HUTSON'S HISTORY: THE WAR STORIES

Blood And Honour
Date published: 28 April 1981
Publisher: Robert Hale Ltd
Format: Hardback
Pages: 208
ISBN: 0-7091-8994-X

Written as Wolf Kruger
Date published: 18 August 1983
Publisher: Star
Format: Paperback
Pages: 208
ISBN: 0-352-31354-4

HERZOG'S WAR 1944. The German armies are collapsing on all fronts. In a sealed church in a remote French village, 250 women and children are ruthlessly slaughtered by desperate Germans acting under orders they dare not obey. And for Sergeant Herzog, awarded the Iron Cross for his part in the massacre, it is the beginning of another war...

A war of principle as he faces court-martial for his refusal to wear the Cross.

A war of strength and courage when, humiliated and stripped of rank, he is sent to the Eastern Front to fight in the bloodiest retreat in history.

A war of pride when he finds himself confronting the arrogant Captain Ritter - an enemy as ruthless as the approaching Russians.

Sledgehammer
Date published: 1 January 1982
Publisher: Robert Hale Ltd
Format: Hardback
Pages: 160
ISBN: 0-7091-9618-0

Written as Wolf Kruger
Date published: 20 October 1983
Publisher: Star
Format: Paperback
Pages: 224
ISBN: 0-352-31411-7

Russia, 1941. Hitler's forces are driving across the steppes, smashing all resistance aside. But the advance is suddenly halted by thousands of enemy tanks arriving via a massive railhead. Sergeant Rolf Kessler's section is ordered to destroy it. Under the command of the ruthless Captain Weiss they set off. But their objective is 150 miles inside the seething hell of the Pripet marshes, an almost primeval expanse of endless swamp.
And Kessler has other problems. His men are being murdered one by one. With Russians all round and a killer in their midst, survival seems impossible. Kessler must discover the killer in time or the section known as Sledgehammer will be annihilated by one of its own number.

Kessler's Raid
Date published: 1 August 1982
Publisher: Robert Hale Ltd
Format: Hardback
Pages: 192
ISBN: 0-709-19907-4

Christmas 1941; In the wake of the German conquests, General Ernst Bucher had pillaged Europe of its art treasures. He possessed some of the world's most valuable artifacts, but there was something else he wanted. However, it lay three hundred miles behind Russian lines in a huge castle. The only men capable of getting it were surrounded by the freezing hell of a Russian winter. They were Assault Section Sledgehammer, men who had learned to live with new enemies like frost-bite, starvation and man-eating wolves.
But when this new mission came, it seemed simple enough. An apparently unguarded castle, a plane to fly them back again. It seemed easy. They got the treasures but, when the Cossacks arrived Kessler's 'simple' mission became a bloodbath from which escape seemed impossible and from which few could hope to survive...

Written as Wolf Kruger
Date published: 20 January 1984
Publisher: Star
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
ISBN: 0-352-31368-4

A TOP SECRET MISSION - OF MADNESS

Christmas 1941: Hitler's dream of conquering Russia lay buried in the bitter winter snows. Men froze where they stood. Everything stopped - dead in its tracks. All the armies could do was wait.

But for Assault Section Sledgehammer there would be no waiting. They must obey a new command: a command matched in a absurdity only by its impossibility.

For the advancement of one scheming Wehrmacht officer, fifteen men were to risk their lives. For the sake of a few forgotten treasures far behind the Russian lines fifteen men would be plunged into a bloodbath. Escape seemed impossible - would any of them return alive?

Convoy Of Steel
Date published: 9 December 1982
Publisher: Robert Hale Ltd
Format: Hardback
Pages: 192
ISBN: 0-7090-0647-0

Written as Wolf Kruger
Date published: 16 February 1984
Publisher: Star
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
ISBN: 0-352-31459-1

Trucks blown up, German soldiers found with their throats cut...
The Russian Partisans were at work and it was left to Kessler and the men of Assault Section Sledgehammer to strike back. But, their efforts were not enough to satisfy the blood-lust of the German High Command. So, when the S.S. arrived, even the battle hardened veterans of Sledgehammer were horrified at the atrocities they witnessed.
However, the High Command were worried. A massive armoured train carrying eighty tanks and hundreds of men was due to arrive soon and the partisans had marked it for destruction. Kessler and his men were ordered to ride the train, to guard it on its perilous journey across one hundred and fifty miles of enemy occupied territory.
But, somewhere along that route, the partisans were waiting...
No one on the train knew where or when they would strike. The men of Sledgehammer were plunged into their most dangerous mission yet and even Kessler doubted if they'd make it...

Slaughterhouse
Date published: April 1983
Publisher: Robert Hale Ltd
Format: Hardback
Pages: 160
ISBN: 0-7090-0667-5

Written as Wolf Kruger
Date published: 6 December 1984
Publisher: Star
Format: Paperback
Pages: 157
ISBN: 0-352-31553-9

...It was the bloodiest, most savage fighting the men of Assault Section Sledgehammer had ever seen. Their commanders demanded a breakthrough, no matter what the cost in human life. Death and degradation were no strangers to Kessler but even they were driven to new depths of barbarism as the fighting continued. Then, finally, the breakthrough came but the men of Sledgehammer recovered their senses only to discover that they were alone behind enemy lines.
And it was then that they discovered the Russian Armaments factory and Kessler was left to decide; should he destroy the factory or try to save his men?
The choice, when it came, was to leave the men of Sledgehammer aiming guns at each other...

Task Force Battalion
Written as Tom Lambert
Date published: 21 April 1983
Publisher: Star
Format: Paperback
Pages: 208
ISBN: 0-352-31325-0

'You don't win a war by dying for your country. You win it by making the other man die for his...'

All they knew was the bitter cold of the endless nights; the shattering routine of days locked in combat; the rattle of machine-guns, stench of smoke and cordite, blood and charred flesh. But through driving rain, bitter wind and cloying mud the Paras fought relentlessly onward towards their goal - Port Stanley.

Here in vivid detail is the real soldier's story. The story of the Falklands through the eyes of a young man, a raw recruit thrown for the first time into the maelstrom of war, who fights through his fear to become a steel-nerved soldier.

Sabres In The Snow
Date published: October 1983
Publisher: Robert Hale Ltd
Format: Hardback
Pages: 192
ISBN: 0-7090-1306-X

Winter 1943. The once victorious armies are retreating, burning, slaughtering and destroying everything in their path. Under the command of Captain Josef Kleiser, an S.S. unit massacres the villagers of Prokev.
There is one survivor: seventeen-year-old Anatole Boniak. After seeing Kleiser kill his parents, he flees to the hills, where his survival is ensured by the increasingly obsessive desire he nurtures to take his revenge on Kleiser.
Then the Cossacks arrive, and Boniak sees a chance to meet up one more time with the man he has grown to hate with an almost insane ferocity. Yet in the confrontations ahead, Boniak's knowledge of the atrocities of war will be stretched beyond his comprehension.

Written as Stefan Rostov
Date published: 5 December 1985
Publisher: Star
Format: Paperback
Pages: 160
ISBN: 0-352-31725-6

It is winter 1943 and the once victorious armies of the Third Reich are on the retreat, burning, slaughtering and destroying everything in their path. Under the command of Captain Josef Kleiser, an SS unit massacres the villagers of Prokev.

But seventeen-year-old Anatole Boniak survives, and taking refuge in the hills, he conceives a deep and brooding hatred for the SS Captain. It is an obsession that will end in a violent confrontation and colour the Russian snows with the crimson stain of blood.

Men Of Blood
Date published: 1 March 1984
Publisher: Robert Hale Ltd
Format: Hardback
Pages: 192
ISBN: 0-7090-1518-6

Spring 1943: The once victorious German armies were being driven back by the Russians. Kessler and the men of Assault Section Sledgehammer knew that they, the most savage and desperate unit in Hitler's army, would bear the brunt of the fighting. What they didn't expect was the intervention of the ruthless Major Schrodek, a man whose hatred for Kessler seemed as great as his hatred for the Russians.
Schrodek wanted his son to gain an Iron Cross and he needed Kessler's help to get it. But the sergeant would not co-operate and the seal was set on a ferocious antagonism between Kessler and his superior. A confrontation which threatened the men of Sledgehammer too.
Amidst the horrors of armed conflict, a battle of another kind was to take place. A battle of wills. And it was to end with Kessler encountering something which would test even his courage to the limit.

Written as Wolf Kruger
Date published: 21 February 1985
Publisher: Star
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
ISBN: 0-352-31604-7

DRIVEN BACK BY RUSSIAN MIGHT The men of Assault Section Sledgehammer knew that they were the toughest unit in Hitler's army; and that they would bear the brunt of the fight against the Russians in the desperate spring of 1943. But they could never have forseen that a confrontation between the ruthless Major Schrodek and their own Sergeant Kessler would pose as great a threat to their survival.

Schrodek had a scheme to gain his son an Iron Cross. Kessler refused to co-operate. A refusal that would lead to a deadly battle of wills - and end in an encounter that would test even Kessler's courage to the limit.

Forged In Fire
Date published: 1 April 1985
Publisher: Robert Hale Ltd
Format: Hardback
Pages: 192
ISBN: 0-7090-2137-2

The Iron Cross. The most coveted medal in the German army. Men fought, lied, cheated and killed to possess one. But the men of Assault Section Sledgehammer were not impressed with medals, they were concerned only with survival. And Kessler, broken from the rank of sergeant, cared only about regaining his stripes and his dignity.
Amidst the hideous carnage on the Eastern front, Kessler and his men endured the savagery of the fighting and the threats of their vicious superior, Colonel Schrodek. For to him, the Iron Cross meant everything. He had set about ensuring that his cowardly son received one, even if it meant destroying the men of Sledgehammer.
Fighting amongst themselves, ordered to halt a massive force of advancing Russians, Kessler and the others faced their most hazardous mission yet. And betrayal was just the beginning...

No survivors
Date published: November 1985
Publisher: Robert Hale Ltd
Format: Hardback
Pages: 192
ISBN: 0-7090-2416-9

April 1943; the S.S. begin their bloody campaign of terror designed to rid the Warsaw Ghetto of Jews, a campaign which will result in the deaths of thousands of men, women and children.
On the Eastern Front, Kessler, now restored to the rank of sergeant, continues his battle of wills with his ruthless superior, Schrodek. But the officer was prepared to make a deal. The men of Sledgehammer were to be given two weeks out of the front line. For risking their lives in a suicidal mission they were to be rewarded. Little did they realize that the scheming Wehrmacht officer would see them transported into the living hell of the Warsaw Ghetto, there to fight a war of conscience as well as combat. Plunged into a battle for survival, they would also be forced to confront their own beliefs. Until they found Malek the Jew, who promised them a fortune in gold if they would spare his life.
The gold lay in the heart of the ghetto itself. Attacked by rebels and S.S. alike, the men of Sledgehammer faced their bloodiest battle yet. Could there be any survivors...?

Taken By Force
Date published: 5 February 1987
Publisher: Robert Hale Ltd
Format: Hardback
Pages: 157
ISBN: 0-7090-2893-8

Autumn 1943: All along the Eastern Front the Russian armies were pushing back the beleaguered German forces. On the banks of the Dnieper river, Kessler and the men of Assault Section Sledgehammer waited for the battle which could destroy them. Forced to scavenge food, stealing from the dead, these battle-scarred veterans were no strangers to depravity. They had no illusions about the horrors of war...
But when two reporters from Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry arrived, Kessler and his men found they had another foe beside the mighty Russian forces - the insidious lies and treachery of the Nazi journalists. But finally, as they experienced a savagery which they could scarcely have imagined, even these men began to realise the truth. And when the Russians finally attacked, Kessler and his remaining troops found themselves faced with a task more dangerous than any they had yet encountered...

Swords of Vengeance
Date published: 18 February 1988
Publisher: Robert Hale Ltd
Format: Hardback
Pages: 192
ISBN: 0-7090-3134-3

In the bloodstained snows of the Russian winter, Anatole Boniak had seen his parents murdered and his village destroyed by SS Captain Josef Kleiser; but his desire for revenge had been thwarted. However, he and the Cossacks he rides with now find that they are faced once more by the ruthless Wehrmacht officer.
As the German army retreats, they continue their campaign of terror against the people of Russia. But Kleiser and his men realize that there is more to be gained by capturing three high-ranking Russian officers, especially when one of them promises a fortune in gold to the ruthless Nazi if his life is spared.
The Russian generals must be saved, but it will take men of extraordinary courage to do it - men like Boniak and the Cossacks. For Boniak it is another chance for revenge, but he finds that there are others close to him who want vengeance, and the enemy is not always German...

War Omnibus
Date published: 1999
Publisher: Pan
Format: Paperback
Pages: 157
ISBN: 0-330-39646-3

No Survivors
It is 1943 and, on the Eastern Front, the Russian armies are hurling back Hitler's troops, among them the men of Sergeant Rolf Kessler's Assault Section Sledgehammer. Withdrawn from the bloody retreat, these veteran troops are sent to help crush the rising inside the Warsaw Ghetto. But, once there, they discover that hidden somewhere in that hell-hole is a fortune in gold. In their attempts to retrieve it, they face a new enemy and a savagery the likes of which even they not encountered before...

Forged In Fire
The Iron Cross. Most coveted medal in the German army. Normally a symbol of valour. There are those who seek to acquire it by any means. The commander of Assault Section Sledgehammer is determined his cowardly son should have one and demands that Kessler and his men help. In the living hell that is the retreat from Russia, these two men clash while, all round them troops and civilians are slaughtered in the incredible carnage. Yet still the personal battle between Kessler and his superior goes on until it seems they will all perish in a Russian counter-attack that appears unstoppable. Will anyone survive...

Taken By Force
Trapped on the banks of the Dneiper river, Kessler and his men wait for the battle that may destroy them. Forced to scavenge for food and steal from the dead, these battle-hardened veterans have no illusions about the war. But then two reporters from Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry arrive and Kessler discovers that the insidious lies and treachery of these Nazi journalists are as potent a foe as the mighty Russian army. When the attack finally comes, the men of Assault Section Sledgehammer find themselves in a situation more dangerous than anything they have yet encountered...