Hunde, wollt ihr ewig leben (1959) is a film about the Battle of Stalingrad directed by Frank Wisbar and based on the novel of the same name by Fritz Wöss.
The title is inspired by the reported cry of Frederick the Great to his fleeing Prussian troops at the Battle of Kolin in 1757 : "Ihr verfluchten Racker, wollt ihr denn ewig leben?" (roughly : "You damned bastards, do you want to live forever?")
The film makes extensive use of archive footage and follows the history of one Lieutenant Wisse and his troops. They begin with the fanatical Nazi belief in their ultimate victory; this belief and their faith in each other and their superiors is eroded through the course of the battle.
Though not as critically fêted as Joseph Vilsmaier's 1993 film Stalingrad, Hunde is widely considered one of the best of the German war films. At the time of its original release, POWs taken at Stalingrad were still returning to Germany and the film reflects the ambivalence in the German response to their soldiers.
Paul Verhoeven's satire of Fascism (based on Heinlein's tragically unsatirical novel) Starship Troopers contains an homage to Hunde in Rasczak's frequent exhortation:
"Come on you apes! You wanna live forever?"