The Legion of the Damned (novel)
Encyclopedia
Legion of the Damned is the first of 14 World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 novels written by author Sven Hassel
Sven Hassel
Sven Hassel is a Danish-born soldier and writer who has written pseudo-autobiographical novels based on his experiences in World War II.-Biography:...

. The book covers a chronological period of a number of years, starting with the author's arrest and time in German concentration camps, and ending with his being an officer and company commander on the Russian front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...

. All of Sven Hassel's subsequent war stories, from a chronological point of view, fill in details omitted by this book.

Published in 1953, the book provides a moving account of life as a soldier in European Russia
European Russia
European Russia refers to the western areas of Russia that lie within Europe, comprising roughly 3,960,000 square kilometres , larger in area than India, and spanning across 40% of Europe. Its eastern border is defined by the Ural Mountains and in the south it is defined by the border with...

 during the Second World War. The descriptions of violence contain graphic detail that caused a stir at the time.

It is more solemn and more serious than all of its successors, save perhaps Wheels of Terror. In some respects it seems to be modelled on Erich Maria Remarque
Erich Maria Remarque
Erich Maria Remarque was a German author, best known for his novel All Quiet on the Western Front.-Life and work:...

's All Quiet on the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the detachment from civilian life felt by many of these soldiers upon returning home from the front.The...

, in particular the parallels between Willi Beier and Kat. Some sources describe Legion of the Damned as a grislier, more fast-paced, version of Remarque's famous book.

The book opens with the author being tried and convicted as a deserter, and as a result being sent to concentration camp. He spends a number of months in camps, particularly Gross Rosen and Lengries, where he is involved in bomb disposal and also witnesses a number of atrocities committed by the SS guards, before abruptly being "pardoned" and dispatched to a penal regiment
Strafbattalion
Strafbattalion were Wehrmacht penal units created from military prisoners during the final years of the Second World War. Soldiers sentenced to these units were poorly-armed and required to undertake dangerous high-casualty missions...

, the Sonderabteilung
Sonderabteilung
Sonderabteilung is a German word often used to refer to some special German military formations during World War II. This term was similar to a detachment or battalion....

 27th Panzers.

Legion of the Damned won critical acclaim across Europe and the United States and was translated into 15 languages. It has been also optioned for a film.
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