Casca, Panzer Soldier - The Eternal Mercenary, Book 4 [Mass Market Paperback]

Barry Sadler (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 218 pages
• Publisher: Charter Books; 1ST edition (1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441092144
• ISBN-13: 978-0441092147
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #984,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Panzer soldier is my favorite., May 22, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Casca: Panzer Soldier (#4) (Paperback)

Panzer soldier was the first Casca book I read. It was on a long road trip back in about 1983. I picked up the book at a small book store for about 2 dollars and spent the next 8 hours sitting in the back of a Chevy van totally immersed in this book.

As the title implies, Casca finds himself a soldier in the German Tank Corp. during WW2. He didn't pick the German Army for personal reasons, it is just that they were hiring when he was looking for work. Most of the story deals with battles with the Russians on the eastern front, but some of it takes place in Berlin during the last days of the 3rd Reich. Without ruining it for you I will just say it is very very good.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Russian Front Horrors endured by Casca, October 30, 2007

By 

Tony Roberts (Bristol, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Casca: Panzer Soldier (#4) (Paperback)

One of the series of books I read when in my late teens / early twenties was the Sven Hassell set written from the perspective of a German penal regiment on the Eastern Front. Although I no longer possess these, memories of those novels were brought back when I read through this story. It also reminded me, very closely, of the Sam Peckinpah film "Cross of Iron" starring Maximilian Schell, James Mason and James Coburn. In fact, so closely did this mirror that film that I'm tempted to suggest a little plagarism by Sadler, but even so, it made a good book.

The story picks up in 1943 on the eve of the fateful battle of Kursk when Casca returns to the front after a period of leave. The battle of course ends in defeat and a fair amount of the first 2/3rds of the book deals with the retreat and the struggle Casca's little band of men have in surviving and making it back to their own lines. Its very well written and compelling reading.

What catches the reader though is the sudden sea change in the last third. Suddenly we're out of the fighting and propelled into Germany where Casca turns on the SS and hard-core Nazis when he finally recognises the horrors that are being forced on the Jews and other groups of non-Aryans. Its as though Sadler, having put Casca on what may be regarded as the morally 'wrong' side, purges the guilt by having him turn on the Nazis.

Of course, its all a big conspiracy by the Brotherhood of the Lamb and the last part of the story, set in Berlin as the Russians close in, is a harrowing sequences of Hitler losing his grip on reality and Casca's existence amongst the rubble of the German capital. Excellent scene setting and the final pages unforgettable. One of the best Sadler written Cascas but because of the plagarism I'm docking it one star in my review.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ONE OF THE BEST OF THE CASCA BOOKS, October 28, 2004

By 

D. Blankenship (The Ozarks) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Casca: Panzer Soldier (#4) (Paperback)

Of the entire series, this is probably one of the top three or four written by Sadler. It rather amazes me that the author was able to get so much in so few pages. Sadler is able to capture the character of Casca very well in this one and developes other character or character types that will appear in later novels. The story is fast moving, yet detailed. The nice thing about the Casca books, is that after the first one is read, you really do not have to read them in order, each book is a good story within itself. Again, as with most of his novels, Sadler has done a wonderful bit of reasearch. This is certainly true of this one. The few errors he did make were of little moment. Very much recommend this one.