March Battalion

Name: March Battalion
Rating: 4.5 (644 reviews)

by Sven Hassel Book 4 in the Legion of the Damned series.

First published 1962

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4.5(644)

Sven and the recurring soldiers of the 27th Penal Regiment are thrown back into the destructive warfare of the Eastern Front. Replacements and survivors are assembled into marching formations intended to feed depleted units, and the men move through ruined settlements towards battles in which German commanders regard their lives as a consumable resource. Combat quickly erases distinctions between discipline, panic and instinct.

The novel depicts the Eastern Front as a system of attrition rather than a sequence of heroic victories. Adolf Hitler’s demand for continued resistance is experienced through exhausted troops, brutal officers and penal soldiers who obey because refusal may bring immediate execution. Hassel balances graphic violence with barrack-room comedy, showing how the group’s language, thefts and quarrels preserve a limited sense of individuality within mass warfare.