Operation Leningrad

by Leo Kessler

SS Assault Regiment Wotan faces certain failureLeningrad is being besieged by German troops in a siege that will eventually last 900 days. The Russians have reduced their forces at Lake Ladoga, not expecting a German attack in the snow. Aware of this, Hitler decides to send in his elite Wotan. The war has become a personal matter between Hitler and Stalin, and Wotan will undergo tremendous suffering and losses to make Hitlers dream come true.

Genres: Fiction, War

301 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2005

About the author

Pseudonym for Charles Whiting

Reviews

[Cerisaye · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starts well enough, there's even a quote from Kant to raise the tone, out of the crooked timber of humanity nothing straight was ever made, but by the time Kessler gets to the meat of the action, contrary to expectations my interest, like the story, flagged. It staggers on with a mix of action and bad sex scenes then peters out. The best scenes take place the the Charité hospital in Berlin where our SS hero von Dodenburg's doctor, an old friend of Kuno's family, does his best to prevent the brave young officer from uselessly sacrificing his life for a crooked system the Herr Professor Doctor believes intent on destroying Germany. But Kuno's sense of duty and loyalty requires necessary sacrifice, so the Russian front it is, to Leningrad with Wotan, a unit of Finns including some pretty young women (eye roll) and some new Tiger tanks in a doomed attempt to break the siege there. I enjoy Kuno with his close cropped blond hair, hard handsomeness and supreme arrogance, and the 'old hares' Schulze and Matz dedicated to suds, sex and survival. I read the novel over a rainy afternoon and for what it is I am not going to complain too much. You either like Kessler or you don't. I suppose with so many books the quality is bound to be a bit hit and miss.

[Roy Szweda · Rating 2 out of 5]

The other review more or less said it all. Have read a lot of LK books and one gets the feeling he might have run out of steam with the 22nd episode where remarkably all the old gang are still here up to their usual tricks of bullet-dodging and womanising.
Always keen to read stuff about Tiger tanks or the T34 for that matter - you get a bit of both here in another rather preposterous operation. But this was a bit disappointing to as they arrive and more or less that is it. Some annoying jumps too which gives the impression Leo lost interest in this tale. The reader might feel the same way...
Got this one from the library and rattled through it kind of glad I did not buy it.
By the way Tiger fans should look out for James Rouch book "Tiger" of a western front encounter of a different kind... if you like LK you will like JR esp his Zone series but he did three good WW2 novels.