by Sven Hassel
They take us off the hospital train at Lemberg goods station. We’re going to be patched up in Poland before they’ll allow us to be seen in Germany.
‘Where are you from?’ asks a tight-lipped hospital matron.
‘From Moscow,’ grins Porta, cheerfully. ‘We’ve been sent here as a reward for good service to see the world’s ugliest iodine and aspirin juggler!’
‘I shall report you for this!’ whines the dragon, insulted.
‘You can borrow me old John Thomas to write the report with, if you like, love,’ Porta laughs noisily, letting go a terrific fart, and with that pointing the final full-stop to our part in Hitler’s Moscow campaign.
1 As-tu etc. (French): Have you slipped off the pedals?
2 ‘Arse and Boots’: see Wheels of Terror.
3 Tu me fais chier (French): You make me shit (French Army slang for: You make me tired).
4 Matj (Russian): Mother.
5 Grosses Arschloch (German): Big arsehole.
6 Matjeri (Russian): Mothers.
7 Ein Flintenweib (German): Army slang for a partisan woman.
8 Saperlotte (French Army jargon): denotes pleased surprise.
9 Staross (Russian): Mayor.
10 C’est un bordel (French): It’s a brothel.
11 Pas d’objections (French): No nonsense.
12 Tovaritsch etc. (Russian…German): Comrade, comrade, don’t shoot.
13 Stoi kto! (Russian): Halt!
14 Piestre (Russian): Faster.
15 Schwarzer Heinrich (German): Slang for EK.I.
A WEIDENFELD & NICOLSON EBOOK
First published by in Great Britain in 1975 by Corgi
This ebook first published in 2010 by Orion Books
Copyright © Sven Hassel 1973
Translation copyright © Transworld Publishers Ltd. 1975
Translated from the Danish by Tim Bowie
The right of Sven Hassel to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.
All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978 0 2978 6577 3
Orion Books
The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Orion House
5 Upper St Martin’s Lane
London WC2H 9EA
An Hachette UK Company
www.orionbooks.co.uk