Kommando: Hitler's Special Forces in the Second World War

Kessler, Leo

ISBN 10: 0850524644 / ISBN 13: 9780850524642

Published by Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 1995

About this Item

1st edition, 1995. Original pictorial dustjacket near fine. Black cloth gilt as new. Pages very clean & tight. No inscriptions. Illustrated. 176 pages.

Seller Inventory # ABE-15219986473

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Kommando: Hitler's Special Forces in the Second World War
• Publisher: Pen & Sword Books Ltd
• Publication Date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0850524644
• ISBN 13: 9780850524642
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine

About this title

Synopsis

So much has been written about the British Special Forces in the Second World War which Winston Churchill urged to 'set Europe ablaze' that few now remember that the Germans were actually very much the first in the field in this form of unconventional warfare.
Indeed, two days before the official declaration of war German commando units disguised as Poles were holding key positions along the frontier and for the next three years men of Admiral Canaris's Brandenburgers, formed long before the British Commandos or American Rangers were dreamed of, played a key role in Hitler's military operations. The captured the vital bridges across the River Meuse in 1940; they trekked across the African desert in an attempt to raise the Egyptian Army against the British; they sabotaged diamond mines in South Africa; they even supported the IRA and the Welsh Nationalists.
Kessler, who was personally acquainted with many of the survivors, pays a fitting tribute to a very gallant band of men who, as he clearly shows, went on fighting for Fuhrer and Fatherland long after they must have known that their cause was lost. Misguided they may seem in hindsight, but their courage cannot be denied.

Review

Lots of true tales of spies and Kommando units in action, including Skorzeny and his famous rescue of Mussolini. Admiral Canaris both in life and at his death. the book keeps up a pace of fascinating reading with amazing action adventures, and blunders on all sides which cost lives. Well worth reading about an unusual aspect of WW2 --By N. Brennan

It is a good book. It fully explains how the nazi opereations worked and it put you in the mind of the agents. It vividly explained how the Kommandos planned and executed their top secret missions. It is a very well written book. --David Kirk