Leo Kessler - Sabres of the Reich

[andydecker]

Leo Kessler - Sabres of the Reich (Futura 1976)

Warsaw 1944

For two years General Alexei Bogdan and his band of elite Cossack warriors had fought side by side with the Wehrmacht against Stalin´s Red Armies. But now Hitler´s panzer divisions were in retreat, fleeing across the the burning steppes of Russia, pursued relentleyssy towards the very frontiers of the homeland.

Only three things stood in Stalin´s path: the broad, fast-running waters of the River Vistula, the great Polish capital of Warsaw, seething with hatred for the Nazi conqueror, and Genral Alexei Bogdan´s Division of Black Cossacks.

Second in a series.

[ripper]

I came upon what I believe is the third in Kessler's Black Cossacks series, Mountain of Skulls, recently. Not sure when I will get round to reading it, but a quick look shows it was published in 1977, and the action appears to have moved to the Italian Alps in Spring 1945.

[andydecker]

According to the list in Paperback Fanatic it is the third of three.

1. The Black Cossacks 1975

2. Sabres of the Reich 1976

3. Mountain of Skull


The article calls the trilogy Kessler's most accessible work. 


I still haven't read Whiting/Kessler, even if I own two of the Otto Stahl series collecting dust.

[ripper]

Thanks for the listing, Andy. With only 3 volumes in the series, Kessler seems to have gotten remarkably little mileage out of the Black Cossacks concept compared to how many entries there are in the SS Wotan series--perhaps the Black Cossacks books didn't do so well in the shops?

My understanding of the Otto Stahl books is that they are Kessler's take on a Flashman-type character, though I haven't read any to verify that.