Devil's Guard - The Complete Series Box Set Kindle Edition

I purchased the 6 volume set of Devil's Guard but am reviewing the volumes separately.

BLOOD and SNOW, VOLUME 1: The novel is a good story, well told but with many factual errors including:

Vincent van Gogh was not a renaissance painter.

The commander of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad was Friedrich Paulus not von Paulus. A few pages later the author states that von Rundstedt was the 6th Army Commander.

Mr. Meyer has the Panzerfaust in combat about a year early.

The "Das Reich" division was not fully equipped with Tiger tanks during the the Third Battle of Kharkov. Most of their tanks were Panzer IV.

The German stick grenade did not have a pin to pull. It unscrewed and a cord was pulled for arming.

If things which I know about are wrong, how can I trust the rest? However, even with the errors, the book was a fun read. Two stars for inaccurate details, four stars for the story.

BLOOD AND IRON, VOLUME 2: Just as with the first volume, this second volume tells an exciting story marred by poor editing and/or careless writing. The research is most definitely careless. I noticed so many factual errors that it would be foolish to rely upon "facts" recounted in this novel. I like historical novels which educate as well as entertain. So far, the Devil's Guard series fails. Among the errors which I noted are the following:

According to Mr. Meyer, the M1895 Nagant Revolver was designed and produced by Belgian industrialist, Leon Nagant for the Russian Empire. The misinformation here is by omission. The brothers Nagant, Leon and Emile, developed the revolver. Not just Leon. They did produce some of the revolvers but soon after adoption Imperial Russia began production at the Tula Arsenal. Production continued into the Soviet era with large numbers produced through 1945 at two arsenals. I believe that a few continued in service with police, postal service and others into the Russian Federation era. The Nagant revolver figures in Russian history much the same as the Colt single action does in American history.

Mr. Meyer makes a point of Hoffman and his men using the panzerfaust anti-tank weapon in the Fourth Battle of Kharkov (Russians call it the Belgorod - Khar'kov offensive) which lasted August 3 thru 23, 1943. The Wehrmacht purchased some 20,000 almost prototype panzerfausts in August 1943. The first effective panzerfaust, the panzerfaust 30 (approximately 30 meter effective range) was not deployed until October 1943. Most internet sources which came up in the first two pages of my search state that the weapon was deployed in 1943 without giving the month. A careless search could lead one to believe that it was therefore available for both Kursk and Fourth Kharkov. In the first volume of this series, Meyer had the panzerfaust used in the Third Battle of Kharkov fought from February 19 thru March 15, 1943.

Concerning the Russian PPSh submachine gun, Meyer states that it was a development of the older PP type, the drum magazine loaded with the shorter 7.62 mm pistol round. In fact, the entire series of Russian submachine guns were chambered for the same round, the 7.62 X 25 Tokarev. Perthaps Meyer meant, but did not make clear, that the 7.62 x 25 Tokarev cartridge is shorter than the 7.62 x 54R (sometimes referred to as 7.62 x 53R) cartridge which the Russians used in rifles and machine guns.

There is a scene in which Hoffman's men kill two Russian sentries with knives. They then put the dead Russians' bayonets in their hands to make it look as though they had killed each other in a fight. The standard Russian rifle, the Mosin Nagant used a cruciform socket bayonet, not a knife type.

In that same reconnaissance raid the Germans use a tunnel under the front lines which is not known to the Russians or Germans. Yet a Russian Cossack unit used the tunnel earlier. Hoffman appears to have not reported the tunnel as we hear no more of it. There are many things wrong with this throw away tunnel story.

The StuG III was built on a panzer III chassis not a panzer IV chassis. It was armed with a 75mm gun, not a 88mm.

There are others but this review is long enough. As I wrote concerning the first volume, if there are inaccuracies concerning things I know about, how can I trust the book concerning things I don't know about?

THE REAL STORY, volume 3: Just as with the first two volumes in the Devil's Guard series, factual errors and editing errors dampen my enthusiasm. Among other errors, Meyer says that Hoffman was awarded the Iron Cross with oak leaves for bravery. Oak leaves could be awarded with the Knight's Cross, not the Iron Cross. There was a 1957 issue of the Iron Cross which had the Nazi swastika replaced with oak leaves so that WW2 veterans could wear their Iron Crosses. This was also done with other Nazi era decorations, medals and badges.

In writing about the Yalta conference, Meyer correctly notes the three leaders attending as Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt. A couple of paragraphs later, he drops Roosevelt and adds Eisenhower.

At the beginning of the book, the former SS Foreign Legionaires have MG34'S and MP40's. A few pages later they have MG42's. Further on they have MP38'S instead of MP40's.

Etc., etc.

In addition to the errors, the plot in this volume doesn't make much sense. Both the team and the reader learn that the Americans won't allow the French to insert the team using the FRENCH navy. Much later, readers are informed that they also can't evacuate via helicopter to the coast to be picked up by the Navy! If this was so, why was the team even inserted? Why did the team agree to go with no feasible extraction plan in place?

DEVIL'S GUARD VIETNAM, volume 4
Just as with the first three volumes in the series, this novel suffers from factual errors and careless writing and editing. For instance, near the beginning, Mr. Meyer writes of the first French Indochina war. This reference should simply be the French Indochina war as there was not a second. He could also have written it as the First Indochina war as some sources refer to the American experience in Vietnam as the Second Indochina war. This may seem trivial, but an author who presents himself as knowledgeable on the subject should not make such basic errors.

Throughout the book, his main characters are using the M2 selective fire version of the U.S. M1 carbine. This weapon is not a rifle or an assault rifle. Nor is it chambered for a rifle round. Neither is it referred to as a submachine gun.

The main characters meet Colonel Goldberg in December 1962 or January 1963. He is carrying an AR15. Mr. Meyer's comments on that weapon include the statement that the AR15 was rapidly becoming the standard Infantryman's weapon of the U.S. and ARVN forces. In January 1963 there were about 1000 AR15's in Vietnam for field testing, mostly by Special Forces. In November 1963, the army finally ordered about 85,000 and the air force about 20,000. The rifle did not enter production until early spring 1964. The army received about 2000 rifles later that year. It was not until 1965 that the army received almost 60,000 AR15's. The ARVN forces were way down the list for being equipped with AR15's (later designated M16).

Meyer also refers to the U.S. M60 light/medium machine gun as a Browning. It is not. In fact it borrows heavily from the German MG42.

Here is a quote from the book, "Schuster and I took the C-47 to Hue in the morning. It was a milk run, as the RAF used to call their missions during the Second World War." Only the very easy missions were called milk runs. Most RAF missions were not milk runs.

None of this would matter so much except that Mr. Meyer makes these little asides about history and weapons and other equipment, presenting himself as knowledgeable concerning these matters. In fact, the reader can trust neither Mr. Meyer's history nor technical knowledge.

In addition to these problems, the plot of this novel is very thin. For instance, the main characters make a big point of not wanting to land their JU 52 in North Vietnam in daylight because of the North's system of defense, observation and information gathering. Every farmer, every peasant is a potential observer for the Peoples' Army. So the whole thing shuts down at night? The idea that they can land a three engine transport aircraft near a North Vietnamese prison for two high value U.S. prisoners without notice is not very believable.

Devil's Guard Afghanistan, Book 6
In my opinion this is the worst book in Eric Meyers DEVIL'S GUARD series. The main character Max Hoffman carries a French passport until a few pages later when he carries a Thai passport as he is a citizen of Thailand. He reflects that the French are leery of issuing a passport to anyone named Hoffman. This is apparently because of his grandfather, Jurgen Hoffman, which makes no sense as Jurgen served with distinction in the French Foreign Legion. He did nothing to embarrass or antagonize the French government.

Then there is the matter of Max's military service. At various places in the book he served in the Thai special forces even killing a Vietnamese soldier in a border incident. At other places in the book, he had no military experience and needs coaching from a mercenary leader. The same confusion is present about his firearms knowledge. Despite his service in the Thai army, the only weapon he knows how to use is the M1911 .45 pistol. Near the end of the book he is carrying one of these uncocked in combat. Obviously he wasn't trained very well in the use of the M1911.

There are other continuity problems, but the plot is silly as well. Despite no combat experience and, at this point in the book, the author writes that he has no military experience at all, an American infantry platoon and a group of experienced mercenaries known as the Devil's Guard quickly agree to follow him in combat. Apparently on the sole strength of his grandfather being Jurgen Hoffman. There is more such as the unfinished issues at the end of the book, but I have hit the high points.

This is a 5 star marathon book. I'm old enough to have lived all these wars, including WWII to the present day. This series should be required reading for all history majors. It's a fantastic blend of fiction and truth, superbly written.

The storyline is good. THE LACK OF EDITING, ESPECIALLY COPY EDITING IS EGREGIOSLY BAD! The second book opens with numerous typos - annoying to a fault. How about hiring a good editor. It can only enhance your sales!

I enjoyed the original characters. Going into the Afghan story was not quite the same.

Great stories

Excellent books following a man from WWII to Vietnam and his grandson In Afghanistan. Great attention to detail and military equipment.

Superior insight into the military.