Regiment advanced on the centre of Warsaw leaving in their wake a bloody trail of death and destruction. They killed indiscriminately: Pole or German, man, woman or child - anyone who crossed their path was eliminated. For Himmler had sworn that Warsaw would be razed to the ground - if it took every member of the German army to do it! And tot the Fuhrer's expendable battalions, for whom life had no meaning, the battle for Warsaw became an inferno - an endless Reign of Hell...

Genres: War, Historical Fiction, Fiction, World War II, Military Fiction, Adventure, Literature

Paperback

First published April 1, 1971

About the author

Hassel served in the Danish merchant navy till 1937, when he moved to Germany to join the army. He served with the second Panzer Division stationed at Eisenach and in 1939 was a tank driver during the invasion of Poland. A year later he attempted to escape because of being mentally exhausted. He was transferred to a Sonderabteilung, a penal unit manned by criminals and dissidents. He served with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment and later the 11th and 27th Panzer Regiments (6th Panzer Division) on all fronts except North Africa and was wounded several times. Eventually he reached the rank of lieutenant and received an Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class. He surrendered to Soviet troops in Berlin in 1945 and spent the following years in various POW camps. He began to write his first book Legion of the Damned while he was interned. He was released in 1949, and was planning to join the French Foreign Legion when he met Dorthe Jensen. They got married in 1951. He went to work in a car factory. In 1957 Sven Hassel suffered from an attack of a sickness caught during the war and was paralyzed for almost two years. After recovery, he began to write more books.

See also Sven Hazel

Reviews

[Razvan Banciu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably not the finest piece of literature, but surely a lively book.
The characters are colorful and human, besides their transformation during the war. Fragments of written Nazi history give us the feeling of non-fiction and make us see the ugliness of the third Reich. So, if you ask me, everyone should read at least one of Hassel's books.

[Phillip Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main characters are prisoners forced to fight in the German Army as the need for soldiers becomes desperate in the final days of WW II as the Soviet Union marches on to Berlin. These men are part of a Nazi war machine that sees human life as nothing compared to the wishes of the Fuhrer. There is plenty of carnage as ideology becomes meaningless in the struggle to survive in the battle of the Warsaw Uprising as the valiant Poles rise up against Nazi tyranny. What really incensed me was how both the British and the Soviets did nothing to aid the Poles in their fight to survive the Nazi attempt to eradicate Warsaw. The Soviet Union had a post war plan to dominate Poland and the elimination of non-communist forces was part of it. That goes to prove Von Clausewitz's thesis that war is politics by other means.

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's no shying away from the horrors of war in this gut-churning WWII read, detailing the story from the German side. A group of outsiders in the Penal Regiment find themselves in Poland, caught between the courageous Polish resistance and the sadistic S.S.

Hassel's books are all quite similar, detailing the horrors of warfare and all featuring the same group of downtrodden characters. There's no shying away from bloodshed and depravity here, as anti-war sentiments run high.

The result is an utterly gruelling read that should be mandatory in schools around the world - certainly this on-the-front line type of account teaches more about the reality of WWII than watered-down TV documentaries. Grim and depressing, but all too real.

[Mihai M Tiganus · Rating 5 out of 5]

O carte care probabil descrie perfect ororile războiului. Cine nu a mai citit Sven Hassel probabil va fi convins sa mai citească si alte carti ale lui.

[Jeff Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I've noticed about Sven Hassel's novels is the ability to jump straight in to action from the previous novels without ever losing quality in the writing. The Penal Brigade find themselves fighting, loving and pillaging in Poland while attempting to survive. The second part of the book concerns the Warsaw Uprising and the brutality handed out by the Dirlebanger and Kaminski Brigades. This is a truly brutal account of war and should be a must read for anyone interested in the subject of war.

[Procyon Lotor]

9th Reign of Hell chapter by chapter: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. The Camp At Sennelager Explanation of penal battalions. Section waiting at a railway station and playing cards with French and British POWs. Porta has a collection of war souvenirs ready for trade with the Americans. Tiny tries to adopt a horse. Heide gets set up on a charge but Lt L�we gets him out of trouble. Talk about the Commandant of Sennelager, Count von Gernstein and his commune with the Devil. Delivery of men for 999 battalion at Sennelager. Lots of dead among the men. L�we gets into a dispute with their guard. The prisoners/volunteers are marched off to the prison. Tiny spots Gestapo Lutz from Paris and decides to deal with him personally. Inspection by Staff-Sergeant Hoffmann. Wolf interrupts. Lots of stories of life at Sennelager. Story of Lieutenant-Colonel Schramm, the camp executioner. Gregor, Sven and Tiny see Satan standing at von Gernstein's window! Repercussions of this. Wolf and Porta extract information about a hidden stash of black market goods from an ex-general amongst the prisoners. 2. Deserters Dirlewanger and Berger. Regiment moves to marshland near Matoryta. Inspection by new divisional commander, and a stirring speech! Drunkenness in sergeant's mess gets out of hand. L�we to the rescue again. Talk about WUs (Wehrmacht Unw�rdig - unworthy of army service). Trenches at the front. Description of Siberian snipers and Porta's response. Russian propaganda. Offer of sanctuary for 999 battalion soldiers. Some of them plan to take up the offer and desert to the Russians. Reprisals follow. 3. The Major From The Pioneer Corps Story of Polish civilians forced to clear mines. Back to the marshes. The local wildlife has to get used to the fighting. Russians attack across the marsh... with tanks. Close anti-tank fighting. Tiny takes a Russian prisoner and makes friends with him! Lots of fighting. Sven gets a new pair of boots from a dead Russian. Encounter with British SS unit. Tiny explains his trick of acting stupid. Long march. Mission behind the Russian lines. Old Man insists on investigating in detail (while everyone else just wants to get back to safety). Porta and Tiny do some corpse looting. Another attack is planned. Description of Pioneers. Porta's meeting with the Pioneer's Major! The Major starts ordering people to attack the Russians in a generally suicidal manner. 4. Down The Side Of The Mountain Story of Kaminski. Preparation for another mission. This time the section has to hold a position on a mountain. They have plenty of ammunition which excites Tiny. They are led by a 'dodery old colonel' who hasn't a clue how to give orders. Old Man effectively takes over command. Comment about Heide ending up as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Russian army after the war. Attack by Mongol soldiers. Fun with the colonel and his complaints about Tiny and Heide. Tanks attack up the hill. Porta eats a couple of tins of meat and drinks a bottle of stolen sake. More anti-tank fighting and then the headlong retreat down the side of the mountain. Hiding in a Polish forest. 5. The Pole Progress through the forest. Heide cleans himself up to the amazement of everyone who doesn't know him. Wounded private wants to surrender to the Russians. Old Man deals with him. To hide from the Russians the section buries itself under leaves and soft earth. Sven almost suffocates. Lack of food. Porta starts making up menus until the Old Man shuts him up. One of the new recruits deserts and is shot dead by the dreaded Siberians as he tries to surrender. Ladislas Mnasko, the Pole, turns up. His house is occupied by Cossacks. Section sets off to liberate it in exchange for help in crossing the river. Long wait while the Cossacks drink themselves into a stupour. Porta is anxious about their roast beef being burnt! Terrible discoveries in the house. The Pole's wife and son have been killed by the Cossacks. Revenge is taken. 6. The Way Over The River Start of the Warsaw Uprising and Himmler's response. Ladislas the Pole takes everyone to a 'crossing place'... which turns out to be a fallen tree trunk across an abyss. The Pole and his sister cross and Tiny follows and nearly doesn't make it. Slowly, everyone crosses in all sorts of different ways and various amounts of drama. Return to German lines and encounter with children in SS uniforms, who manage to shoot Barcelona by mistake (he's only wounded). Section sets off for Warsaw taking in some anti-tank fighting along the way. Story of Tania the Russian doctor. Sven is hit in the neck by a bullet and is convinced he will be paralysed. He tries to get treatment but is accused of attempted desertion. Encounter with friendly MP (now there's a first). 7. At The Sign Of The Welcoming Goat Himmler, Berger and Dirlewanger. Warsaw. Gregor and Porta discuss the war and the English. Streetfighting. Visit to The Sign Of The Welcoming Goat (where Porta has some sort of business deal with Piotr the Ukranian patron). They eat boiled crow and cutlet of dog. Encounter between army padre and badly disfigured captain. Various skirmishes. The padre is killed. Porta, Sven and Tiny set off to find food. Porta describes his Bouillabaisse. 8. The Brothel More about the Warsaw Uprising. Visit to The Kaiser's Night Cap (the most elegant brothel between the Volga and the Rhine). Confrontation with the Madame. Heide has a fight with a parrot. Uule Heikkinen and half a dozen of his Finnish guerilla fighters arrive and start demanding whores. Various adventures before they succeed in their quest. Sven ends up with a girl he reckons is a spy. The brothel is bombed and everyone flees. Porta hands Madame a bundle of suspiciously new looking Roubles. 9. The Cemetery Of Wola Story of the Polish divisions trying to relieve Warsaw. Street fighting. Description of the fighting at Wola. Civilians thrown out of their houses by Dirlewanger and Kiminski Brigade SS men. Dirlewanger and Kiminski meet and start trying to outdo each other. Civilians are killed and various acts of torture and violence described. Tiny goes and captures a Dirlewanger Unterscharf�hrer and wants to take revenge on him. The Old Man takes control as usual. More back and forth fighting with the Poles. Mention of camouflage smoke/gas. Section is issued with 'P64' tanks. Sven's tank is hit and the crew abandon (except for Sven who has to destroy the remains). Retreat into the sewers. When they get out again the section is forced to crew an SS Tiger. Once again it is disabled and Sven has to destroy it but the mechanism fails. He eventually manages to blow up the tank in entertaining style. Tiny and Porta go scavenging and get back with half a pig in tow. They have seen Dorn from Torgau and he has seen them. Old Man warns them of the danger. Porta and Tiny disappear with the pig... and Dorn turns up with L�we and three MPs looking for it. L�we basically ignores Dorn. 10. The End Of The Race End of the Uprising. Tiny gets hold of a pair of racing cats ("Food!" says Porta) and persuades the section to arrange a competition (with lots of betting money involved of course). Racing commences. Discussion of animals/pets in general! Further fighting and corpse clearing duties. Porta has a confrontation with a medical corps Colonel... who then gets himself shot. End of the Uprising.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Penal Regiment this time fights in Warsaw during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. They had nothing to loose but their lives. Warsaw citizens - guerillas made them work hard for their pay. The guerillas made the fight a hell for German troops.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The characters are witness of destruction of Polish uprising as Himmler swears that Warsaw should be razed to the ground.

[Sean Peters (A Good Thriller) · Rating 4 out of 5]

To this day I remember reading all Sven Hassell books and all the characters he had in his books.

[Hans-Petter Sandseth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leste den norske utgaven

[Socrate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Niciunul dintre soldaţii Companiei a cincea nu voia să ajungă în unitatea de pază de la Sennelager. Dar ce contează ce vrea sau nu vrea un soldat? Soldatul este o maşină. Singurul scop al soldatului este acela de a executa ordine. Doar o singură greşeală să facă, şi se pomeneşte foarte curând transferat la degradantul Batalion disciplinar, numărul 999, ghena de gunoi pentru toţi delincvenţii.

Exemple sunt nenumărate. Să luăm, de pildă, pe comandantul unităţii de tancuri, care a refuzat să asculte ordinul de a arde până în temelii un sat împreună cu toţi locuitorii lui: Curtea Marţială, degradarea până la gradul de soldat, Germerscheim, 999… Succesiunea era rapidă şi inevitabilă.

Sau să luăm pe Obersturmführer-ul SS, care s-a opus transferării sale în serviciul securităţii: Curtea Marţială, degradarea până la gradul de soldat, Torgau, 999…

Toate exemplele au o anumită monotonie lugubră. Şablonul, o dată stabilit, nu mai putea fi modificat, deşi, după o vreme, rândurile batalioanelor disciplinare au început să fie îngroşate atât prin transferarea criminalilor, cât şi a delincvenţilor militari.

În partea I, paragraful 1, a Regulamentului Armatei Germane pot fi citite următoarele: „Serviciul militar este o datorie de onoare”…

Iar în paragraful 13: „Oricine primeşte o condamnare la închisoare mai mare de cinci luni nu va mai fi considerat demn pentru serviciul militar şi pe viitor i se va refuza dreptul de a servi în vreuna dintre forţele armate de uscat, maritime sau aeriene”.

[Andreas Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro a tema che parla della rivolta di Varsavia e del tremendo eccidio che ne seguì per rappresaglia, sotto lo sguardo compiacente dei Russi che si limitarono a favorire i tedeschi nel compito con una tregua non concordata sul fronte. In questo libro vi è, come negli altri precedenti, la ridondanza delle informazioni sui personaggi. I protagonisti vivono come sempre tra fatti quotidiani ( donne, affari, grattacapi ) e pallottole, sempre a metà strada tra la vita e la morte in un mondo dove provare pietà è segno di disgustosa debolezza e dove un uomo ha minor valore della pallottola con la quale è ucciso.

[Mihaela Abrudan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nu știu cum să-i cataloghez pe conducătorii naziști, nu cred că există diagnostic pentru aceste creaturi.
Înainte de retragerea din Polonia au ordonat și săvârșit niște masacre inimaginabile, iar excesul de zel al unora i-a uimit până și pe compatrioții lor. Modul în care Hassel prezintă ceea ce a văzut, ceea ce a simțit, a trăit este ca un film de groază care pare fără final. Într-un discurs Himmler susținea " ... luarea vieții unui om nu trebuie să însemne pentru noi mai mult decât uciderea unei vite..." Te lasă fără cuvinte!

[Alex Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third book read on the trot by the newly discovered (by me) author.

Not as highly rated in comparison to the previous two works, this one has a distinct meandering feel to it.

Part of the issue may have been the narration, the narrator using English regional accents to differentiate the characters, which in my opinion doesn’t work in a novel depicting German soldiers.

Not Hassel’s best, but still worth a read.

[Asaria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Druga wojna z perspektywy żołnierza niemieckiego? Dlaczego nie? Hassel pokazuje realia, które w praktyce pozostają niezmienne. Szeregowcy próbujący przetrwać, kapralowie użerający się z generalicją czy radzenie sobie z okrutnymi rozkazami. Są to realia pozbawiające człowieka wyboru, czyniące z niego pionka w grze imperiów. I jak tu żyć?

Duńczyk uczłowieczył niemiecką armię II wojny światowej :).

Co do samej książki, nie wiem czy przeczytałabym ją gdyby nie audiobook.

[Sandra McCourt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poland and Warsaw to be flattened said Himmler and his troops practically did that with so many lives lost. The bare brutality in this book of the war is realistic and gory. The characters are downtrodden in this book because it’s constantly on the move. The bare minimum to no rations available. The theft of food being corporal punishment and Hassel himself about to give up and cross to the Russian side . Will he ?

[David Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hassel's series of World War II tank regiment books have become more focused on famous episodes: Monte Cassino, Stalingrad, and now in this book, the Warsaw Uprising. The storytelling and characterization have dropped off. The scenes are as powerful and well drawn as always, but very episodic and not connected to each other.

[Andrei Şuteu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazingly written, full of details (not Tolkienesque), enough to give you goosebumps at disturbing war paragraphs, described thoroughly and careful.

This is my first Sven Hassel experience but I'll definitely come back for more.

[Andrei · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t put it better than Newsday put it on the back cover “An exposé of the absurdity of war, and a moving plea for peace”

[Pernilla Viberti · Rating 5 out of 5]

è uno splendido romanzo che racconta la guerra senza retorica, un libro che definirei pacifista proprio per come dipinge senza retorica le atrocità della guerra

[Donnacha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must say this is a very good novel about German soldier life on the Eastern Front during World War 2.

[Lssyac · Rating 1 out of 5]

dated, just not fun to read

[Wilde Sky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Members of a German Penal Regiment find themselves fighting, in a cruelly insane war, across Poland.

This was a relentlessly bleak / brutal book, looking at a series of actions in WWII that were marked out by the level of bloodshed / depravity / betrayal. It was unusual in the way that the events were told from the perspective of the German soldiers.

I thought this was a good book, but one filled with the horrors of war (which are described in detail) so not for the squeamish.

Overall my rating would be 4 – as some times the narrative jumps weren’t clear and some of the sections were incredibly dense (in terms of detail / names / etc.).

[Handrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

"- Den nationalsocialistiska idén, förklarar han för papegojan, rör sig om att allesammans har det bra. Du måste låta avfärga dig, när vi har krossat kommunismen och den internationella judendomen. I den nya tiden finns det inte plats för röda papegojor. Var kommer ni för resten ifrån, min herre? Ni liknar inte någon german! Er näbb har en egendomlig form!"



"Adam Lutz störtade sig dödsföraktande fram mot de sibiriska undermänniskorna. Han fick högra benet avskjutet, men han tog det resolut och krossade skallen på en överkamratkommissarie med det. En pansargranat slet det andra benet av honom, men det tog inte musten ur den tappra landstormsmannen. Med en handgranat mellan tänderna kröp han mot en T 34, som flög i luften. Till sist kämpade den modiga soldaten med sitt blodiga huvud under armen. Just innan han föll lyckades han skära halsen av två sibiriska generaler. Det är någonting, som man kan förstå där hemma. Även med tomaten under armen kämpar den tyska soldaten vidare. Det har Adolf själv sagt."

[Mati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Sven Hassel´s books is sure way to the pacifism and sometimes it could bring very bad dreams about horrors of war. This time Sven, Tiny, Alte, Porta and others are in Poland and they are witness of destruction of Polish uprising. Warsaw was ordered to be destroyed and author leads us trough every grim detail of it. Murders and horrid deaths with very cold descriptions of various atrocities are put on with ease and one could thing that such things should never repeat ever again.

After reading several Sven Hassel´s books, I think this author is repeating himself but it is still enjoyable.

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did make me laugh when I found a copy on the book shelves, I remember reading all the series when in my mid teens; then I would of prob rated it as 5 stars ! As a more diserning reader and an adult the foul language and infantile behaviour has modified my rating.

[Iain Watson]

Reign of Hell (Cassell Military Paperbacks) by Sven Hassel (2004)

[Bogdan Iacoboaie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very intresting book.

[Polifemo]

Posiblemente no el mejor libro de Sven Hassel, sino un montón de anécdotas en general, incluyendo los ojos de Stan jugando a las cartas con el comandante en Sennelager! El tema general del libro es el levantamiento de Varsovia, pero en la manera típica de Sven, en los últimos capítulos hay algunas descripciones muy desagradables de Dirlewanger y Kaminski brigadas SS.