Wheels of Terror

Name: Wheels of Terror
Rating: 4.4 (1216 reviews)

by Sven Hassel Book 2 in the Legion of the Damned series.

First published 1958

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4.4(1,216)

The men of the 27th Penal Regiment return to the Eastern Front as an armoured unit, operating tanks and assault vehicles against Soviet forces. Porta, Tiny, the Legionnaire and Sven survive battles that destroy crews and machines with equal speed, while shortages of fuel, ammunition and replacement soldiers turn every advance into a calculation of how long they can remain alive.

Hassel concentrates on tank warfare at close range: confined interiors, mechanical breakdown, burning vehicles and the terror of being ordered forward by commanders far from the fighting. The soldiers reject Adolf Hitler’s cause but remain trapped inside the Wehrmacht’s chain of command, forming an improvised community based on practical loyalty, black humour and shared contempt for the institutions that treat them as expendable.