Sven Hassel

Fuinseog

I read all his books when I was a teenager, quite cruesome and gripping , but how much of it was real?
according to wikipedia he made up a lot of stuff and was in contact with Danes who had been Wikinger.
if the books are to be believed he served on every front and nearly every campaign, which in itself is a bit suspect.
does anyone know why he wrote some books in French? surely german or Dannish would have been the logical language?

marcsignal

some discussion on Sven Hassel here Fuinseog

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055268471

I read them all myself years ago, really enjoyed them too

bnt

Old, thread, I know, but I just read that Sven Hassel died on September 21st in Barcelona. NY Times Obituary is here.

“My books are strictly antimilitary,” he said in a 2002 interview with Contemporary Authors Online. “They correspond to my personal view of what I experienced. I write to warn the youth of today against war. I am writing the story of the small soldiers, the men who neither plan nor cause wars but have to fight them. War is the last arm of bad politicians.”

Fuinseog

bnt wrote: »

Old, thread, I know, but I just read that Sven Hassel died on September 21st in Barcelona. NY Times Obituary is here.

not aware of an of teh books where he did this:
'Some questioned battlefield scenarios in which his soldiers fought Russians in the morning and Free French in the afternoon, when such encounters would have meant a 1,000-mile march during lunch." (taken from the obituary.)

i wonder why he never wrote about his pre penal whermacht days or his post war captivity in russia?

indioblack

Fuinseog wrote: »

I read all his books when I was a teenager, quite cruesome and gripping , but how much of it was real?
according to wikipedia he made up a lot of stuff and was in contact with Danes who had been Wikinger.
if the books are to be believed he served on every front and nearly every campaign, which in itself is a bit suspect.
does anyone know why he wrote some books in French? surely german or Dannish would have been the logical language?

I read his books in the early seventies - now they would just seem unrealistic. Tried to find his unit in one battle and failed.
He seemed to get around WW2 a lot.

Fuinseog

indioblack wrote: »

I read his books in the early seventies - now they would just seem unrealistic. Tried to find his unit in one battle and failed.
He seemed to get around WW2 a lot.

were there units or soldiers that fought on absolutely every front as Hassel claimed to have done? presumably the books are fiction loosely based on real events and people.critics claim that Hassel may not even have served, but merely spoke to Wiking veterans and based his writings on that.

indioblack

Fuinseog wrote: »

were there units or soldiers that fought on absolutely every front as Hassel claimed to have done? presumably the books are fiction loosely based on real events and people.critics claim that Hassel may not even have served, but merely spoke to Wiking veterans and based his writings on that.

Back then when I read his books I was younger, more impressionable - didn't know a lot!
I'd now find books like that uninteresting - and I'd be quicker to suspect their authenticity.
I wouldn't be suprised if he got the idea for his group of comrades from "All Quiet on the Western Front".

Fuinseog

a war comic story was based on sven hassel in the comic BATTLE.

indioblack

Fuinseog wrote: »

a war comic story was based on sven hassel in the comic BATTLE.

Was that one of those small illustrated booklets about WW2?
Used to get them as a kid here in England - and over in Ireland, too.
Bit embarassing to look back on them now.

Fuinseog

indioblack wrote: »

Was that one of those small illustrated booklets about WW2?
Used to get them as a kid here in England - and over in Ireland, too.
Bit embarassing to look back on them now.

charleys war used to be in the comic, which was brilliantly researched. Johnny Red also. sometimes the Germans were presented in a positive light especially when fighting the Russians.i cannot remember what the story was called. it was about a group of German misfits in a penal battalion.

indioblack

Fuinseog wrote: »

charleys war used to be in the comic, which was brilliantly researched. Johnny Red also. sometimes the Germans were presented in a positive light especially when fighting the Russians.i cannot remember what the story was called. it was about a group of German misfits in a penal battalion.

I've been thinking - the Germans had these penal battalions, the Russians too - would they have been shown on any division's strength.
Not trying to say that Hassel did run about in WW2 fighting everywhere - it's just that you started me thinking about these types of units. Presumably an army would not want too much known about them, aside from internally - as a deterrent.

Fuinseog

indioblack wrote: »

I've been thinking - the Germans had these penal battalions, the Russians too - would they have been shown on any division's strength.
Not trying to say that Hassel did run about in WW2 fighting everywhere - it's just that you started me thinking about these types of units. Presumably an army would not want too much known about them, aside from internally - as a deterrent.

the Russians had penal battalions and the men were often sent into battle without guns or only half of them would be armed. There was an SS penal battalion.

indioblack

Fuinseog wrote: »

the Russians had penal battalions and the men were often sent into battle without guns or only half of them would be armed. There was an SS penal battalion.

Yes, had a quick look on Wikipedia. Perhaps the only accuracy in Hassel's stories was the descriptions of the various types of men sent to this unit.

Fuinseog

indioblack wrote: »

Yes, had a quick look on Wikipedia. Perhaps the only accuracy in Hassel's stories was the descriptions of the various types of men sent to this unit.

apparently there were no penal Panzer battalions. hassel may have been a Danish Nazi who never served at all.

indioblack

Fuinseog wrote: »

apparently there were no penal Panzer battalions. hassel may have been a Danish Nazi who never served at all.

It's so long ago that I had any of the books - were they published as fiction?

Capt'n Midnight

IIRC the bits about the lice with the cross are similar to "all quiet on the Western Front"

Back in the day the story was that they weren't all his personal experiences but that they were stories he'd heard and figured were true

I haven't read any of Andy McNab's stuff.

BlaasForRafa

Fuinseog wrote: »

a war comic story was based on sven hassel in the comic BATTLE.

I think you're thinking of Kampfgruppe Falken in Warlord

http://britishcomicart.blogspot.ie/2012/04/kampfgruppe-falken.html

Fuinseog

BlaasForRafa wrote: »

I think you're thinking of Kampfgruppe Falken in Warlord

http://britishcomicart.blogspot.ie/2012/04/kampfgruppe-falken.html

not sure. there were six characters in it. one called swede, another the old man. it read it in the eagle.

Farmer Pudsey

The first book he wrote was Wheels of Terror, this book tells a story from the start of the penal battalion to where Sven Hassel and a good officer are the only suvivors.

The main charachters were Sven, the old man 9( the Sargent in the group an anti Nazi), Portia a thief, The Legionaire ( a German that fought in the French Forgien legion not sure if he was in the orginal Book), Tiny a big strong dim wit, and in later books Heide a pro Nazi.

All the later books were wrote after the sucess of Wheels Of Terror.

CitizenMaine

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

The first book he wrote was Wheels of Terror, this book tells a story from the start of the penal battalion to where Sven Hassel and a good officer are the only suvivors.

The main charachters were Sven, the old man 9( the Sargent in the group an anti Nazi), Portia a thief, The Legionaire ( a German that fought in the French Forgien legion not sure if he was in the orginal Book), Tiny a big strong dim wit, and in later books Heide a pro Nazi.

All the later books were wrote after the sucess of Wheels Of Terror.

Legion of the dammed was the first book Sven Hassel wrote whilst in a russian prison camp after the war.

Farmer Pudsey

CitizenMaine wrote: »

Legion of the dammed was the first book Sven Hassel wrote whilst in a russian prison camp after the war.

Sorry you are right so in my post repace as above.

BenEadir

Hi all,

I fondly remember reading Sven Hassel novels whilst quite young but can't remember exactly how young I was. My son is now 12 and reading a Robert Muchamore novel "Henderson's Boys" about WWII and it prompted me to think about getting some Sven Hassel books for him to read but maybe he's too young yet? What do people think? Is 12 too young?

Ben

Capt'n Midnight

BenThere wrote: »

Hi all,

I fondly remember reading Sven Hassel novels whilst quite young but can't remember exactly how young I was. My son is now 12 and reading a Robert Muchamore novel "Henderson's Boys" about WWII and it prompted me to think about getting some Sven Hassel books for him to read but maybe he's too young yet? What do people think? Is 12 too young?

Ben

way too young

far too much gratuitous sex and violence

Tony EH

When I was about 12, I picked up one of his books in my school library, which was extremely well stocked. I can't recall the title, but it begins with some German soldiers finding the bodies of some German nurses, who had been raped.

My dad was worried about this and my being only 12. He went to the school principal and discussed the matter, where the prinicpal basidally said that the books are there for the students and it's up to them to try and make of it what they can. Either way, I still got to read the book, with my dad saying that if there was anything in there I wanted to ask about, I should.

The next book I got out was 'Jaws' and the novel has some things in it that the film leaves out completely.