Sven Hassel was the pen name of the Danish-born Børge Willy Redsted Pedersen (19 April 1917  – 21 September 2012) who wrote novels set during World War II. In Denmark he used the pen name Sven Hazel.Hassel claimed that at the age of 14 he joined the merchant navy as a cabin boy and worked on ships until his military service in 1936. However, while his two-years-younger brother Tommy Redsted Pedersen[11] was entered in the army levy roll for Copenhagen in 1937 when...