|
|
Post by H_P_Saucecraft on May 21, 2010 0:12:07 GMT
Gunther Lutz - Panzer Platoon: Death Ride (Sphere 1980)I picked this up at the same time as Brandenburg Division, It's part of a series (as listed on the back), but no numbers are given, so I've no idea if this is the first. Does anyone know if Gunther Lutz was the author's real name or a pseudonym (a la Hutson's Wolf Krieger)? & why does the character name Micki Boden seem familiar? Cover Scan:
|
|
|
|
Post by hugegadjit on Mar 28, 2011 18:14:20 GMT
I had this back in, oooh, 1981 or something... as far as I know the only war pulp to feature the Elefant (erroneously though... wasn't it the Ferdinand at this stage of proceedings?). Can't remember seeing any more in the series. Any idea who did the cover art?
|
|
|
|
Post by ripper on Sept 22, 2024 10:47:30 GMT
Just looking at the Gunther Lutz Panzer Platoon series, there are the following titles (assuming all are in the series):
Blitzkrieg (1977)
Blood and Ice (1978)
Support Rommel (1979)
Invade Russia (1980)
Death Ride (1980)
Attack Anzio! (1981)
Crete must Fall! (1983)
Cassino Corpse Factory (1983)
Storm Belgium! (1983)
I can't be sure this is a complete list, but if the above are all in the Panzer Platoon series then they certainly got around a bit.
|
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Sept 22, 2024 15:46:45 GMT
Just looking at the Gunther Lutz Panzer Platoon series, there are the following titles (assuming all are in the series): Blitzkrieg (1977) Blood and Ice (1978) Support Rommel (1979) Invade Russia (1980) Death Ride (1980) Attack Anzio! (1981) Crete must Fall! (1983) Cassino Corpse Factory (1983) Storm Belgium! (1983) I can't be sure this is a complete list, but if the above are all in the Panzer Platoon series then they certainly got around a bit. A pity that the scans died. According to some listings these are two series. The 1983 novels are a series titled Nazi Paratroopers.
|
|
|
|
Post by ripper on Sept 22, 2024 16:09:47 GMT
Just looking at the Gunther Lutz Panzer Platoon series, there are the following titles (assuming all are in the series): Blitzkrieg (1977) Blood and Ice (1978) Support Rommel (1979) Invade Russia (1980) Death Ride (1980) Attack Anzio! (1981) Crete must Fall! (1983) Cassino Corpse Factory (1983) Storm Belgium! (1983) I can't be sure this is a complete list, but if the above are all in the Panzer Platoon series then they certainly got around a bit. A pity that the scans died. According to some listings these are two series. The 1983 novels are a series titled Nazi Paratroopers.
Andy, you beat me to it regarding those three being in the Nazi Paratrooper series. I was surprised to read that Lutz was apparently a real person, and a professor of Philosophy no less. He also seems to have been a fairly prominent member of the Nazi party, and here I was expecting 'Gunther Lutz' to be merely a pen-name like 'Leo Kessler'. Also, this guy was in his 60s and 70s when he wrote the two series. I wonder what made him do that at such a mature age? I also expect that these books were only published in the UK and there were no German editions. |
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Sept 23, 2024 8:25:29 GMT
I was surprised to read that Lutz was apparently a real person, and a professor of Philosophy no less. He also seems to have been a fairly prominent member of the Nazi party, and here I was expecting 'Gunther Lutz' to be merely a pen-name like 'Leo Kessler'. Also, this guy was in his 60s and 70s when he wrote the two series. I wonder what made him do that at such a mature age? I also expect that these books were only published in the UK and there were no German editions. Hm. This gets complicated. There was a Günther Lutz, a professor of Philosophy. And Nazi. He wrote for the Propaganda Ministery. But he was executed by the Russians in 1946. I couldn't find a Gunther Lutz, but maybe he was also some German writer. It is not exactly a unique name. On the other hand, Sphere and co were sometimes creative with their pseudonyms. Klaus Netzen or Bruno Krauss come to mind. Valid German names.
Not one of those novels was published in Germany, as far as I know. Of course there were novels about the war, but in the mainstream. Jack Higgins The Eagle has Landed or Ken Follett's The Needle. But never those paperback series or war comics like Battle Action. It just was not the thing to do, also it could have brought legal problems. Basically the same situation as with the PC Cowboys western. Here a few indeed were bought for publication, but they were edited to death and sometimes whole parts re-written. I always wonder if no editor read one of those beforehand and bought them unseen. It is a plausible scenario, considering most of them were published in a weekly Heftroman anthology series, which were just sold for that week and then replaced with the next one. Not exactly the market for bestsellers or for writers to get noticed.
|
|
|
|
Post by ripper on Sept 23, 2024 13:12:21 GMT
I was surprised to read that Lutz was apparently a real person, and a professor of Philosophy no less. He also seems to have been a fairly prominent member of the Nazi party, and here I was expecting 'Gunther Lutz' to be merely a pen-name like 'Leo Kessler'. Also, this guy was in his 60s and 70s when he wrote the two series. I wonder what made him do that at such a mature age? I also expect that these books were only published in the UK and there were no German editions. Hm. This gets complicated. There was a Günther Lutz, a professor of Philosophy. And Nazi. He wrote for the Propaganda Ministery. But he was executed by the Russians in 1946. I couldn't find a Gunther Lutz, but maybe he was also some German writer. It is not exactly a unique name. On the other hand, Sphere and co were sometimes creative with their pseudonyms. Klaus Netzen or Bruno Krauss come to mind. Valid German names. Not one of those novels was published in Germany, as far as I know. Of course there were novels about the war, but in the mainstream. Jack Higgins The Eagle has Landed or Ken Follett's The Needle. But never those paperback series or war comics like Battle Action. It just was not the thing to do, also it could have brought legal problems. Basically the same situation as with the PC Cowboys western. Here a few indeed were bought for publication, but they were edited to death and sometimes whole parts re-written. I always wonder if no editor read one of those beforehand and bought them unseen. It is a plausible scenario, considering most of them were published in a weekly Heftroman anthology series, which were just sold for that week and then replaced with the next one. Not exactly the market for bestsellers or for writers to get noticed.
My bad, Andy. I saw several sites that tied the Gunther Lutz who was professor of philosophy to the author of the same name who wrote the Panzer Platoon and Nazi Paratrooper series. I did find it odd that someone of his academic background would write that kind of thing, and at an advanced age, but finding out someone like Charlie Chester wrote the kind of novels that he did made me think that it was not beyond the realms of possibility. I must say that I am tempted to get one of the Gunther Lutz series just to see how much of a Sven Hassell clone the novels are. Can't see any on Kindle, so I will have to keep a look out for a paperback. I can appreciate that fiction about the war is a difficult area in Germany. PC cowboy series puzzles me more, though I think you mentioned previously that the violence was frowned upon, making publication tricky, as most are, indeed, rather brutal at times. |
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Sept 23, 2024 14:28:34 GMT
My bad, Andy. I saw several sites that tied the Gunther Lutz who was professor of philosophy to the author of the same name who wrote the Panzer Platoon and Nazi Paratrooper series. I did find it odd that someone of his academic background would write that kind of thing, and at an advanced age, but finding out someone like Charlie Chester wrote the kind of novels that he did made me think that it was not beyond the realms of possibility. I must say that I am tempted to get one of the Gunther Lutz series just to see how much of a Sven Hassell clone the novels are. Can't see any on Kindle, so I will have to keep a look out for a paperback. I can appreciate that fiction about the war is a difficult area in Germany. PC cowboy series puzzles me more, though I think you mentioned previously that the violence was frowned upon, making publication tricky, as most are, indeed, rather brutal at times. It is a logical assumption, ripper. While translations for the English speakting markets were rare in genre books, they happened in the mainstream and war books. Will Heinrich's Cross of Iron or H.H.Kirst's Night of the Generals comes to mind. And Lutz is featured in the German Wikipedia.
True, the violence of the early PC Cowboys was the problem. Back then the Heftroman was everywhere available and had no age restrictions. It is a cultural thing. Glorification of violence or vigilantism was thought the wrong message for young and impressionable minds. One famous example of early problems with content which was deemed unsuited for minors was Mickey Spillane in the 50s. You could write a book about different translated editions of Spillane's early novels.
Accidently I got one of the 5 German translations of Angus Wells' Breed. They were published in the weekly Wildwest-Roman which ran from 1957 to 1997. 1859 issues mostly written by German writers. The Wells novel was cut for length, nearly every of the rather sadistic killings by the hero was edited for violence. It made a rather dull novel even duller.
|
|
|
|
Post by ripper on Sept 23, 2024 18:09:41 GMT
My bad, Andy. I saw several sites that tied the Gunther Lutz who was professor of philosophy to the author of the same name who wrote the Panzer Platoon and Nazi Paratrooper series. I did find it odd that someone of his academic background would write that kind of thing, and at an advanced age, but finding out someone like Charlie Chester wrote the kind of novels that he did made me think that it was not beyond the realms of possibility. I must say that I am tempted to get one of the Gunther Lutz series just to see how much of a Sven Hassell clone the novels are. Can't see any on Kindle, so I will have to keep a look out for a paperback. I can appreciate that fiction about the war is a difficult area in Germany. PC cowboy series puzzles me more, though I think you mentioned previously that the violence was frowned upon, making publication tricky, as most are, indeed, rather brutal at times. It is a logical assumption, ripper. While translations for the English speakting markets were rare in genre books, they happened in the mainstream and war books. Will Heinrich's Cross of Iron or H.H.Kirst's Night of the Generals comes to mind. And Lutz is featured in the German Wikipedia.
True, the violence of the early PC Cowboys was the problem. Back then the Heftroman was everywhere available and had no age restrictions. It is a cultural thing. Glorification of violence or vigilantism was thought the wrong message for young and impressionable minds. One famous example of early problems with content which was deemed unsuited for minors was Mickey Spillane in the 50s. You could write a book about different translated editions of Spillane's early novels.
Accidently I got one of the 5 German translations of Angus Wells' Breed. They were published in the weekly Wildwest-Roman which ran from 1957 to 1997. 1859 issues mostly written by German writers. The Wells novel was cut for length, nearly every of the rather sadistic killings by the hero was edited for violence. It made a rather dull novel even duller.
Funny you should mention Cross of Iron, Andy, I was thinking about the film version today. It's been many years since I saw it last and have not read the novel, so that is another for my 'wants' list. As for Night of the Generals, I saw the film version only once when I was around 12 on UK TV, so hardly remember it in any detail, and that is another I should try to see again--didn't realise it was based on a novel. I can imagine heavily editing the violence in PC westerns produces rather different books, and I doubt that in that form they would have been so popular here in the UK as they were. |
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Sept 23, 2024 19:54:44 GMT
Funny you should mention Cross of Iron, Andy, I was thinking about the film version today. It's been many years since I saw it last and have not read the novel, so that is another for my 'wants' list. As for Night of the Generals, I saw the film version only once when I was around 12 on UK TV, so hardly remember it in any detail, and that is another I should try to see again--didn't realise it was based on a novel. I can imagine heavily editing the violence in PC westerns produces rather different books, and I doubt that in that form they would have been so popular here in the UK as they were. I never read Heinrich or Kirst. But I have seen Cross of Iron a long time ago. Peckinpah was always interesting. A man like him would never get a job in today's movie industry.
I like a lot of Angus Wells' work. But he wrote so many western back then that his output was very uneven. He didn't have the knack for wacky plots like Terry Harknett and Laurence James had. If you edit out his often cartoonish over the top violence, his stories tend to be by the numbers. In their condensed form with all the edits this is sadly even more apparent. You are right; I also think in this case it was the violent content which made them so popular.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jojo Lapin X on Sept 24, 2024 8:52:28 GMT
My bad, Andy. I saw several sites that tied the Gunther Lutz who was professor of philosophy to the author of the same name who wrote the Panzer Platoon and Nazi Paratrooper series. I did find it odd that someone of his academic background would write that kind of thing, and at an advanced age, but finding out someone like Charlie Chester wrote the kind of novels that he did made me think that it was not beyond the realms of possibility. I must say that I am tempted to get one of the Gunther Lutz series just to see how much of a Sven Hassell clone the novels are. Can't see any on Kindle, so I will have to keep a look out for a paperback. I can appreciate that fiction about the war is a difficult area in Germany. PC cowboy series puzzles me more, though I think you mentioned previously that the violence was frowned upon, making publication tricky, as most are, indeed, rather brutal at times. It is a logical assumption, ripper. While translations for the English speakting markets were rare in genre books, they happened in the mainstream and war books. Will Heinrich's Cross of Iron or H.H.Kirst's Night of the Generals comes to mind. And Lutz is featured in the German Wikipedia.
True, the violence of the early PC Cowboys was the problem. Back then the Heftroman was everywhere available and had no age restrictions. It is a cultural thing. Glorification of violence or vigilantism was thought the wrong message for young and impressionable minds. One famous example of early problems with content which was deemed unsuited for minors was Mickey Spillane in the 50s. You could write a book about different translated editions of Spillane's early novels.
Accidently I got one of the 5 German translations of Angus Wells' Breed. They were published in the weekly Wildwest-Roman which ran from 1957 to 1997. 1859 issues mostly written by German writers. The Wells novel was cut for length, nearly every of the rather sadistic killings by the hero was edited for violence. It made a rather dull novel even duller.
With NIGHT OF THE GENERALS there is a James Hadley Chase connection. It is an expanded version of a passage from his THE WARY TRANSGRESSOR. |
|
