Sven hassel books
There are a couple of Sven hassel websites you can have a look at, Porta's Kitchen is quite good.
Whether or not SH was a soldier in the War is debateable, and a lot of his books are far fetched to say the least but they are quite good escapism when all is said and done.
Mind you the "Wheels of Terror" film was crap with a capital C!
Whether or not SH was a soldier in the War is debateable, and a lot of his books are far fetched to say the least but they are quite good escapism when all is said and done.
Mind you the "Wheels of Terror" film was crap with a capital C!
- Wolfensteiner
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I've always liked this books but they have no value as reality based literature. Hassel was a common thief (of bikes) during the war and was arrested as a imposter when he worn a German army uniform. It is said that he started to learn some of his storys from men he was imprisoned with, and his wife would write all the storys in later years. Still like the books though....
Rand.
Rand.
As far as I know, he really did serve in a penal unit and the story that he was a Gestapo informant is the fabrication. I'm quoting from Wikipedia, which is pretty accurate.Rand wrote:I've always liked this books but they have no value as reality based literature. Hassel was a common thief (of bikes) during the war and was arrested as a imposter when he worn a German army uniform. It is said that he started to learn some of his storys from men he was imprisoned with, and his wife would write all the storys in later years. Still like the books though....
Rand.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sven_HasselA Danish journalist, Erik Haaest, has spent many years trying to "expose" Hassel. Haaest claims that the author spent the majority of World War II in occupied Denmark and that his knowledge of warfare comes second-hand from other Danish SS veterans whom he met after the end of the war. Haaest also claims that Hassel's first novel was ghostwritten and when it became a success, he employed his wife to write the rest of his books. Although these allegations are believed by relatively few people, they have focussed attention on Hassel's description of his own past and provoked much discussion, particularly on Internet newsgroups and discussion forums, on their validity.
He's still alive today and denies the charges. It sounds much more believable that he was really a soldier in the Heer instead of a thief and Gestapo spy. Stories on the internet have a truth to them all their own.
- Wolfensteiner
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- B Hellqvist
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Just remember it's accurate as long as people are actually filling it with accurate content. For an encyclopedia which can be edited by anybody, I'd take the entries about most controversial and/or debated issues with a grain or salt.Kingsley wrote:I'm quoting from Wikipedia, which is pretty accurate.
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Monte Cassino - Opening battle
Hello all,
At the beggining of the Sven Hassel novel Monte Casino, he writes about a US landing. If I rember right, the first 3 waves are wiped out by the defenders so they send in the US marines (fresh from fighting in the pacific) to brake the defence. This they do and in the process lop the heads off of a few Germans with their captured Sameria swords. Exciting stuff by jove.
I have not read much about the US landings in Italy, but is their any truth in his discription of the landing at all. I do understand that these books are fiction, but has he used any historucal facts in his description of the landing.
Regards
David
At the beggining of the Sven Hassel novel Monte Casino, he writes about a US landing. If I rember right, the first 3 waves are wiped out by the defenders so they send in the US marines (fresh from fighting in the pacific) to brake the defence. This they do and in the process lop the heads off of a few Germans with their captured Sameria swords. Exciting stuff by jove.
I have not read much about the US landings in Italy, but is their any truth in his discription of the landing at all. I do understand that these books are fiction, but has he used any historucal facts in his description of the landing.
Regards
David
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