The great Stalingrad novel—written by a German survivor. Sven Hassell and his diminishing band of veterans find themselves plunged into the maelstrom of Stalingrad. Radio Moscow boasts that one German soldier dies every minute as they struggle forward on the front, and when the Russians surround the German 6th Army, it seems they're doomed. But Sven and his friends make a last-ditch attempt to break out, to fight their way across the frozen steppe to freedom. Their leader: a fanatical SS general.

In SS GENERAL Sven Hassel and his diminishing band of veterans are plunged into the maelstrom of Stalingrad. Radio Moscow boasts that one German soldier dies every minute as the Germans fight their way house -by- house to the banks of the Volga. Then the Russian counter-attack leaves the German 6th Army surrounded and doomed to die. But Sven and his comrades join one of the last-ditch attempts to break out, to fight their way across the frozen steppe to freedom. Their leader: a fanatical SS General.

Born in 1917 in Fredensborg, Denmark, Sven Hassel joined the merchant navy at the age of 14. He did his compulsory year's military service in the Danish forces in 1936 and then, facing unemployment, joined the German army. He served throughout World War II on all fronts except North Africa. Wounded eight times, he ended the war in a Russian prison camp. He wrote his first novel while being transferred between American, British and Danish prisons before making a new life for himself in Spain.