Devil's Guard
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
51 of 54 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I FIRST READ THIS BOOK WHILST SERVING IN THE FALKLAND ISLANDS MANY YEARS AGO. IT HAD BEEN LEFT THERE BY A PREVIOUS OCCUPANT. I READ IT TWICE AND THEN, BECAUSE OF MY ENTHUSIASM, LENT IT TO SOMEONE WHO DID NOT RETURN IT. SINCE THEN I HAVE SEARCHED HIGH AND LOW FOR THIS FANTASTIC, ENGROSSING READ. IT REALLY GIVES YOU AN ACCURATE INSIGHT INTO, WHAT SOME MIGHT SAY IS A FORGOTTEN WAR, A CHAPTER THAT SOME AUTHORITY FIGURES MAY NOT WANT TO BE PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE. AS YOU READ THIS, YOU FEEL AS THOUGH YOU KNOW THE CHARACTERS, YOU FEEL THIER PAIN, SENSE THIER FRUSTRATIONS AND FEEL SORROW AT THIER LOSSES. THE BLACK HUMOUR DISPLAYED BY THE SUBJECTS IS SHARED WITH THE MILITARY FORCES OF TODAY. THIS IS THE STORY OF HANS JOSEF WAGEMULLER AND HIS FELLOW KOPFJAEGER AND I TRULY WISH I HAD A COPY, AND COPYS OF THE SEQUEL WHICH I DID NOT KNOW EXISTED UNTIL COMING ON LINE TONIGHT. CONGRATULATIONS MR ELFORD, I THOUROGHLY ENJOYED EVERY SECOND.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I was aware when I purchased this book that it was a work of fiction, however the way in which it was written leant itself to a more factual account. Saying this the book was well written with a good story line and attention to detail. I was impressed by the knowledge of the author in relation to military weaponry and tactics. The story is based on the exploits of an SS Officer at the closing moments of the Second World War on the Russian Front. Deciding to escape rather than face capture by the Russians he leads his men west to join the allied lines. The meat of the book revolves around him joining the French Foreign Legion where there are a number of ex german military escapees. His unit is posted to Indo China (Vietnam) a French colony at the end of the war. The book provides a riveting and detailed account of the guerilla war between the french and Viet Minh. The exploits of the 'German' Legion provide a brutal and chilling account of this now forgotten war.
30 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In The Devil's Guard, author George Robert Elford has compiled the shocking testimony of an unrepentant Nazi mercenary, fighting for the French Foreign Legion in Indochina. The Devil's Guard follows SS Officer Hans Josef Wagemueller, from fighting the Russians on the eastern front at the end of World War II, through a training period with the French Foreign Legion and finally to prolonged and intense combat in the jungles of southeast Asia.
The book is in essence a confessional, though perhaps with the antagonist bearing no guilt, only a desire to reveal man's inhumanity to man, in its rawest and most unexpurgated terms. This ultimately means that the reader is confronted with chapter after chapter of how a Nazi and his platoon of fellow ideologues fought, shot, bayoneted, tortured and poisoned the Viet Minh; these scenes are depicted in their unflinching brutality in a way seldom captured by purveyors of war-memoirs, whether they be the literati of the late Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead, or Andy McNab's tale of dubious authenticity, Bravo Two Zero.
The Devil's Guard does indeed have the whiff of verisimilitude, not to mention sulphur. However, the book is an "as told to" story, whereby Wagemueller met the author in a bar in the capital city of a small, unnamed Asian country - and then dictated this testament into a microphone over the subsequent eighteen days. As such, the book is entirely uncorroborated, as far as I can determine. If it is fiction, it is an exceptional rendering. If, as this reader believes, the story is essentially true, then author George Robert Elford has succeeded in capturing a remarkable document. A book such as this is a rare artefact indeed. Bloody, uncompromising, disturbingly vicious, relentlessly compelling, The Devil's Guard is a shocking revelation, unmatched in its intensity.
The book is in essence a confessional, though perhaps with the antagonist bearing no guilt, only a desire to reveal man's inhumanity to man, in its rawest and most unexpurgated terms. This ultimately means that the reader is confronted with chapter after chapter of how a Nazi and his platoon of fellow ideologues fought, shot, bayoneted, tortured and poisoned the Viet Minh; these scenes are depicted in their unflinching brutality in a way seldom captured by purveyors of war-memoirs, whether they be the literati of the late Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead, or Andy McNab's tale of dubious authenticity, Bravo Two Zero.
The Devil's Guard does indeed have the whiff of verisimilitude, not to mention sulphur. However, the book is an "as told to" story, whereby Wagemueller met the author in a bar in the capital city of a small, unnamed Asian country - and then dictated this testament into a microphone over the subsequent eighteen days. As such, the book is entirely uncorroborated, as far as I can determine. If it is fiction, it is an exceptional rendering. If, as this reader believes, the story is essentially true, then author George Robert Elford has succeeded in capturing a remarkable document. A book such as this is a rare artefact indeed. Bloody, uncompromising, disturbingly vicious, relentlessly compelling, The Devil's Guard is a shocking revelation, unmatched in its intensity.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
devils guard
Excellent Bk read it many years ago. Lost original now got a kindle so have replaced it. It is about the SS joining the foreign legion after the first world war.
Published 16 days ago by Mr C
Fact or fiction?
Following the end of the Second World War, a group of SS soldiers escaped and ended up fighting in Vietnam as part of the French Foreign Legion. Read more
Published 6 months ago by History Geek
Interestingly readable
read this years ago, and remember it as being much better and more plausable. I spent years trying to get a copy of same. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Noah
devils guard
great read based on a true story about the german waffen ss after the end of WW2 when many were on the run and ended up joining the french foreign legion no questions asked they... Read more
Published 12 months ago by steve
Ripping yarn but not the greatest
This is certainly a gripping yarn but the detail is seriously lacking. the description of the Foreign Legion units leaves much to be desired and this detracts from the... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Mark o Twain
Good value
It is not bad for a reprint. Don't expect great binding and the wording is quite faulty, but it is a great story and worth the read. It was sent out very quickly also
Published 22 months ago by Mr. Patrick Moorhead
Devils Guard
Excellent book,read from start to finish in a couple of days.
Recomend highly to anyone interested in military history.
Recomend highly to anyone interested in military history.
Published on 10 July 2009 by Steven Lonie
Nazi SS Versus communism in Vietnam
I have heard and read a lot of people regarding this as fictional. I must correct you all here and now that this book is a true account of the SS fighting for the French against... Read more
Published on 9 Mar 2009 by Pedros
best book ever
this book is not probably but is the best book that has ever been penned, from all books i have ever read this is "THE" one i would advise anyone that comes across it to buy,... Read more
Published on 12 Feb 2009 by Karl Jackson
a must read book
a good friend of mine recomended this book to me and i was a bit uneasy in buying it due to it being an ss story. Read more
Published on 6 Feb 2009 by David Mckay
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