Leo Kessler
Leo Cooper tells an interesting story about the creation of Leo Kessler, Charles’ first pseudonym. The following is an extract from Leo’s book, “All my Friends will Buy it”:
“I recall the name Leo Kessler which was a pun on my name and the double S in the title was the SS badge. This was an in-joke. As Charles remembers, I suggested that Anthony Cheetham had a project for him. We met in Halle 7 at the Frankfurt Book Fair that year and Anthony said, as it was lunchtime, that we ought to eat something. Being a very canny man with a penny, he didn’t invite us to one of the inside places (too expensive). Instead we went outside to one of the booths where he generously ordered Bratwurst and Bier. Then we sat in the freezing cold on a bench, with the early snow falling lightly, enjoying this splendid meal and thought of a name for the new author who would write about the SS (according to Anthony), rather like the good and bad guys in the old westerns! Then came the name. I had already brought up ‘Leo’ then both Anthony and I remarked that at that time Hassel was cleaning up the market in that kind of war fiction (Hassel had of course been a real SS man). What about something Germanic on that basis? Hassel thus became Kessler (‘kettle maker’ in German) and the black uniformed monster was born – Leo Kessler, the creator of the immortal Sergeant Schulze famed throughout the SS NCO Corps for his talented musical farts.”
Assault Regiment Wotan Series
Read more about the infamous SS Wotan Series and its miniseries Dogs of War here.
SS Panzer Battalion – Futura 1974. This is the first book to chronologically introduce SS Wotan. Taken from the cover: In Wotan’s First Mission, von Dodenburg tackles the inpenetrable Fort Eben Emael. SS Assault Regiment Wotan was preparing for a mission so secret that it was known just by its codename, Zero. Only The Vulture, Major Horst Geier, knew that the objective was the key Belgian fortress guarding the junction of the River Meuse and the Albert Canal. It was the most impregnable stronghold in Europe and had to be taken, regardless of the cost in human lives, if Hitler’s handpicked SS Panzer troops were to turn the flank of the Maginot line and force the phoney war to explode into the Blitzkrieg…
Blood and Ice – Futura 1977
Cauldron of Blood – Futura 1981
Claws of Steel – Futura 1974 (as Wotan 1, Macdonald 1986) Taken from the cover: It is 1942. The Vulture’s eyes gleamed as he watched the exhausted men crawling up the slope through the slippery mud, under the knee-high barbed wire. The SS Assault Regiment Wotan was training and recuperating after its gruelling struggle in Russia and they were glad to be out of the fray for a bit, but it would not be for long for what none of those men, straining up the grassy slope under the eyes of their commander, Colonel Horst Geier, knew was that already they had been singled out for a new mission. The German High Command knew that the British would launch an attack on Dieppe and the crucial element was time. There was only one regiment that could be trusted to get there fast enough to defend the vital coastal battery: the Soldiers of Wotan were on the move again
Counter-Attack – Futura 1978
Death’s Head – Futura 1974
Death Ride – Futura 1985
The Devil’s Shield – Futura 1975
Flashpoint – Futura 1980
Forced March – Futura 1976
Guns at Cassino – Futura 1975
Hammer of the Gods – Futura 1975. Available as an ebook on Amazon Kindle here.
Hellfire – Futura 1978
Panzer Hunt – Futura 1979
The Sand Panthers – Futura 1977. Available as an ebook on Amazon Kindle here.
Schirmer’s Death Legion – Futura 1983
Schirmer’s Headhunters – Futura 1982
Slaughter at Salerno – Century 1985
Slaughter Ground – Futura 1980
Whores of War – Futura 1982
The Hess Assault – Century 1987
March or Die – Futura 1985
The March on Warsaw – Century 1988
The Outcasts – Century 1986
Black Cossacks Series
The Black Cossacks – Futura 1975
Mountain of Skulls – Futura 1978
Sabres of the Reich – Futura 1976
The Traitors – Futura 1977
Wolf – Futura 1978
Stormtroop Series
Blood Mountain – Futura 1978. Interestingly, this book formed part of the miniseries Dogs of War, even though it didn’t feature the anti-heroes from the other books in the series. Renamed Stormtroop Edelweiss, it is now available as an ebook.
Eagles in the Snow – Futura 1983
Fire Over Kabul – Futura 1982
Fire Over Africa – Futura 1984
Himmler’s Gold – Futura 1980
Red Assault – Futura 1979
Storm Troop – Futura 1978
Valley of the Assassins – Futura 1979
Wave of Terror – Futura 1983
Rommel Series
Ghost Division – Futura 1978
Massacre – Futura 1979
Foreign Legion Series
Breakthrough (novelisation of movie) – Futura 1979
Hellfire – London, Futura 1978
The Sea Wolves Series
Death to the Deutschland – Futura, 1982
Sink the Scharnhorst – Futura 1981
Submarine Series
Convoy to Catastrophe – Century 1986
Fire in the West – Century 1986
Flight to the Reich – Century 1987
The Wolf Pack – Century 1985
SS Stuka Squadron Series
The Black Knights – Corgi 1983
Blood Mission – Corgi 1984
Hawks of Death – Corgi 1983
Tank-Busters – Corgi 1984
Otto Stahl Series
Decorated by Hitler, stripped by Himmler, seduced by a nymphomaniac Countess, and relentlessly pursued by SS headhunters, Otto bluffs his way from bedroom to battlefield and back. Read more about the Adventures of Otto Stahl here.
1. Otto’s Phoney War – Futura 1981. Available as an ebook here. Taken from the cover: It’s the eve of World War II. With a mix of luck, charm and downright dangerous adventuring, Otto wangles his way out of the draft and into the Abwehr, Germany’s MI5. Here Otto thinks he’s safe from the war that’s unfolding all around him, but a bungled assassination attempt will send him racing towards the Belgian border once again… only this time, it’s turned into the front line.
2. Otto’s Blitzkrieg – Futura 1982. Available as an ebook here. Taken from the cover: Otto and the Count are enjoying, well, shall we call it the easy life? Until, that is, the Secret Intelligence Service spoils their early retirement. Will Otto he escape the oddest prisoner of war camp in Britain? Will he reunite with the Count for a second daring mission? Will he learn of a shocking secret that implicates the very top of British government? One thing’s for certain: his dashing good looks will save the day.
3. Otto and the Reds – Futura 1982.
4. Otto and the Yanks – Futura 1983.
5. Otto and the SS – Futura 1983.
6. Otto and the Himmler Love Letters – Futura 1984.
Rebel Series
Breakout – Century 1988
Cannon Fodder – Century 1986
Death Match – Century 1988
The Die-Hards – Century 1987
SS Wotan Series
Assault on Baghdad – Severn House 1992
Battle for Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest – Severn House 2000
Breakout from Stalingrad – Severn House 1995
The Blackout Murders – Severn House 2004
The Churchill Papers – Severn House 1998
Death’s Eagles – Severn House 1998
Death from Arctic Skies – Severn House 1997
Fire Over Serbia – Severn House 1993
Flight from Berlin – Severn House 1995
Flight from Moscow – Severn House 1992
The Great Escape – Severn House 2002
The Hitler Werewolf Murders – Severn House 1994
Hitler Youth Attacks – Severn House 2004
Monty’s Fight for Victory – Severn House 2006
Murder at Colditz – Severn House 2002
Operation Fury – Severn House, 1997
Operation Glenn Miller – Severn House 2001
Operation Iraq – Severn House 2004
Operation Leningrad – Severn House 2005
Patton’s Wall – Severn House 1999
The Reich Flies the Flag – Severn House 2006
Rommel’s Last Battle – Severn House 2006
Stalag Assault – Severn House 2000
Sirens of Dunkirk – Severn House 2003
The Wotan Mission – Severn House 1996
