Who reads Sven Hassel and what is your favourite book?
Yep, Wheels of Terror probably my favourite
OGPU prison was my first book.
1000ydstare, please open threads like this on Off-topic section (or Books).
Topic moved :arrow:
Ta!!!
i’ve never read sven hassel, i’ve heard hes a fiction writer that writes only about waffen-ss troops and throws them in situations that they were never at (ie, stalingrad, monte cassinno,)
Is it worth getting his books? How historically accurate are they?
Not historically accurate. Used to read them when I was 16.
Still they pass the time on long flights.
He was a Dane who (he says) joined the German army and then deserted. As punishment he was sent to a Penal Battalion, which is what he writes about. He was never SS.
All his books are worth a read, not sure on how historically accurate they are though. He maintains they are though.
i guess i won’t read sven hassel then. 
You should, well worth a read
Serous questions have been raised about the accuracy of his books, particulary about the number of tanks used on the Eastern Front, specifically the type and numbers.
Also one of charachters, apparently, should have been invalided out because he has no limbs!!! Over the course of 20(?) books he spends more time in hospital than time the war ran!!
Sven Hassel appears in the book as a character called “Sven”, who later becomes commissioned and is one of only two to survive the tale.
The unit he belongs to is not SS, although it wears the deaths head cap badge of the penal regiments and the black uniform of the panzer troops. Or so it is said.
Nothing wrong with a good read though, some of his descriptions of war are truelly graphic, as is his attention to detail.
Phrases like “With a mighty roar the Maybech engine moved the 62 tonnes of Tiger forward…”
(by the way I made that one up in a Sven Hassal style so it probably isn’t accurate.)
which are his best books??
Couldn’t say. Just read one, that’s all I can say.
I’ve only just noticed this thread
Wheels of terror and Legion of the Dammed were pretty good. the rest were ok as long as you suspend disbelief. I can’t remember which book it was but one chapter I read was a direct plot lift from the 70’s Jack Nicholson movie, The last detail.