Wheels of Terror - Sven Hassel (Wheels of Terror - Sven Hassel)

Member Name: Hudson

Product:	Wheels of Terror - Sven Hassel
Date:	26/10/00 (223 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Makes absorbing reading

Disadvantages: A bit too gruesome for some people

Sven Hassel was one of the most well known and respected writers in the 50's and wiht classics like this its no wonder why. Originally printed in Danish I have a later English copy of it which contains a whole list of Hassel work. He has written at least 14 war novels and if all are like this then I'd like to read some more.
Wheels of Terror follows a group of German convicts who are forced to fight for Hitler on the Eastern Front. They don't belive in Hitler's goals the simply fight to stay alive. The book contains quite sickening discriptions of air raids in which Hassel describes women and children "running around on fire like human torches" and thats in the first chapter! The book continues this type of descriptions throughout which are probably needed since conditions in Russia must have been unbearable.
The book contains a number of characters. Tiny, a huge dock worker form Hamburg who is lacking in common sense but somehow makes a great soldier. Porta is another bizarre one, he wears a top hat when going into battle!

This is must read for any fan of war books. It is very interesting since we see things from a German point of view and we lear how terrible war was. This book is not for the faint hearted!

Summary: