Hans Hellmut Kirst, internationally one of the most successful German authors after 1945, achieved his breakthrough with his trilogy Nullacht fünfzehn (1954-1955; translated as Zero Eight Fifteen, 1955-1957), about the picaresque adventures of Gunner Asch in the German army just prior to and during World War II. His immense popularity among the general reading public in Germany and abroad is no doubt primarily due to those of his forty-odd novels and tales--some of which were slightly changed and republished under different titles--that are set against the backdrop of the Nazi period, World War II, and the immediate postwar years. A professional soldier from 1933 to 1945, Kirst has been called "der berufsmäBige Epiker des deutschen Soldatenstandes" (the professional novelist of the German soldier class). His books have been printed in more than 250 editions and translated into 28 languages. With sales of around 12 million copies and even his early...