The Best of Battle
Atten-Shun!
Right lads, below are the Battle strips that are currently presented on the site. Most of the early, shorter stories are presented in their entirety, and longer runs will be added as time allows. It’s not easy kicking thirty-five-year-old comics into a presentable shape. For a taster of these long-running tales, we may feature selected episodes before running the entire series. Unfortunately, our very own Rat Pack, a group of scanners who had planned to digitise every issue of Battle, seem to have halted production some time ago. This leaves only yours truly slaving away over a hot flatbed.
The initial strips presented made it here either by virtue of being in the current pile of Battle comics awaiting scanning for the Falcon Squadron site, or from being available through one of my hush-hush sources. Don’t let this detract from their impact, particularly The General Dies at Dawn, which is an oft-overlooked classic, and rated very highly by no less a writer than Garth Ennis.
Current work with Titan Books for their Best of Battle series and Johnny Red collections has given the site a bit of a push, so keep your eyes peeled lads…and click the titles to read the strips.
At ease,
Hurricane
Battle Badge of Bravery - True life tales of the courage of youth under fire during World War II.
Cold Steele - Robert Steele believes in a fair fight. The Germans Steele faces in Norway are anything but.
Coward’s Brand on Bradley - Ben Bradley is framed for an act of cowardice.
Darkie’s Mob - In 1946, a blood-soaked diary is discovered at the scene of a brutal battle.
Day of the Eagle - Mike Nelson is the top agent for the Special Operations Executive.
Destroyer - The HMS Sword is a new-pin ship with a new commander, Captain Jordan Knight.
El Mestizo - Former slave, former bandit, now fighting both sides in the American Civil War.
Fighter from the Sky - Paratroop Lieutenant Paul Fallman is reduced to the ranks after his family are revealed as anti-Nazi conspirators.
Hellman of Hammer Force – Series 1 - Hammer Force is assigned a Gestapo Officer who sees Hellman as a traitor the the Third Reich.
Hellman of Hammer Force – Series 2 - As punishment for crossing Kastner, Hellman is sent to the Russian Front.
Hellman of Hammer Force – Series 3 - In Italy, Hellman makes an enemy of SS General von Klaus.
Hellman of the Afrika Korps - Hammer Force transfer to Africa, under the command of Irwin Rommel.
Hellman on the Russian Front – Series 1 - Hellman’s Russian campaign continues as he leads a penal battalion.
Hellman on the Russian Front – Series 2 - Major Kurt Hellman leads Hammer Force east into the Motherland.
Hellman on the Russian Front – Series 3 - The last survivors of Hammer Force return to their homeland as the Russian Front rolls into Germany.
Hold Hill 109 - A group of Eighth Army soldiers are ordered to defend a strategic hill, or die in the attempt.
Iron Cross of Courage - An attempt at balance, the heroism of the German armed forces.
King of the Yanks - Flight Lieutenant Jeff King is seconded to a squadron of USAF Flying Fortresses.
Lofty’s One Man Luftwaffe - Lofty Banks is the sole survivor of an ill-fated breakout from a German Stalag Luft.
Major Eazy – Series 1 - The laconic Major joins the invasion of Sicily, 1943.
Major Eazy – Series 2 - Eazy and Daly continue to advance through central Italy.
Major Eazy – Series 5 - Eazy’s final LRDG adventures lead him to El Alamein via Greece.
Major Eazy versus Rat Pack - With Major Taggart captured by the enemy, Rat Pack find themselves with a new leader.
Major Eazy – Series 3 - Major Eazy battles Rommel’s Afrika Korps in the deserts of Libya
Merrill’s Marauders - A dramatised retelling of the exploits of Major-General Frank Merrill.
Night of the Eagle - Mike Nelson returns for a deadly train-based adventure.
Operation Black Death - Mike Nelson is called in to recover germ warfare documents.
Rat Pack – Series 1 - In 1941, four dangerous criminals escape from a maximum security military prison.
Rat Pack – Series 5 - The fifth set of adventures sees the Rats up to their normal dirty tricks.
Rattling Rommel - Stranded in the Sahara, two LRDG men use a WWI Armoured Rolls-Royce to return to their unit.
Return of the Eagle - Mike Nelson returns for a series of assassinations.
Rogue Eagle - With the war over, the Eagle sits brooding on his failure.
Ryan’s Revenge - When his father is killed by a saboteur, sixteen-year-old Pete Ryan joins the RAF.
Sergeant Without Stripes - Stripped of his stripes, Bill Saxon continues to lead his men.
Skreamer of the Stukas - Otto Skreamer is a merciless Nazi killer of friend and foe, soldier and civilian alike.
The Bootneck Boy - Orphan Danny Budd dreams of becoming a Marine like his late father.
The Death’s Head Dossier - Mike Nelson returns to infiltrate a German Death’s Head cell.
The Eagle Flies East - Agent Mike Nelson heads to the Pacific, disguised as a German scientist.
The Eagle Must Die - Mike Nelson is back in action attempting to foil a Nazi plot to kill the King.
The Early Adventures of Hellman of Hammer Force - As Hun Force attack defenceless Polish cavalrymen, Hauptmann Kurt Hellman watches in disgust.
The Flight of the Golden Hinde - An unlikely tale of old-fashioned derring-do on a replica sailing ship.
The Fortrose Falcon - A war epic spanning 200 years of combat for the family from the Scottish Highlands.
The General Dies at Dawn - General Von Margen awaits a dawn appointment with the firing squad.
The Sarge – Series 1 - When the Western Front is hit hard by the blitzkrieg, a veteran sergeant picks up the pieces
The Team That Went to War - A stray Messerschmitt decides to use the Barchester United spectators for target practice.
The Terror Behind The Bamboo Curtain - A group of British prisoners are forced to run a gauntlet of deadly traps.
They Can’t Stop Bullet! - The unlikely tale of a British POW who escapes from Stalag 23 on a Zundapp 750 motorcycle.
Y for Yellow Squadron - Squadron Leader Dave Chandler leads a group of pilots who have lost their nerve.
