Baptism of Blood — Leo Kessler

An action-packed Second World War thriller series! Perfect for fans of David Beaty, Alan Evans, Derek Robinson and Max Hennessy. The Soviets are becoming desperate... 1941 Outside Moscow a desperate defensive operation is being fought to hold back the advancing German army. Both sides are suffering heavy losses in the vicious conflict and the Red Army are in desperate need of reinforcements. There are no fresh troops, until Beria, Stalin's hated Chief of the NKVD comes up with a cunning plan ... to empty the labour camps. Disgraced former general, Colonel Pavlovich Katukov is given the unenviable task to take the emaciated 'Gulag Rats', locked up for heinous crimes, and turn them into elite soldiers ready to fight to the death for the Soviet Motherland. Punishment Battalion 333 is born and faces its Baptism of Blood at Kasnaya, where the Germans are plotting their assault across the frozen Volga. Can Katukov trust his makeshift battalion not to flee? Will the Red Army's rogues see victory? Or will they pray for a return to the gulags...? BAPTISM OF BLOOD is the first action-packed historical military adventure novel in the Punishment Battalion Thriller series following the fortunes of renegade Soviet soldiers fighting in the Second World War. THE PUNISHMENT BATTALION THRILLER SERIES: BOOK 1: Baptism of BloodBOOK 2: Cossack AttackBOOK 3: The Steppe WolvesBOOK 4: The Gulag RatsBOOK 5: Blood on the Baltic