Anyone reaserched Sven Hassel?

[Oddball_E8]

I was thinking about making a scenario for CMBB (not to be released tho) with the 27th penal panzer rgt. and i was wondering if anyone had done some research on sven hassel... i frankly dont care if he is a total lier or not, but it would be fun to know... im probarbly gonna do the scenario no matter what...

[Hansson]

You can read all about him here!

[Hansson]

On this page you can see a picture of him wearing the german uniform (which according to a uniform expert in the article has several errors).

[Oddball_E8]

Thanx dude... that was some interesting reading (im swedish so it was no problem reading the danish texts)

[Michael Dorosh]

What are the errors, according the uniform experts?

I see he has an extra badge between the national eagle and the cockade; this was a rarity, though some units did have tradition badges here.

Padres had a cross

Mountain troops had an edelweiss (see THE EAGLE HAS LANDED - but notice Radl's hat insignia changes during the movie!!)

Some units with cavalry traditions had either a skull and crossbones or a Schwedter Adler here.

The badge is blurry in the photo, but doesn't look like any of the ones Davis mentions - seems a bit big.

The dude in the uniform is a little runt, look how big the insignia is on him!

He does have the panzer jacket done up to the neck, which is unusual but not incorrect. It's not a great picture, though.

Can someone translate the uniform comments, I'd be very interested.

[Flesh]

Michael, here's the URL for the English version of the page in question: http://home.tiscali.dk/haaest/Hassel-Hazel/Texts/English/01chapte.htm

Anyway, I hope this helps.

[Michael Dorosh]

Thanks Flesh! Maybe Andrew Fox or some of the other uniform dudes can pipe in here. From the site:

- Without knowing anything about the man I must say that here we have a brilliant example of a mock-up uniform. The turned-down collar is what first made me suspicious. There are SS deathsheads on the lapels and these were certainly worn by tank crews - but not as big as these. The real ones were much smaller. These must have been taken from an SS cap and put on the collar. The cap itself is very seldom seen as it was only worn by a particular clean-up unit of the German armed forces and not a single foreigner was enlisted in this unit. The different orders and medals reveal the man one hundred per cent: actual orders were not worn like this and the medal ribbons are not German - they are too thin. And, if the man was really in a penal unit, his medals would have been taken from him when he was sentenced. Brave hero or trembling coward, he would never be awarded any more. So were the nazi-rules.

Interesting comments.

The size of the death's head attached to the cap does cause me some concern too. The "turned down collar" is correct in and of itself. The SS death's head - if he can really ascertain that that is what he is looking at - would be rare on an Army panzer jacket, but not impossible.

The decorations are worn correctly; however he may have a point about the medal ribbons. However, if Hassel was a Dane, I don't think it was unheard of for medal ribbons to be worn in the tradition of the soldier's homeland; I've seen French volunteers wearing their French medal ribbons in the French manner on their German uniforms.

The rest of the uniform - from what little I can tell from the photo - seems ok. The trio of SS death's heads is certainly suspicious, but not necessarily a deal breaker. The more I learn about uniforms, the more I realize just how much I don't know.

For all anyone knows, there could have been a penal panzer unit that did use large death's heads for collar patches and a tradition badge on the Schirmmütze.

Of course, pigs might fly someday, too.

[Rob Murray]

The photo is so grainy that it's really hard to tell whether it's a real uniform or not. I couldn't even make out the death's heads on the collar or not.

[Wesreidau]

Interesting thread. I`m sure that I read an article on the web way back, that indicated that Sven Hassel was a pseudynm (sp?) that a very well known author used so he wouldn`t be identified directly with this work...have I dreamt this or can anyone enlighten me?

Mark

[HarryInk]

Thanks Soren, ace information.

I devoured Hassell when I was a young teenager. I remember rolling around in tears of laughter at some of the tall stories told by the characters.

But it is interesting to know that the author was a ratbag. And also to know that the various illegal activities of his characters were probably drawn from 'Hassell's' own experiences/those of his fellow felons as much as the supposed war stories were probably just wild fiction based on yarns told by veterans.

I eventually left off Hassell when I started to feel that his stuff was kind of a pornography of violence. Maybe I should revisit it for old times sake?

[Juha Ahoniemi]

I have read all of "Hassel" books and yes, they are fiction but I found them very entertaining.

BTW if You have read Heinz G. Konsalik's books, look at the similarities between characters "Wolfgang Creuzfeld" (Hassel) and "Theo Klein" (Konsalik)!

I smell a rat...

[Mies]

Does anyone know if you can still get Hassles books somewhere? I did find some second hand at Amazone but it seems as if they are not being published anymore. Is there a reason for that?

I would love to read these books again for "old time sake" as said before.

Mies

[Heide]

Hmm, interesting timing me signing on about now.

<--- see handle

Anyway, I've got/read most of the books, but not all. I somehow acquired S.S. General here in the U.S. back in the mid-80's, but all the other ones were picked up used the last time I was in Britain in 1988. It's interesting how the US book is translated into, well, US english I guess; while the UK books read more like they're British troops, i.e. Tiny has a cockney accent.