SS General

I read this book almost thirty years ago, and images from it are still seared into my memory: the anguish of the soldiers trapped in the frozen hell of winter, unable to escape as Russian tanks roll up at the same time every day playing cheerful music as they randomly blow up foxholes; the "supply drop" which is not what it at first appears (I won't give away the bitter irony of the scene); the long march back home through the frozen tundra with soldiers literally freezing where they sit; and, of course, the brutal bitter twist at the end. I don't know if this book is based on personal experience or not, but it is certainly the most convincing novel of the horrors of war that I have read. Read this along with Das Boot.

Sven Hassel manages to capture the pure essence of survival in a world gone mad. his stories are realistically horrific yet can capture your mind in a book, which after reading through the first few chapters, you won't want to stop reading it, and once you've finished, you want more.

Sven Hassel is a true survivor. His personal account of the horrors of war, the futility and the hope that you must keep going against the odds are no better summarised than in the SS General. The amazing story of his escape from the hell of Stalingrad is compulsory reading.

all the books sven wrote are great.i cant pick any of them which i found the best. the roughness and the extreme humor combined can't be found by any author this days lets honour the man !!!!

Out of all Sven Hassel's books, SS General is not only the most intruguing but also the most enertaining. He manages to combine an excellent war story while preserving a uniue repetoire the reader achieves with all the usual characters (Tiny, Porta, etc) A brillinat book, read it!