c1979. One of the last of the series which is about a German platoon (Porta, Tiny, Old Man, the Legionnaire, Heide, Barcelona-Blom, Sven, etc.) on different fronts during WWII and narrates the atrocity and absurdity of war from a German perspective. Bio courtesy of authors website - "Hassel was born in 1917 in Fredensborg, a small village of Denmark. He was raised in the traditional scenario of a Danish working-class family. At the age of 14 Sven embarked in the merchant navy as a shipboy. In 1936 he did his military service, and the following year, due to the great unemplyment in Denmark, he joined the German army as a volunteer. Initially he served in the 2nd Cavalry Regiment and furthermore in the 11th and 27th "Panzerregiment". He fought in all the frontlines except in the North of Africa. Consequentialy Sven was wounded eight times. From 1945 to 1949 he was a POW and was subject to Russian, American, French and Danish prisoner camps. only Tiny, the Legionnaire, Heide, Gregor Martin and Sven survived the war." Dramatic and effective style of writing - suited to the story being told.
What do You think about Court Martial (2008)?
I fell in love with this author and his books. They are what I imagine in military fiction. There is everything but not pathos. The storytelling drags reader in to thick action and put clear sign that this book is the most anti-war and anti-oppression thing I have ever read. Sven, Porta, Tiny, Alte and others were in the middle of war at the Finnish borders, where the winter was as bad as Russians and even own side. There is episode with very unfair court martial, which put insight in nazi way how to deal with everybody and how criminal regime could be even to its own people. Lot of blood and gore but with meaning, which goes well with plot.
—Matimate
