Books by ex Squaddies

Anyone remember those old Sgt Rock/Combat comics that we used to get in the 60s and 70s? We would score out what they were saying in the "Balloons" and enter our own script, eg Sgt Rock, "It's getting a bit hot here chaps, time we scarpered". Bored squaddie, **** this for a game of soldiers, let's get the **** out of this ******* ****hole. Some of the improvisation was hilarious.

Any body else read the "Gunner Asch" series of books, I read them in German when I was given them by an Austrian in the U.N. I thought they were very funny and have seen them in English somewhere, I think the first one was Gunner Asch goes to war.

Yes I have Dave, there was also a series of films made about Gunner Asch starring Joachim Fuchsberger (aka "Blackie"), who was a very popular Film and TV star in postwar Germany, they made great play of mixing up the words Asch with Arsch which, in those days, was considered a very naughty Double Entendre. Innocent days!

Had no idea they had made films, might be cheaper than the books, used hard back on amazon £180 and paperbacks around £20 used, bit of a shocker.

Dave have a look on Amazon.de, Filme & TV then type in the title which in German is 0815. A three box DVD set starts at Euro 12:83.

Shelldrake wrote:

Dave have a look on Amazon.de, Filme & TV then type in the title which in German is 0815. A three box DVD set starts at Euro 12:83.

On order, thanks for that, sure to go down well with the wife!!!!!. Maybe I'll wait till she's out, discretion is after all the best part of valour.

Bit of useless information, the films' name, 0815 (Nullachtfunfzehn), is German slang for boring or monotonous. 0815 was a WW1 German machine gun on which the squaddies were drilled on over and over and over!

Shelldrake wrote:

Anyone remember those old Sgt Rock/Combat comics that we used to get in the 60s and 70s? We would score out what they were saying in the "Balloons" and enter our own script, eg Sgt Rock, "It's getting a bit hot here chaps, time we scarpered". Bored squaddie, **** this for a game of soldiers, let's get the **** out of this ******* ****hole. Some of the improvisation was hilarious.

Do you include those little mags which, I think came under the title "Commando" ?

A lot of them were popular because the squaddy characters were drawn true-to-life. They were a bit scruffy, a bit ugly. The stories tended to be quite good too.

Nevertheless, not wishing it to be known that we enjoyed reading them, we called them "training pamphlets".

Yes, they were included! (Can't tell you what did to the "Bunty"!!)

Shelldrake wrote:

Yes, they were included! (Can't tell you what did to the "Bunty"!!)

The "Bunty" ?

What's that then ?

(Sounds a bit gay).

Blimey Brum, you've led a sheltered life! The Bunty was a girls comic from the 60, 70s and 80s, I was a subscriber in my Cross Dressing years.

Daveb wrote:

Any body else read the "Gunner Asch" series of books, I read them in German when I was given them by an Austrian in the U.N. I thought they were very funny and have seen them in English somewhere, I think the first one was Gunner Asch goes to war.

Gnr. Asch series. Enjoyed those books. Had forgotten about them.

I Remember Adventure, Champion, Hotspur & Film Fun comics, having graduated from ther Beano & Dandy. Showing my age here.

Mention of "training pamphlets" brought back memories of BAOR exercises of the late 60s/early 70s when a vital part of many vehicles' FTX kit was a small ammo box filled with said documents, very useful when on radio watch or when hanging around waiting for something to happen. Seem to remember these were rarely read in barracks but were topped up from time to time or swapped with other units to provide fresh reading material

Also very popular were the Sven Hassell books about an imaginary tank troop somewhere on the Eastern Front (though they supposedly fight in Italy and once against a British Commando raid somewhere along the French coast). Seem to remember key players included "The Old Man", Josef Porta the spiv, Tiny, Legionnaire and Barcelona.

I was an avid reader of Sven Hassell, JPW, apparently the guy was "Economical with the truth", but I enjoyed them nevertheless. I have his autograph somewhere, maybe my Grandchildren will have it valued on the Antiques Roadshow one day.

JPW wrote:

Mention of "training pamphlets" brought back memories of BAOR exercises of the late 60s/early 70s when a vital part of many vehicles' FTX kit was a small ammo box filled with said documents, very useful when on radio watch or when hanging around waiting for something to happen. Seem to remember these were rarely read in barracks but were topped up from time to time or swapped with other units to provide fresh reading material

Also very popular were the Sven Hassell books about an imaginary tank troop somewhere on the Eastern Front (though they supposedly fight in Italy and once against a British Commando raid somewhere along the French coast). Seem to remember key players included "The Old Man", Josef Porta the spiv, Tiny, Legionnaire and Barcelona.

I remember there was a craze on Sven Hassell books, (earlier there was a similar craze on J T Edson westerns !).
Funny though, I recently read a book on German stormtroopers in WW1, called "Stahl gewittern" or something like that. Apparently it was a true story but it read like a Sven Hassell.

jimsigs1 wrote:

I Remember Adventure, Champion, Hotspur & Film Fun comics, having graduated from ther Beano & Dandy. Showing my age here.

How about the "Wizard" ?

There was allways a story with a military connection on the back cover.

When our regt first arrived in Paderborn we noticed that there was a Sikh who had a beard and wore a turban with the 10th Hussars badge in it.

It turned out that this bloke was so determined to join the British army that he rode his bike down the length of Malaya to Singapore to sign on.
His story featured on the back of the Wizard and I remembered reading it.

It seems the beard/turban thing was a bit of rebellion against the army. One day he was seen clean shaven and wearing a beret again. He'd got a German girl friend. Enough said !

JPW wrote:

Mention of "training pamphlets" brought back memories of BAOR exercises of the late 60s/early 70s when a vital part of many vehicles' FTX kit was a small ammo box filled with said documents, very useful when on radio watch or when hanging around waiting for something to happen. Seem to remember these were rarely read in barracks but were topped up from time to time or swapped with other units to provide fresh reading material

Always remember piles of 'Training Pamphelets' (aka Commando Comics) in the guard room, but no one ever confeesed to buying them LoL

Was waiting for a train at Kings Cross and visited WH Smith and saw them for sale, looked at a couple and I swear they were re-releases as I recognised some of the stories.

a lot of the early stuff, victor, boys own etc was produced by the government as propoganda. think of Alf Tupper, the tough of the track, and the RAF Sgt who wouldnt take a commission. they were supposed to show ou that the class system was no longer and jack was a sgood as his master. hi silky, good to hear from another Bolton boy.

Cold War Soldier (Cdn)
Author: Terry Burk

A very good read by a former RCR soldier in Germany. Fort York in Soest. In the mid 60's. Woke up some forgotten memories for me. Especialy the shooting death of an RCR soldier called Moose. Shot by a Yank.

Here's three books written by ex Squaddies (if you count a R Signals officer who ended up a Maj-Gen).

Book 1 'Lucky Signaller' - ISBN 1 85776-326-2 A record of the service of Michael Hancock from 1937 through the war to become Commander R Sigs 1 BR Corps.

Book 2 'The Other Rank' A Signalman remembers by Marson Holbrook. From a boy soldier at Beveley through Singapore,Ceylon,Cyprus, Osnabruck to UK.A very good read.

Book 3 'A National Sertviceman in Korea '. ISBN 1-900467-16-X George Pagan's experiences in the Korean war covering the period 1950-1953. Extremely good read.

I recommend these books

Subaltern in the Royal Artillery, By Barnes Wallis.


Guide to Battery Commandering by Frank Whittle.



Both a good read!

Got the ISBN of those two books Shelldrake. Also, are they hard back or paer back ?

1. ISBN: 23up23down


2. ISBN 23about23away


Hardback only.

Shelldrake,

I have it on good authority that both those books are in the Royal Artillery Museum text books & Instructional manuals alongside Barnes Wallis's 'I was once a Tall Boy' & 'Chastise Me, I'll be Damned'