The Big Breakout - T-Force #1

UK Sphere 1976 edition

Author: Charles Whiting

First Published: 1976

Pages: 192pp
Publisher: Sphere
Not currently available in eBook format

I've read a number of Charles Whiting's books about SS Wotan that were published under the pen name of Leo Kessler. So this time when I had a hankering for another, I decided to try something different, and sample a novel that didn't concentrate on the German side of World War II for a change. I had a look at the number of books he had written in this vein and decided to look into one of the series currently unavailable in eBook format.

Despite the fact  that a lot of Whiting's work (under his own name and those using pen names) have been published electronically, there are still a few series and individual novels that seem to be either being ignored, or just haven't got round to being converted yet. There is the Destroyer series, the Russian series (as Klaus Konrad) and the Special Boat Service series (as John Kerrigan) to name but a few. T-Force is another and consists of a four book series told from the perspective of the American military, and covers the exploits of a crack team of soldiers operating under the direct command of General George Patton during World War II and beyond. The original run of paperback books were published in a single year, 1976. I'm not sure if they saw publication in the U.S. at all, but from my own feeble attempts at internet researching - it doesn't seem to appear so. The fourth and final book in the sequence, The Last Mission is clearly labelled and described on the back cover as the final book in the quartet, so it looks like the deal with his publishers was for this limited run and nothing further ever planned.

Whiting may have based the concept of T-Force on General Patton's infamous "Task Force Baum", a secret Company commanded by Captain Abraham Baum in late 1945. Task Force Baum was given a mission to penertrate behind enemy lines and liberate the prisoners of war in camp OFLAG XIII-B, near Hammelburg, Germany. Secrecy surrounds the true nature of the operation but some believe it was designed to rescue Patton's son-in-law. It was a complete failure with most of Baum being either killed or taken prisoner themselves. All of the tanks, jeeps, and other vehicles were lost in the course of the assualt.

Claws of Steel (SS Wotan)

Author: Leo Kessler (aka Charles Whiting)

First Published: 1974

File size/Pages: 1595KB / 192pp
Ebook Publisher: Benjamin Lindley
Ebook Date: December 2014

Disclaimer: I have the Futura paperback version (pictured left) of this novel, so did not actually purchase the eBook).

It's time to check in with our German comrades of the Assault Battalion 'SS Wotan' in Leo Kesslers' third instalment of the Second World War series. This book, Claws of Steel was the third to be published, but is actually the sixth book if you want to read them in chronological order (preceded by Forced March and The Sand Papers). This time we join Von Dodenburg, Shulze, Schwarz, Metzger, and their commanding officer Grier (The Vulture), recovering from their time out on the Eastern Front after facing the horrors of a bitter winter fighting the Russians. Unfortunately Hitler has further plans for attempting to thwart the Red Army so The Bodyguard, as they are known, are set for another terrible experience.

Claws of Steel opens with a scene set in the Wolf's Lair, involving Hitler and his senior commanding officers planning out their next steps in the counter-attack on the Eastern Front. It is 1943, and the Nazi line has been punctured by the Russians - The Fuhrer needs a response and he needs it desperately as it is looking like the Americans will be joining the fight in Italy soon. He comes up with Operation Citadel. An attempt to pierce the Russian line and flank their troops that have been ensconced in Pokrovka, Prokhorovka and Kursk. He will use the combined forces of Model's XI Army from the north and Hoth's IV Panzer Army from the south in a pincer move that her likens to "crushing the life our of the Soviet serpent with two huge claws of steel".

Death's Head (SS Wotan)

Author: Leo Kessler (aka Charles Whiting)
First Published: 1974
Pages: 192

I was surprised how much I had enjoyed the opening title of the SS  Wotan series by Charles Whiting, writing as Leo Kessler. SS Panzer Battalion set the scene very competently for the long running SS Wotan series, introducing us to the soldiers and officers of The Bodyguard. This second book (chronologically that is) takes Von Dodenburg, Shulze, Schwarz, Metzger, and their commanding officer The Vulture, out to the Eastern Front to face the horrors of battling the Russians during a bitter winter.

Surprisingly Death's Head starts with a botched invasion of England, with the SS Wotan battalion being repelled by the British, leaving them weary, devastated and Von Dodenburg in a field hospital with a mild head wound. Whilst there he is treated by a sympathetic nurse, the Belgian, Simone Vannenberg. Upon recovering he continues a brief romance with her. She is an interesting character - despite her sympathies to the injured soldiers of the Reich, she is honest enough to admit that she stills regards them as her enemies. Von Dodenburg is eventually well enough to rejoin Wotan on active duty and they part.

SS Panzer Battalion (SS Wotan)

Author: Leo Kessler
First Published: 1974
Pages: 192

I was a little apprehensive choosing to read a Leo Kessler book. I remember reading a Sven Hassel book or two in my teens; they were the only other type of book my dad would read, if he was not reading a Western novel he'd picked up or borrowed from the local library at the bottom of our road. I didn't want to revisit my youth and ruin the memory I had of reading those books (I think I most likely only ever read one or two, but there's no way I can recall which ones!). At the time they seemed incredibly 'grown-up', containing bloody violence, and also being a bit rude. I hated the thought of now finding them to be not at all as adult as I had the impression all those years ago.

I decided to choose SS Panzer Battalion, which is the first - in chronological order - of the series dubbed 'SS Wotan'. There are currently over forty books in the series. Publishers Futura have gathered some of the key novels into a small collection called the Dogs of War, of which this one is book three.