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Title: Legion of the Damned

Author: Sven Hassel

Narrator: Rupert Degas

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-29-14

Publisher: Orion Publishing Group

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 27 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Convicted of deserting the German army, Sven Hassel is sent to a penal regiment on the Russian Front. He and his comrades are regarded as expendable, cannon fodder in the battle against the implacable Red Army. Outnumbered and outgunned, they fight their way across the frozen steppe....

This iconic anti-war novel is a testament to the atrocities suffered by the lone soldier in the fight for survival. Sven Hassel's unflinching narrative is based on his own experiences in the German Army. He began writing his first novel, Legion of the Damned, in a prisoner of war camp at the end of the Second World War. Read by Rupert Degas.

Editorial Reviews:

"An extraordinary book, which has captured the attention of all of Europe" (New York Times)"Legion of the Damned is an incredible picture of totalitarianism, of stupefying injustice... He is graphic, at times brilliantly so, but never brutal or bitter. He is, too, a first-rate storyteller" (Washington Post)

Members Reviews:

A great, literary war novel

There is a certain type of universal, everyman war novel that transcends nationality. While "All Quiet on the Western Front," is considered a literary war classic, I was surprised to find that I liked this book better. For anyone who has read Johnny Got His Gun, The Things they Carried, The Painted Bird or Farewell to Arms, you will find yourself stepping into similar themes. Exhaustion. Torture. Horrors of war. Comedy. Rare, odd bits of humanity. I did not expect this book to be anything better than a general war story, but its actually very well-written and much more literary than I'd expected. The author spices the story with his insights and grudges against war more overtly than in books like Farewell to Arms. After having read so many war books, I don't have high expectations towards encountering new ones. This one really took me by surprise and I loved every minute of it. On top of that, the narrator is superb. Couldn't have found someone more perfect. I will definitely read more books by this author as they come available on audible.

strayed from the novel

not bad, I grew up reading Sven Hassell, all of them. this story strays from the novel considerably. a bit too much filler and not enough action for me.

A revelation.

This is a powerful account of the madness and dehumanisation of war. It is quite old fashioned, written in a very telling and sometimes passive style, but it is very moving, especially when the protagonist returns to the front after hospital. I don't care how much of it is true, the anti-war message is strong and it is not the boys own adventure I thought it would be for all those years.

Either a fraud or a fantasy

What about Rupert Degass performance did you like?

Everything. It was a brilliant performance. Unfortunately this is the second bad book I have chosen purely for the narrator. I wish they picked him for some better books.

Any additional comments?

We have all heard that the WWII Russian front was one of the nearest things there has ever been to hell on earth and reading an autobiographical account of it promised to be both enlightening and fascinating. At first it was. The hero seemed to give an honest account, full of humble reflections, of the extraordinary suffering and extraordinary heroics in which he had become embroiled. Unfortunately it was too extraordinary.