I'd always avoided these books because the covers put me off, they always seem a bit 'Yay the SS!' Hence my surprise when the book was actually extremely condemnatory of the SS and the whole German regime at the time.

So quite why the book designers decided to put Sven HaSSel emblazoned in bold on the cover I do not know. The guy clearly hated the SS, in fact he recounts with relish the number of times on the Eastern Front that the German army and Russians would stop shooting at each other for a while in order to shoot up SS units that had just arrived on the line, before continuing to shoot at each other.

As a novel it didn't quite work, too much jumping around, and the narrative structure itself is weak. But as a snapshot into history I liked it very much. I wonder how auto-biographical it was.

“Austrumos no Volkovas mēs tikām ievilkti smagā kaujā, kurā krievi sūtīja tankus un iznīcinātājus. Kādā sagrautā mājā te, Volkovā, mēs atradām rudu kaķi sēžam ratos un ārkārtīgi izmisīgi ņaudam no aukstuma un bada. Mēs viņam ar varu ielējām mutē mazliet šņabja un iedevām kaut ko ēdamu, un, kad mums bija jādodas projām no šis mājas, paņēmām līdzi. Tā kā viņš bija sarkanīgs, mēs viņu nosaucām par Staļinu.”

“”Pirms es jūs sveicu mūsu burvīgajā mazajā kūrortā, jums par visu vislabāk būtu jāzina, kas jūs tādi esat.
Jūs esat netīru slampu un draņķu bars, cūcisks pūlis, jūs esat cilvēces atkritumi. Jūs tad ir esat bijuši vienmēr, un tādi jūs paliksiet līdz savas nāves stundai. Un, lai jūs varētu izbaudīt savu pretīgumu, mēs raudzīsimies, lai jūs nomirtu lēni, ļoti lēni, tā, lai jums visiem pietiktu laika. Es jums personīgi apsolu, ka neviens neko neizmānīs. Jūsu ārstnieciskais kurss tiks ievērots, kā pienākas. Man būs šausmīgi žēl, ja kādam no jums kaut kas ies secen.
Un tagad es jūs sveicu SS un Vermāhta soda izciešanas koncentrācijas nometnē Lēngrisā.
Laipni lūgti, dāmas un kungi, Lēngrisas nāves nometnē.””

“Mani aizveda pie SS šturmbanfīrera Šendriha. Viņam pie logiem bija aizkari. Tie bija vienmērīgi tīri. Iedomājieties tikai, aizkari! Gaiši zaļi aizkari ar dzelteniem rakstiem. Gaiši zaļi ar dzelteniem rakstiem. Gai…
“Uz ko, velns parāvis, jūs tur blenžat?”
Es sāku. “Ne uz ko, Herr šturmbanfīrer. Piedodiet man, padevīgi ziņoju, ka es ne uz ko neblenžu.” Un iedvesma man lika piebilst zemā balsī: “Padevīgi ziņoju, ka vienkārši blenžu tāpat vien.”
Viņš samulsis paskatījās uz mani.”


Šī un otra latviski izdotā daļa šajā sērijā ir vienas no manām mīļākajām grāmatām. Pirmo reizi lasīju par karu šādā veidā. Viss bija ļoti brutāli parādīts, kā tam arī būtu jābūt. Svens un viņa biedri ar laiku ļoti notrulinajās pret ciešanām un kara šausmām tiktāl, ka pat smējās par to.
Vārdu sakot, ļoti labi un izklaidējoši uzrakstīts par vienu no šausmīgākajiem kariem pasaules vēsturē, turklāt ar humoristisku pieskaņu, kas man lika brīžiem pat smieties.
Es ļoti gribētu, kaut latviski būtu iztulkotas vēl viņa grāmatas, taču, cik man zināms, tad diemžēl nav.


Stabils 5/5

Bloody hell! This is quite a book. It's a novel but presented as based on fact as a memoir of a German soldier. It was written in the immediate aftermath of the war. It starts with him being tried for desertion and sent to a concentration camp where he is treated brutally. He is then sent to a penal batallion and ends up on the Eastern front.
Along the way, he frees some Jewish women from a camp, shoots some SS officers and generally represents the image of German soldiers as being unwilling servants or even victims of Hitler and the Nazis, just trying to get through the war alive like everyone else. It's moving in a way. It's also really well written, full of action. In short, a really good read.
What a shame, then, that the author was revealed to be a fraud and most likely a traitor who willingly served German intelligence.
Everyone should read this though, because it's fascinating. Everything about the moment in time, the controversy around the author, the conscious setting out of how a German soldier might want to represent himself and distance himself from the crimes in which he'd participated. It doesn't get much darker and yet it is as unputdownable as a a good thriller.

Jeg begynder at forstå, hvorfor han ikke er då anerkendt i sit hjemland!

This is not a book I'd normally read, but when I was 13 or 14 - when I first read this book - it certainly was. I came across this in a discount bookshop a little while ago and it brought back memories. I felt a nostalgic curiosity. I had read all of Sven Hassel's books when I was a kid, and a few times over - what would I think of them now? And so I bought the book and took it home with me.

I think re-reading old books is quite like what Heraclitus said about not stepping into the same river twice, for the river is changed and so is the man. So it is coming back to a familiar book after many years - especially when in between you've grown from boy to man. Reading is a personal, subjective experience, subject to time and space. As with music, we make associations, we experience it through our own personal circumstances. That's why reviews should only be a guide, because each of us reads with different eyes.

When I was a boy was enraptured by the brutal tales of the 27th Penal Regiment fighting on the eastern front against the Russian hordes. It was brutal and sometimes coarse, but what boy doesn't enjoy that? The characters were vivid and compelling and easy to like, even if they were the Germans - something I chose to overlook back then. These books and similar made up a great swathe of my teenage reading.

Years later I read it again and it is familiar very quickly. I recall the tone, angry at times and bitter occasionally and often fatalistic - none think they'll survive this war. But it has moments of broad humour also, even insight. In my memory this was the best of his books because I deemed it to be the most real - it was the book I could believe the most. It's episodic though, cramming the violent events of about four years into 250 odd pages.

It's not a book I would choose to read now normally, but still I raced through the last hundred pages, anticipating the moments recalled to memory as I read and wanting to experience them again. I'm glad I read these books when I was a kid, and glad to have read this one again. I would recommend to anyone who wants to experience this particular genre of WW2 literature - the first person, violent, brutal, almost nihilistic perspective of the German war on the Eastern front in Russia.

Even better, read The Forgotten Soldier - a classic. And another favourite of mine, if you can find it - The Torrents of War by Igor Sentjurc.

Näitä sitä aikoinaan luki salaa äidiltä, mieleen jäi sodan armottomuus. Tartuin uudelleen näihin ja näissä ei kyllä sotaa kaunistella vaikka sankarin viittaa välillä heilutellaan.

Great book about the horror in a war, how souls are torn appart, how humans are just numbers. In the first part of the book there are some introspects that don't seem to belong there, some personal thoughts that try to send a message but are disrupting the story.