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".

Dive in the Sun

Author: Douglas Reeman

First Published: 1961

Pages: 258

Dive in the Sun is the first Douglas Reeman novel I have read. However it is not the first book by the same author as he also penned many books under the name of Alexander Kent. I'm sure some of you will recognise that name as the author of the Richard Bolitho series of books about naval warfare during the eighteenth century. What may not be so well known is that the Kent pen name originated from his boyhood friend and naval officer who was killed during the war.

Reeman was born in 1924 into an army family living in Surrey, UK. He served as a young man in the Royal Navy during the last few years of the Second World War and saw action in both destroyers and motor torpedo boats in the North Sea, the Arctic as well as the Mediterranean. He experienced being sunk and blown up on more than one occasion by the enemy. He also served in action during the Korean War. Clearly the man had the experience to back up his talent for writing war fiction. He begun writing in the late fifties, and was rewarded with a three book deal with Hutchinson & Company beginning with A Prayer for the Ship.

Reeman wrote twenty-eight Bolitho books and almost forty other novels of modern naval action and adventure under his own name. All these books are still in print, and are extensively available in eBook format across the world. Publishers estimate around 34 million copies have been bought.

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.

Bamboo Guerillas

1st Edition

Author: Guy N Smith
First Published: 1977
Pages: 144

Most people will think of the 'Crab' series of horror novels from the seventies and eighties when you mention the name Guy N Smith. The Crab books were very popular and their glorious covers were instantly attention grabbing and unforgettable. Personally, my own encounter with him came about through his novel The Locusts, another novel in the same vein but with.... well.... locusts. I still have one clear memory of a sequence in that book. I think it was a tramp who decides to take refuge in a car in order to avoid the oncoming swarm of insects. There is no escape, and he is consumed horrifically, with detailed description by Smith of the man having his testicles eaten before he loses consciousness. As a school-boy teenager that left quite a impression! I took the book in to school and it became quite a hit with my class, being passed around avid readers for a number weeks before I got it back all creased and bent.

Bamboo Guerillas was published in 1977, only a year after the first Crab novel, and just a few years after Smiths first few werewolf novels. It is quite a departure, being basically a Second World War story set in British Malay (now part of the federation know as Malaysia).

According to one of Smith's entries on his blog, he was asked to write a new War series and eventually ended up writing two stories of which only this first part was published. He was told by his editor to "go over the top, there are no boundaries in these books". I can confirm he did not hold back! I get the impression Guy N Smith is not someone that you have to tell something twice to. Give him an inch and he will run a mile as they say. This book is bonkers!

Comic: Black Hammer '45 #1

Published by: Dark Horse

Written by: Jeff Lemire, Ray Fawkes

Art by: Matt Kindt, Sharlene Kindt

I am a big fan of Jeff Lemire's Black Hammer series. The original series was a breath of fresh air for me last year. So it was with high expectations that I subscribed to this new series set in the Golden Age of World War II.

Mr Lemire is sharing writing credits with Ray Fawkes here. So I'm not sure how that will pan out. Presumably Jeff has provided an outline of the plot arch to be followed. I do not have any issue with this approach, but not convinced other readers will?

This first issue introduces us to the main cast; sets the background for the story and provides a modicum of history for a couple of characters. The plot device employed here is the reminiscences of a character named, Hammer Hawthorne. He is preparing to celebrate an undefined anniversary and travels to collect his colleague, Li. During this event we get to revisit their WWII escapades as members of the Black Hammer Squadron, a group of elite fighter pilots who do battle with extraordinary enemies within the Axis. We are also introduced to a bad-ass villain in the shape of the Nazi uber-pilot The Ghost Hunter, who has racked up an amazing number of kills and has had previous run-ins with the Back Hammer Squadron. We are also given a glimpse of Red Tide a group of Soviet Mechanical giant robots. There are some good moments here, nothing too spectacular, but enough to keep you reading.

I have to mention the art by Matt and Sharlene Kindt. It is very different from normal 'comic-book' fare. I can only describe it as scratchy ink, with elegant water colours. It's not something I've seen before, and takes a while to get used to. The characters heads appear too big in some panels, but otherwise it does not detract from the story telling. I'm not sure if it will grow on me or not, but I'm wiling to give it a go. I suppose this is based more upon the fact this is a Black Hammer comic, and should fit within the lore of other related lines.