laststandonzombieisland

If you grew up in the past half century in the West, and read this blog, odds are you read a Sven Hassel book. Born in Denmark he (according to his own auto-bio site) served in the WWII German Army with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment and later the 11th and 27th Panzer Regiments (6th Panzer Division) on all fronts except North Africa and was wounded several times. Eventually he reached the rank of lieutenant and received an Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class.

Its from these experiences that he based 14 novels on which have been translated into 18 languages.

According to debunkers, Hassel is actually Børge Villy Redsted Pedersen, a Danish Nazi who never served on the Russian front. He spent the majority of World War II in occupied Denmark and his knowledge of warfare comes second-hand from Danish Waffen-SS veterans whom he met after the end of the war.

Who knows, but the books were a blast and Sven/Børge just died this month at his home in Spain at age 95.