Sven Hassel was born in 1917 in Fredensborg, a small village in Denmark, as Børge Willy Redsted Pedersen to parents Peder Oluf and Hansigne Pedersen. He later took his mothers maiden name Hassel as his own surname. He was raised in a traditional Danish working-class family, and in 1931, at the age of 14 he joined the merchant navy, working as a cabinboy. He is the author of the books this wikia is about. He has to this day written 14 novels about his time as a penal soldier in the German army during the second world war. He joined the army for his military service in 1936, and in 1937 after 6 months of trying to get in, he joined the german army as a volunteer. At the time there were no jojbs available in Denmark, and Sven more than anything wanted to join an army. He had some trouble ge