Sven Hassel is a pseudonym used by the Danish author Borge Willy Pedersen. He is best known for his Legion of the Damned series of books, which are set during the Second World War. By the time of his death in 2012, Hassel had become one of the most popular and prolific authors to come out of Denmark.
Hassel had a varied military career before he became an author. He served in the Danish merchant navy until 1937, when he moved to Germany to join the army. He served with the second Panzer Division stationed at Eisenach and in 1939 was a tank driver during the invasion of Poland. In 1940, he attempted to escape because of being mentally exhausted. He was then transferred to a Sonderabteilung, a penal unit manned by criminals and dissidents. He served 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. He surrendered to Soviet troops in Berlin in 1945 and spent the following years in various POW camps. It was during this time that he began to write his first book Legion of the Damned.
Hassel was born in 1917 in Fredensborg, Denmark. He joined the merchant navy at the age of 14 and did his compulsory year's military service in the Danish forces in 1936. Facing unemployment, he joined the German army and served throughout the Second World War on all fronts except North Africa. When the war ended in 1945, he was transferred between Russian, American and French prison camps, and upon returning to Denmark, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for treason. He began writing LEGION OF THE DAMNED during his time as a prisoner of war. His 14 Second World War books, which draw on his own encounters and experiences as a soldier, have sold over 53 million copies worldwide and have been published in more than 50 countries. He passed away peacefully in Barcelona in 2012, where he had resided since 1964.