Legion of the Damned

More about the book

Sven Hassel's iconic war novel about the Russian Front. 'An extraordinary book, which has captured the attention of all of Europe' - New York Times 'Legion of the Damned is an incredible picture of totalitarianism, of stupefying injustice... He is graphic, at times brilliantly so, but never brutal or bitter. He is, too, a first rate storyteller' - Washington Post Convicted of deserting the German army, Sven Hassel is sent to a penal regiment on the Russian Front. He and his comrades are regarded as expendable, cannon fodder in the battle against the implacable Red Army. Outnumbered and outgunned, they fight their way across the frozen steppe... This iconic anti-war novel is a testament to the atrocities suffered by the lone soldier in the fight for survival. Sven Hassel's unflinching narrative is based on his own experiences in the German Army. He began writing his first novel, Legion of the Damned in a prisoner of war camp at the end of World War Two.