
The Commissar
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Narrated by:
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Samy Andersen
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By:
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Sven Hassel
About this listen
Heide wails, jumps up and lands on the other side of the trench, where he slides through the mud like a bulldozer. Our tank starts backing up in full speed. Porta has clearly also spotted the madness lying ahead in wait of spreading death and mutilation. Nothing travels as fast as the rumor that the front troops have hit the dreaded mines. Suddenly everything goes quiet. Even the heavy Maxim gun stops. Everyone holds their breath and waits for the mine to go off.
Sven Hassel was sent to a penal battalion as a private in the German forces. Intensely and with brutal realism, he portrays the cruelty of the war, the Nazi crimes and the crude and cynical humor of the soldiers. With more than 50 million sold copies, this is one of the world's best selling war novels.
©2018 SAGA Egmont (P)2018 SAGA EgmontListeners also enjoyed...
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Blitzfreeze
- By: Sven Hassel
- Narrated by: Sam Devereaux
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Porta struggles to keep the heavy tank between the marching soldiers. One moment of inattention, and he will bulldoze an entire company. An enormous fireball strikes the bushes in front of the vehicle. The panzer soldiers jump head first from the tanks for cover. With frightened eyes and beating hearts they lay in the sun, waiting for death. A great wall of fire rises towards the sky. - Stalin organ, Heide mumbles terrified. Porta speeds up the engine. The tank plows through sun and water. They are near Moscow, 1941.
By: Sven Hassel
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SS General
- By: Sven Hassel
- Narrated by: Sam Devereaux
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It is freezing 38 degrees. Stalingrad, the winter of 1942-1943. A chilling wind sweeps over the plains, slinging ice crystals into our faces. We are marching past thousands of frozen bodies. The SS-general is marching in front of the convoy, silently and withdrawn. He is angry. We realized that a while back. A fanatic who wishes to die in battle. And the SS-general wants to take as many to die with him as possible. "MOVING STUDY IN THE STALINGRAD CAMPAIGN...
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A Good Work
- By Robert Hobbs on 06-18-23
By: Sven Hassel
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Assignment Gestapo
- By: Sven Hassel
- Narrated by: Kenneth Wright
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It feels as if the entire area is blown up. A long rumbling explosion shakes the German position. Then an infernal scream sounds. Through flashes of fire, they see Tiny's huge silhouette with the light grey bowler on his head. He is standing by the end of the enemy trench with his machine gun resting on his hip. The tracer streak projectiles shoot out of the muzzle. Bewildered shapes flee in panic. - What a bunch of devils, the Russian lieutenant exclaims in admiration.
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Excellent book
- By Ovidiu Kimpen on 05-25-20
By: Sven Hassel
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OGPU Prison
- By: Sven Hassel
- Narrated by: Sam Devereaux
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
At least one battalion of flame-throwers is swinging around like a pack of crazy wild boars. Long, flaming red tongues of fire are hissing from the towers, charring every living thing. From the GPU-prison stream shoals of red prisoners. A barrage of incredible dimensions is hammering down behind the Germans. It seems like the Russians have guessed that they are pondering an escape and want to stop it with an impenetrable wall of fire, spreading as far as the eye can see.
By: Sven Hassel
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Bloody Road to Death
- By: Sven Hassel
- Narrated by: Sam Devereaux
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Bloody partisan fights rage in the Balkans. Grenades rain down over the streets. From the rooftops, a heavy machinegun fire strikes down on the hunting battalion. Moaning, the injured soldiers crawl for cover. Molotov cocktails explode with hollow roars, and the burning liquid splash up on humans and materiel. - Partisan, the major stutters terrified and jumps off the vehicle. Porta salutes him with an idiotic smile. - Reporting to the Major that they will probably make it hot for us!
By: Sven Hassel
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Reign of Hell
- By: Sven Hassel
- Narrated by: Sam Devereaux
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Rumor has it; they are being moved to Warsaw. Heide, who is always informed, claims that all hell is loose over there. There is talk of a German pullback from the eastern frontline. Thousands of British paratroops have landed and Polish soldiers converge on from the woods. But the Polish army is already doomed. Not only by the Reichsführer Himmler in Berlin, but also by Marshal Stalin. The Polish nationalists vainly beg the Red Army for help. But it has already been decided that the Polish communists are to take over Poland.
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Excellent
- By Christopher on 08-12-22
By: Sven Hassel
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Blitzfreeze
- By: Sven Hassel
- Narrated by: Sam Devereaux
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Porta struggles to keep the heavy tank between the marching soldiers. One moment of inattention, and he will bulldoze an entire company. An enormous fireball strikes the bushes in front of the vehicle. The panzer soldiers jump head first from the tanks for cover. With frightened eyes and beating hearts they lay in the sun, waiting for death. A great wall of fire rises towards the sky. - Stalin organ, Heide mumbles terrified. Porta speeds up the engine. The tank plows through sun and water. They are near Moscow, 1941.
By: Sven Hassel
-
SS General
- By: Sven Hassel
- Narrated by: Sam Devereaux
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is freezing 38 degrees. Stalingrad, the winter of 1942-1943. A chilling wind sweeps over the plains, slinging ice crystals into our faces. We are marching past thousands of frozen bodies. The SS-general is marching in front of the convoy, silently and withdrawn. He is angry. We realized that a while back. A fanatic who wishes to die in battle. And the SS-general wants to take as many to die with him as possible. "MOVING STUDY IN THE STALINGRAD CAMPAIGN...
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A Good Work
- By Robert Hobbs on 06-18-23
By: Sven Hassel
-
Assignment Gestapo
- By: Sven Hassel
- Narrated by: Kenneth Wright
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It feels as if the entire area is blown up. A long rumbling explosion shakes the German position. Then an infernal scream sounds. Through flashes of fire, they see Tiny's huge silhouette with the light grey bowler on his head. He is standing by the end of the enemy trench with his machine gun resting on his hip. The tracer streak projectiles shoot out of the muzzle. Bewildered shapes flee in panic. - What a bunch of devils, the Russian lieutenant exclaims in admiration.
-
-
Excellent book
- By Ovidiu Kimpen on 05-25-20
By: Sven Hassel
-
OGPU Prison
- By: Sven Hassel
- Narrated by: Sam Devereaux
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At least one battalion of flame-throwers is swinging around like a pack of crazy wild boars. Long, flaming red tongues of fire are hissing from the towers, charring every living thing. From the GPU-prison stream shoals of red prisoners. A barrage of incredible dimensions is hammering down behind the Germans. It seems like the Russians have guessed that they are pondering an escape and want to stop it with an impenetrable wall of fire, spreading as far as the eye can see.
By: Sven Hassel
-
Bloody Road to Death
- By: Sven Hassel
- Narrated by: Sam Devereaux
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bloody partisan fights rage in the Balkans. Grenades rain down over the streets. From the rooftops, a heavy machinegun fire strikes down on the hunting battalion. Moaning, the injured soldiers crawl for cover. Molotov cocktails explode with hollow roars, and the burning liquid splash up on humans and materiel. - Partisan, the major stutters terrified and jumps off the vehicle. Porta salutes him with an idiotic smile. - Reporting to the Major that they will probably make it hot for us!
By: Sven Hassel
-
Reign of Hell
- By: Sven Hassel
- Narrated by: Sam Devereaux
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rumor has it; they are being moved to Warsaw. Heide, who is always informed, claims that all hell is loose over there. There is talk of a German pullback from the eastern frontline. Thousands of British paratroops have landed and Polish soldiers converge on from the woods. But the Polish army is already doomed. Not only by the Reichsführer Himmler in Berlin, but also by Marshal Stalin. The Polish nationalists vainly beg the Red Army for help. But it has already been decided that the Polish communists are to take over Poland.
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Excellent
- By Christopher on 08-12-22
By: Sven Hassel
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Comrades of War
- By: Sven Hassel
- Narrated by: Samy Andersen
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
We hear the crawlers closing in. A T-34. They must have seen us, Tiny whispers. - Stay low until it is right here, then we run! The horrible clattering of the crawler comes closer and closer. I know this fear, creeping up the spine. It will mean certain death if they run just one second too soon. How we get up, I don't know, the legs move automatically. The tank wiggles over the hole and crushes everything in it. Then it rumbles on.
By: Sven Hassel
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Wheels of Terror
- By: Sven Hassel
- Narrated by: Rupert Degas
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Stationed on the Russian Front and now equipped with armoured vehicles, Sven Hassel and his comrades from the 27th Penal Regiment fight on remorselessly... All of them should be dead: Life expectancy on the Russian Front is measured in weeks. But Sven, Porta, Tiny and The Legionnaire fight to the end, not for Germany, not for Hitler, but for survival. Wheels of Terror is a sobering depiction of war's brutalities, and the violence and inhumanity that the history books leave out.
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excellent!
- By C on 06-23-16
By: Sven Hassel
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Legion of the Damned
- By: Sven Hassel
- Narrated by: Rupert Degas
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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.
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A great, literary war novel
- By Lucca ate your Lunch! on 11-08-15
By: Sven Hassel
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Orders Is Orders
- By: L. Ron Hubbard
- Narrated by: R. F. Daley
- Length: 2 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Chinese city of Shunkien is under siege, the Japanese military laying it to waste. In the middle of the city sits the American consulate, a fragile sanctuary packed with refugees, threatened not only by artillery, but by the ravages of starvation and cholera. 200 miles away, on the USS Miami, stands their only hope - Marine Gunnery Sergeant James Mitchell. As tough as Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan - and just as stubborn - if anybody can negotiate a crucial supply of gold and medicine through 200 miles of bullets, bombs and butchery, it’s Sergeant Mitchell.
By: L. Ron Hubbard
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The Forgotten Soldier
- By: Guy Sajer
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 21 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Guy Sajer joins the infantry full of ideals in the summer of 1942, the German army is enjoying unparalleled success in Russia. However, he quickly finds that for the foot soldier the glory of military success hides a much harsher reality of hunger, fatigue, and constant deprivation. Posted to the elite Grosse Deutschland division, he enters a violent and remorseless world where all youthful hope is gradually ground down, and all that matters is the brute will to survive.
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A Beautifully Written Heartrending Tragedy
- By Gillian on 03-31-17
By: Guy Sajer
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Beneath a Scarlet Sky
- A Novel
- By: Mark Sullivan
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 17 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He's a normal Italian teenager - obsessed with music, food, and girls - but his days of innocence are numbered. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior. In an attempt to protect him, Pino's parents force him to enlist as a German soldier - a move they think will keep him out of combat.
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The Best Thing? It Really Happened!
- By Chip Atkinson on 08-07-17
By: Mark Sullivan
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All Quiet on the Western Front
- By: Erich Maria Remarque
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Paul Bäumer is just 19 years old when he and his classmates enlist. They are Germany’s Iron Youth who enter the war with high ideals and leave it disillusioned or dead. As Paul struggles with the realities of the man he has become, and the world to which he must return, he is led like a ghost of his former self into the war’s final hours. All Quiet is one of the greatest war novels of all time, an eloquent expression of the futility, hopelessness and irreparable losses of war.
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My Choice for Frank Muller's Best
- By Alan on 10-13-12
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Swan Song
- By: Robert R. McCammon
- Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 34 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Facing down an unprecedented malevolent enemy, the government responds with a nuclear attack. America as it was is gone forever, and now every citizen - from the President of the United States to the homeless on the streets of New York City - will fight for survival. In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, earth's last survivors have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil, that will decide the fate of humanity.
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Simply an Amazing Story
- By Amanda H. on 06-21-12
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To Hell and Back
- By: Audie Murphy
- Narrated by: Tom Parker
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Audie Murphy was a desperately poor eighteen-year-old orphan when he joined the Army, nineteen when he first saw a buddy die from an enemy bullet and an enemy die from one of his own. By VE day, he had killed at least 240 Germans, had single-handedly destroyed a German tank in one battle and held off six tanks in another, and had become the most decorated soldier in American history, winning every medal his country offered, including the Congressional Medal of Honor.
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Puts you in the place & time along with him
- By Patrick on 12-30-13
By: Audie Murphy
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Brought to Battle
- A Novel of World War II
- By: J. Scott Payne
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A young sergeant, recovered from battle against Rommel's Afrika Korps, is appointed leader of a dozen know-it-all draftees being poured into the Army's replacement pool. He toughens them into an effective team. As they land at Utah Beach, the Wehrmacht hands out its own bloody lessons. In minutes, one is dead and a second wounded, the onset of a pitiless 10-month ordeal. In horrific combat from Normandy through the Bulge to the Elbe River, they learn to defeat a skilled and hardened enemy. All pay a steep price.
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one of the best stories that I've heard in a long
- By Anonymous User on 03-04-19
By: J. Scott Payne
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'Rommel?' 'Gunner Who?'
- A Confrontation in the Desert
- By: Spike Milligan
- Narrated by: Spike Milligan
- Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of 'Rommel?' 'Gunner Who?', written and read by Spike Milligan. 'Keep talking, Milligan. I think I can get you out on mental grounds.' 'That's how I got in, sir.' 'Didn't we all?' The second volume of Spike Milligan's legendary recollections of life as a gunner in World War Two sees our hero into battle in North Africa - eventually.
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More Spike Please.
- By DARBY KERN on 06-30-22
By: Spike Milligan
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Worldwar: In the Balance
- By: Harry Turtledove
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 26 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
War seethed across the planet. Machines soared through the air, churned through the seas, crawled across the surface, pushing ever forward, carrying death. Earth was engaged in titanic struggle. Germany, Russia, France, China, Japan: the maps were changing day by day. The hostilities spread in ever-widening ripples of destruction: Britain, Italy, Africa...the fate of the world hung in the balance. Then the real enemy came.
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Awesome
- By W on 03-29-10
By: Harry Turtledove
Critic reviews
THE CERTAIN SENSE OF DRAMATIC ANTI-THESIS HAS TURNED SVEN HASSEL INTO A NEW HEMINGWAY
--RAMAR-GAN, ISRAEL
What listeners say about The Commissar
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Arjay
- 04-04-20
Use it as an Indication of Conditions
Given the reports of activities of Sven Hassel post war, you have to take this as complete fiction. It is an indication of what the conditions were like on the Russian front. Legion of the Damned was a fairly good book about an aspect of the German army - the punishment battalions. This seems to have strayed from that topic, even though there is some overlap of characters. He keeps adding outrageous characters. The story is stale. The narrator is horrible. He rarely changes inflection, so you can't tell which character is speaking.
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