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newt90's review
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
Monte Cassino and the battle in Italy is almost apocalyptic. The thousands and thousands of soldiers on either side who were massacred in this novel. This is a full on novel of the war with Sven and his colleagues Porta Tiny Heide The old man and the legionnaire. Its battles from start to finish and a bit close to the bone .
brian's review against another edition
4.0
Sven and his comrades from 27th Penal Regiment find themselves in Italy on the way to Monte Cassino. On Hitler's orders, they're to hold it so they can blame it's destruction on the Allied forces.
There's the usual characters (Tiny, Porta, the Legionnaire, the Old man etc) and their tall tales along with brutal descriptions of the war.
I know there's some doubt whether these are actually tales of Hassel's own time in the army (hence why I don't file them under Historical Fiction or History in my Goodreads shelves). He's always keen to point out they're following orders they all disagreed with but couldn't refuse.
A good read with a lot going on, with a mix of unrelenting fighting and the humour as they try to make the best of it without going mad. The ending was a bit bleak.
There's the usual characters (Tiny, Porta, the Legionnaire, the Old man etc) and their tall tales along with brutal descriptions of the war.
I know there's some doubt whether these are actually tales of Hassel's own time in the army (hence why I don't file them under Historical Fiction or History in my Goodreads shelves). He's always keen to point out they're following orders they all disagreed with but couldn't refuse.
A good read with a lot going on, with a mix of unrelenting fighting and the humour as they try to make the best of it without going mad. The ending was a bit bleak.
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