Legion of the Damned by Sven Hassel

Legion of the Damned (1953) by Sven Hassel

Sven Hassel was the pen name of Danish-born Børge Willy Redsted Pedersen, who wrote a total of fourteen novels based in large part on first-hand experience he gained as a soldier for Germany in WWII. Legion of the Damned is considered the most autobiographical of Hassel’s works, detailing in first-person narrative the exploits of a young soldier who starts off the book convicted of desertion and placed in a concentration camp. 

The inhumanities of the camps are presented in a blunt, matter of fact manner that only adds to the horrors being described. We follow our protagonist through his harrowing time as part of a bomb disposal unit before being assigned to a penal combat unit. The cast of characters expands from this point with much camaraderie and even room for a little ill-fated romance for our narrator before the war intrudes again and our group ends up on the Russian front under the leadership of their sadistic Commander, Meier. 

The unexpected fever-dream plot, a mix of tragedy and, at times, black comedy, have the ring of truth to them as we are a fly on the wall through each turn of our narrator’s nightmarish journey through war, even as he rises in the ranks of leadership. At no time is there any remote glorification of war and the ideological slant remains firmly pacifistic. 

This is not an action novel by any means, although it has extended scenes of battle and an ever-present sense of dread. Instead, Legion of the Damned is a highly effective testament to the insanity and meaningless nature of war as presented in kaleidoscopic fragments that eschew a traditionally straightforward narrative. Clearly Hassel’s objective was not to excite and entertain but to educate and implore through the medium of words. 

My highest of recommendations!

Review by Steve Carroll