The Assault (original title in Dutch: De Aanslag) is a 1982 novel by Dutch author Harry Mulisch about the Second World War. It deals with the consequences for the lone survivor of a Nazi retaliation on an innocent family after a collaborator named Fake Ploeg is found killed outside their home.The novel takes readers on the journey through the main character, Anton Steenwijk's, life. Anton struggles through the book to accept his traumatic memories from the book.