Sven Hassel Books

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Sven Hassel was a Danish author that wrote WWII stories. Born in Nyhus, Frederiksborg Country, in 1917, Sven was just 14 when he joined the merchant navy.

The author came from a working-class family, and the poor conditions at home made life as a shipboy more appealing. But life after the country’s compulsory Danish military service was hardly better.

The deepening economic crisis made stable employment more difficult to come by. As such, like other people his age, Sven hoped that migrating to Germany would improve his prospects.

He was wrong. Jobs were nowhere to be found. It did not come as much of a surprise to the people who knew him when he returned to the military. But after trying and failing to desert, the author found himself in a penal battalion.

Interestingly enough, the people he met at this point in his life had a lasting impact on his life, going so far as to influence the stories he eventually wrote.

Sven was fortunate enough to climb through the ranks in the military. However, because he was a German soldier, the author spent more time than he would have liked in numerous prison camps once the war ended.

The freedom he enjoyed after his release was threatened once more when his German citizenship was revoked, and he returned to Demark. The authorities wanted to send him to prison for a decade. But the amnesty handed out to political prisoners in 1949 reduced his sentence.

The author wrote his first novel while in prison. Even though multiple publishers rejected ‘Legion of the Damned,’ it became one of Denmark’s most popular books.

The publication of his first novel did not encourage the author to pursue writing as a career. In fact, he wanted to enlist in the French Foreign Legion. Sven had been a soldier for a significant portion of his life. He couldn’t do anything else.

But destiny intervened in ways he never expected. Sven met Dorthe and married her in 1951. The job he had secured at the Copenhagen Free Port came in handy because writing was not a viable income source at that time.

In the late 1950s, the author fell sick. Not only was Sven practically paralyzed, but he also lost significant weight. Because he couldn’t work, his family fell on hard times.

His breakthrough came when doctors sent him to the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Germany. They discovered the root of his symptoms and treated him.

Within a year, the author was back on his feet. Rather than seeking conventional employment, Sven listened to his wife and gave writing another go.

After attaining local and international success, the author took his family to Spain to take advantage of the superior climate.

Sven Hassel Books into Movies

‘Wheels of Terror’ became a movie of the same name.

Best Sven Hassel Books

The author died in 2012 at 95 years. With tens of millions of books sold, he was one of Denmark’s most successful writers. Sven’s best books include:

Legion of the Damned: War had nothing to offer Sven. He wasn’t enthusiastic about the prospect of killing other men for the sake of his pride. The fact that he hated the Nazis made things even worse.

But when he attempted to desert, Sven found himself in a prison camp. Sven was not sure what to expect from his captors. But by 1941, his future became clear.

The Nazi invasion of the USSR had begun, and the Germans needed soldiers. Sven and his comrades were little more than cannon fodder. They would either die in their conflict with the Red Army or win.

Wheel of Terror: Sven was part of the penal battalion. But it wasn’t the sort of membership that induced pride. The penal battalion spent their days cleaning battlefields and incinerating bodies.

The work was hardly glamorous. Everything changed when the Germans attacked Russia, and the penal battalion found themselves on the front line.

Armed with weapons and armored vehicles, the Germans are counting on Sven and his band to pull off a miracle. Unfortunately, they don’t care whether or not the battalion survives.

Indeed, it will take a miracle for Sven to return with all his limbs. The orders from the Nazi high command are growing more ridiculous with each passing day.

When Does The Next Sven Hassel book come out?

Sven Hassel doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Legion of the Damned: A Comic Book Adaptation and was released on September, 15th 2019. It is the newest book in the Legion of the Damned Graphic Novels.

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