Cross of Iron , first published in English in 1956 as The Willing Flesh, is a classic, realistic novel of a German Army platoon trapped behind Russian lines on the Eastern Front in World War II. Author Willi Heinrich (1920-2005) served in the heavily mauled 101st J ger Division, and was himself wounded five times during the war. Cross of Iron was also made into a film of the same name by Sam Peckinpah in 1977.