Based on the book Wheels of Terror by Sven Hassel. Although Hassel himself claims that his books are autobiographical these claims have been dismissed and you should view this movie (and his books) as complete fiction. Even with all the historical errors and the like, the movie itself is partly enjoyable. You follow a German penal regiment (supposedly the 27th Panzer Division, which wasn’t a penal regiment at all) on the Eastern front, simply put it, a German “Dirty Dozen”. Some parts of the movie have great characters development and the story is okay, but it doesn’t hold up in the long run.