Blindatele morții

Legion of the Damned #2

by Sven Hassel

“Urlă, şuieră, explodează!… Este focul care se pogoară din cer.

Mamele strigă după Dumnezeu şi se aruncă deasupra copiilor pentru a-i smulge acestui potop ucigaş. Soldaţii uită ura ce le-a fost inoculată pentru a deveni salvatori. Împuşcături, frică şi panică, oamenii îşi ucid proprii conducători. Şi de ce această nebunie? De ce aceste orori?…

Asta-i dictatura, prietene.”

Șenile, tancuri, svatisca, steua roșie... Tunurile blindatelor distrug totul în cale... Bombele cu napalm nu lsaă nimic în urmă... Oamenii și casele lor dispar într-o clipă... Sven Hassel aduce imagini din apocalipsă...

Genres: War, Fiction, Historical Fiction, World War II, Military Fiction, Action, Audiobook

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

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

[Mihaela Abrudan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aceeași teroare și cruzime atât de partea nemților cât și a rușilor. Un infern creat de om la comanda unor demenți.

[Razvan Banciu · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual for Mr. Hassel, there are two distinctive ways to see his novels.
First of all (at least for teenagers who don't know too much about life...) it's the adventurous face of the stories, as you feel for Porta, Tiny or Old Man, their feats, their jokes, good or bad. The second aspect is about the war itself (the eponymous wheels are those of armored vehicles), which has almost nothing heroical. And that's the real message...

[Roxana Chirilă · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was just listening to a podcast in which one of the two hosts said that, if you give a woman a Sven Hassel novel, she'll think it's shit, and if you give it to a literary critic, the critic won't understand a thing.

This is when I remembered I read "Wheels of Terror" in its Romanian translation („Blindatele morții”) and I did indeed think it was shit that didn't make sense.

"Wheels of Terror" is a book about a guy named Sven Hassel. Supposedly, this is because it's the author's autobiography, but no. It's fiction. Hassel rewrote a few older war stories to star himself and his friends.

So. Sven Hassel the character is part of one of the shittiest battalions in WWII Germany, the penal battalion. They're basically the scum of the earth - a bunch of drunken, whoring bastards whose single job is to clean up the battlefield after the battle's over. They pick up bodies and incinerate them, and their lives suck so much that they grab any little bit of fun they can have. Unfortunately, their fun is pretty shitty - aside from drinking themselves into a stupor, one time they visit a brothel, trash it and rape the owners, because why the fuck not.

After that, they get to invade Russia, and suddenly become the best of the best. With incredible skill and the sort of luck only gods can bestow, they fight impossible odds, holding out against vastly superior enemies and turning, somehow, into morally upstanding, righteous, brave, wonderful soldiers. Or something like that. It's been a while since I read this, but they were basically different people at the end - not because they developed, but because Sven Hassel the author decided to copy-paste their names onto other people entirely.

Also, kudos to Sven Hassel for managing to suggest that his character of the same name died at the end of his "autobiography".

So... what can I say? Podcast-dude was right. As both a woman and as somebody who writes a lot about literature, I think this book was... well, inconsistent drivel.

[Patrick Neylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of Solzhenitzyn's obituarists said he was a witness rather than a talented author. That's certainly true of Sven Hassel. He writes simply and brutally, in a style that too often tips over into melodramatic shlock-horror. I like Hassel, but the accusations of "Panzerporn" are not unreasonable (the cover art is a good guide). A more sensitive translator would have helped, but the poor quality of the prose forbids five stars.

Yet Hassel is one of the few who can present the horror of war from the point of view of men who are neither good nor evil, swept up by the war machine and for whom there is no hope, no dignity and above all no redemption because they were on the wrong side. In his fictionalised memoir of his seven years in the Wehrmacht (1938-45) he rails against the Nazis, but he never apologises and never judges himself.

Wheels of Terror is told in a series of largely unconnected episodes. Most powerful for its chilling banality is the firing squad chapter, where Sven and his comrades share a truck with the old soldier and young female telephonist who know they are on their last journey.

It's easy - comforting even - to imagine every member of Hitler's war machine as a monster. It's easy to be good when you're on the right side, but Hassel invites you to join his legion of the damned and asks, "What would you do?"

[Mr. Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sven, The Old Un, Porta, and the rest of the gang are back.... on the Eastern Front. And, like them, I did not enjoy the experience.

This book follows the author's first book, Legion of the Damned. It is a much darker story. If not deliberate, I think it is unavoidable. The author's experience as a soldier in the Wehrmacht left him as both a front row observer and an active (albeit unwilling and reluctant) participant on what he knew to be an evil cause.

The story begins in a German city that suffers a horrific fire bombing (Dresden?). The gang is ordered into the city on a rescue and recovery mission. What they witness was absolutely terrible: children burned alive, families suffocated in bomb shelters, the partially melted corpses of indiscriminate humanity. At one point one of the crew shoots and kills burning civilians simply to put them out of their misery. How cleaning up the wreckage of human and witnessing these awful things did not break these men is beyond me. It was hard reading, and I was glad when the story moved on.

From Germany, the guys return to the Eastern Front where, as everyone knows, the fight is not going well. The tide of war has turned against Nazi Germany. There is only a relentless retreat punctuated by furious fighting. In this part of the story, we do get bursts of humor, but even that is tempered. The crew occasionally are lucky enough to find themselves on a quiet sector of the front - maybe even an area where Fritz is on good relations with Ivan. Both sides have an agreement to not shoot at each other. When officers come around, they warn each other and shoot high. This is another tragedy. Neither side (well, the grunts) really wants to fight. The Germans know their regime is evil. The Soviets know their side is bad too. They just want the war to be over and go home.

Unfortunately, neither side gets to go home. Roving bands of SS and over zealous offices kill deserters and leave their bodies hanging as a warning to other potential run-aways. The Soviet political commissars do the same. So the war drags on. And by the winter of 1944-45, it gets truly terrible for Sven and company. The German lines are collapsing. Everyone is streaming to the West and order is breaking down. The only thing that saves them is that the Russians are advancing faster than their supply lines.

Maybe it was just me, but I found this was a hard book to read. The stark reality of war was horrific to read about. As a result, this book lacked the 'fun' of the first. Having said that, I think this book should be mandatory for everyone that ever wants to join the military or go to war. Like Sherman said, war is hell.

Two stars out of five.

[OttoTheBierDude Thebierdude · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another rollicking tale of Porta, Tiny, The old Man etc
I must of read these books 4/5 times since I was a lad at school
Time to re-read I think
A strange thing is they are hard to find now all my copys are old and tattered and can only find replacments on second hand stalls?

[Eu și cărțile · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[SeRRo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sven Hassel is good at writing these war stories. They are intense and realistic, brutal and absurd.
Hassel shows that not all orders have been obeyed and not all ranks have been respected in wars. Soldiers, people, have done at times what was right or simply done things to survive. It's the horrors of war that leave the deepest wounds that can't be healed. And it's dilemmas in war that turn moral principles upside down.

I have realised a bit too late that they are a series and I can say that the Legion of the Damned is the deepest of them, while the others just share war stories making use of more or less the same characters.

[J W Murison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first full length novel I ever bought and read. I had no idea at the time, the impact this book would have on me. Now forty years later, and a novelist myself, I admit this author probably had more to do with me becoming an author myself, than any other. Wheels of Terror will leave you rolling around the floor in laughter one minute, and the next diving for cover. This author will introduce you to the full horror of war, in a manner that no other novelist could ever hope to achieve. J W Murison

[Dragos Iosif · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could not finish it. There is no real plot, characters are bland and there is no reason for me to continue reading this.
The first book could be excused for doing this because it contained everything the narrator's been through during WW2 and maybe he was just trying to provide his point of view, without making it a historic document. Maybe he meant to say his experience wasn't an exception, but rather the rule.

This time there is no excuse for the omission of dates or for the lack of continuity. This whole story seems made up. Sure, this is considered a work of fiction so I should not seek the truth here. But the things these characters go through sound like the most outrageous, unbelievable lies ever - and not in a sort of Munchhausen way. They have all the possible war and army related experiences. They are in training, guard a military unit, form an execution squad, drive tanks, drive cars, form an infantry unit, work in a repair shop, are sent to a military prison, are part of a disciplinary battalion, form rescue parties for civilians, bury the remains of incinerated people, and are - as the story needs them to be - either the most skilled soldiers around or just cannon fodder.

[Álvaro Moreno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crudo, brutal, explícito y grotesco que narra las barbaridades de la guerra vivida a línea de fuego.

[Hobbeldehoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the best of the Sven Hassel war novels based around a German penal unit on the Eastern front.

The novel's theme is as much horror as it is war or you could say the horrors of war. The content is graphic, scenes of violence that stay with you and the associated tragedy of the times. Although entertaining its not for the faint hearted and you're left pondering the madness of war and how as individuals we are mere pawns of higher powers in ivory towers.

Given the more enlightened public perspective where government corruption and war is concerned it's hard to see how armies could be raised in the same way again because pacifism if more prevalent in contemporary society and few, except radicalised ethnic groups, have an appetite for war. That's where this book does a service for humanity in general, it tells people how it really is and why the war cry should be rejected.

This book is a good read. In many ways pulp fiction but the message will reach a lot of people. Wheels of Terror doesn't glorify war. it's an anti war book.

[Rick Brindle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Sven Hassel's second book, and takes more of a fictional slant over his first one. The characters are slightly more comic- book, but his vivid description of the horrors of war, and the brutality of life on the eastern front are hard to equal. Beginning with the story of air raids over Hamburg, before moving to Hassel's usual location, fighting the Soviet masses, this novel still has the ability to shock decades after it was written.

[Lady Makaveli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is bone chillingly real, from a man who was there. I don't understand why it isn't rated way high. The characters are very personable with distinct traits, making each individual even more memorable. The story is gruesome, but real and from a unique point of view. I thought it. Was a great read.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm just hooked to Hassel's books. I like the explicit language and the way human character is put to tryouts in his books.
Just amazing!

[Gabs · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐

[Alex Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Occasionally, you pick up a book, out of the blue, perhaps in search of some escapist pulp entertainment, with few expectations, only to find something unexpected, a diamond in the rough.

After the first few pages, initially I predicted that this harsh, yet to be reckoned as excellent, gritty, rough-hewn work, filled with the black humoured stench and gore of war might scrape by with, at most, say a 3* rating (which is good and still worthwhile, 4* = excellent…I don’t think that I’ve ever given a 5* review).

Like buying a ticket and grabbing the gold ring on a ride on a merry go round, this wound up being one of those pearls-before-swine, slap-in-the-face literary epiphanies that you constantly crave but don’t usually experience.

Written in Danish, translated into English and listened to as an audiobook, you sense that there are bound to be important nuances that you are destined to miss out on along the way. Perhaps, my unconscious arranged it otherwise, or perhaps it was the narrator breathing life into it, but I didn’t feel while listening to this book anything that I could put my finger on that seemed lacking, other than perhaps a little more solidity in the character compositions.

This semi-autobiographical novel is about the author’s experience fighting for the Germans in a Frei Corps Disciplinary Unit, with a group of crude, rude, dangerous, rough, disgustingly honest, wisecracking, murderously damaged misfits and petty criminals a la a German version of The Dirty Dozen.

The 27th Panzer Penal Regiment comprises one of the most loathed and least respected mech infantry units in the Wehrmacht, yet they fight the Russians in the Ukraine during the waning days of WWII with relentless ferocity and caged-animal cunning that few of the better trained, higher rated and more well-mannered army units can match.

Graphic descriptions of the dark side of War. Not for the squeamish, PC-brainwashed or sentimentally delicate reader.

Think: Danish Solzhenitsyn, unpretentious with a black sense of humour, pulling no punches, telling tall tales with little room for bullshit or self-deceit in them.

The audio version narrated by the talented Rupert Degas.

[Sandra McCourt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book albeit a little disjointed but for me the book is different in such a way that it’s told from “the other side” . It’s about a group of German soldiers who are involved in the war. It begins in Germany where the penal regiment deal with the trashing of a city by the ‘tommies’ and they have to help bury the victims of which there are tons. They then go on journeys together Sven Porta the old un and they meet up with the little Legionnaire who along with Pluto join the band. The story (is what it is) is seen through the eyes of those German soldiers. They then get posted to the eastern front where the war is not good for their side. I’m going to give another one of his books a read to see what happens. Comrades of war is the next one so on the lookout for ones in charity bookshops

[Herbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tweede boek van hem en ik ben inderdaad fan ruw rauw kortweg een oorlogsverhaal zoals het moet spannend van het begin tot het einde. Soms doet het je huiveren maar toch ook steeds weer boeiend naar het vervolg. Op naar het volgende verhaal als ik deze nog ergens kan vinden natuurlijk.

[Edwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

2e deel uit een serie.

Later meer

[Horia Bura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my type of literary genre and also the writing is bad, at times. I will remain with the shocking image of tanks running over people of any age and sex.

[Patrick Moloney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wheels of Terror should be compulsory reading for all young adults. By reading this you will see the horrors of war up close and personal.In the pages of this masterpiece you will find things that make you laugh,cry,despair and be horrified, An unimaginable roller coaster ride through hell on earth that is modern warfare. Young men taken from an ordinary world and thrown into an extra ordinary environment. These are people such as we pass daily on the highways and byways of our everyday life. But they have been chewed up and spat out by the modern military machine and turned into monsters. Monsters who will kill maim and rape without compunction. Yet these are the same men who can show great empathy and compassion when least expected. If the laid bare facts of war and soldiering terrify you, then read this and be terrified and just maybe you may someday understand what is needed to prevent such situations. The men of the 27th Penal Panzer regiment are liars murderers and thief's. They are highly trained soldiers and killing machines, but above all else they are human beings who have been greatly wronged. An absolute masterpiece that looks deep inside the human psychic.

[David Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book in this series (Legion of the Damned) has a more focused plot and by all accounts is more autobiographical. This is the second book, and is more episodic and picaresque, like the 3rd book (Comrades of War) which I reviewed a few years back.

"Picaresque" of course in the sense of 'short bursts of horrific nightmare fodder followed by longer bursts of absurdity', much like the war itself.

One thing these books have accomplished: I feel very blessed and thankful for being born in the USA during the 1960s; and not in Russia, Poland, or Germany in the 1920s or 1930s.

[Hamish Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a few months had passed since I read the first book in the series, I was pleased the author helped me reacquaint myself with the main characters. Porta remains my favourite, hilarious and deadly.

Not a lot about tanks in the first half of the book, but there is plenty of tank porn in the back half. Each chapter is another crazy adventure.

The book really is brutal (fighting in the snow, close combat, torture, bodies blown to pieces with anti-tank guns, etc), but it is balanced with lots of humour as the guys take the piss out of the Russians, and each other.

I loved it, possibly more than Book 1 (Legion of the Damned). Fortunately I have Book 3 (Comrades of War) ready to go right away.

[Billy H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been sticking with the same sort of war and fighting genre, and this book has been one of the better ones I have read. Hassel's descriptions of his experiences create a strong view of the horrors of the war, and how it felt for him to be put through it all.
Another strong point, and something I rarely feel, was I started to like the characters. You feel happy or sad when his regiment does. It may seem weird, but I was actually supporting the German Soldiers over the Russians.
I really enjoyed this book, and I would definitely read the other books Hassel has written

[Saj · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't quite decide if I should label this one fiction or non-fiction... The author clearly says that he is describing personal experiences, but I do believe he has taken some artistic liberties. As a compromise I'm labeling it as historical, but not non-fictional.

The story is a bit of a blur since I read the first two books in the series in a row (and am using this same review for both), but I guess it suffices to say that war is hell indeed and there's no shiny heroics to be found in these books.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's all in here for the Sven Hassel fans... Tiny, Porta, The Legionnaire, The Old 'Un and Sven himself... all of the usual gang from the 27th Penal Battalion as they fight their way through Russia. This book is brutal and harsh and as good as you will get for WW2 military fiction.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sven Hassel in his books showed the World War II as it was for soldiers and civilians that were fighting and living on the areas of combat. Brutality, vulgarisms and presenting situation in the way it was without coulouring it up. Great inside story of an ordinary soldier who served in penal unit.

[Matthew Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glorious schlock.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this; it rang true to accounts I have heard from veterans about their experiences in war especially in tank battles. Fast paced...