Favorite WW2 German memoir?

[Carson_Kitt]

In Solitary Witness: The Life and Death of Franz Jaegerstaetter - written by Gordon Zahn

Panzerjaeger: Tankhunter, the life of Bernhard Averbeck - written by William Folkestad

[Carson_Kitt]

Two more that I forgot to add in my previous post.

No. 12 Kaiserhofstrasse: The Story of an Invisible Jew in Nazi Germany

Fritz: The World War I Memoir of a German Lieutenant

[DaveNZ]

"I begged for bread in Russia" story of a soldier taken prisoner by the Red Army in Berlin 1945,his internment in Russian work camps his numerous escape attempts,and his eventual return to Germany.Amazing story.
Otto

wouldnt mind tracking that book down.

When i was a kid living in Papua New Guinea some years ago, my mother had some German friends. One of their fathers' had been in Stalingrad and disappeared into russia after Stalingrad fell.

He was repatriated some years later and they said he returned a totally broken man that they coudl hardly even recognize. He died at a young age as well.

Such a tragic tale and only one of thousands as well

so yes I would be interested in this book.

Rudel's auto bio "stuka pilot' was a good read.

if you really want to get close to feeling the grimness of the Ostfront then read the italian memoir "Few returned": its hellish.

[Andy Harris]

Guy Sajer's "The Forgotten Soldier" is my favorite, and I like Sigfried Knappe's "Soldat" too.
Also, Hans Von Luck's memoirs are very good.

[PZIV]

Guy Sajer's "The Forgotten Soldier" is my favorite, and I like Sigfried Knappe's "Soldat" too.
Also, Hans Von Luck's memoirs are very good.

I too like The Forgotten Soldier, but I can't help to wonder why it's so much more popular? It is well written, so can that be it?

Check out "Walking Away from the Third Reich" by Claus Sellier. I can get you in contact to get an autographed book for anyone who wants it.

[Seigfried]

Apart from 'The Forgotten Soldier' - another favourite is 'Devil's Guard' by George Robert Elford - the 'first hand record of an unregenerate Nazi (Hans Josef Wagemueller) who escaped the War Crimes Trials after WW2 and joined the Foreign Legion'. It's a rivetting read and I recommend it - I read it in my formative years and it has a lot to answer for!

[Andy Harris]

I also liked "Heaven and Hell" by fallschirmjager Martin Poppel.

[DaveNZ]

Check out "Walking Away from the Third Reich" by Claus Sellier. I can get you in contact to get an autographed book for anyone who wants it.

I could be tempted to get this book

[6th Nord]

Black Edelweiss by Johann Voss
Grenadiers by Kurt Meyer
Armor Battles of the Waffen-SS by Willi Fey
Hot Motors, Cold Feet by Helmut Gunter
Seven Days in January by Wolf T. Zoepf

Hans Schmidt's book is political rubbish.

6th Nord

[Laurence]

Heaven and Hell and also Galland's First and last are two I like

[VonLuck]

Panzer Commander - Hans Von Luck
The Jew with the Iron Cross - Georg Rauch (excellent book by a great guy)
Black Edelweiss - Johann Voss
Soldat- Siegfried Knapp
Blood Red Snow - Gunter K. Koschorrek

The Forgotten Soldier is very good but I do tend to think much of it is fictionalized like many critics say. Same goes for Sniper on the Eastern Front.
I like Black Edelweiss because it was basically written while all of Voss' memories were fresh in 1946. Memoirs written 50 - 60 years later that somehow recall things down to the most minute detail make me a little suspicious.

[David S]

The Forgotten Soldier is a good read but found later to be fiction.

The Sven Hassell books are an OK read but entirely fiction as well.

My favorites are -
Blood Red Snow - Gunter K. Koschorrek
Stalingrad - Heinz Schroter
Commando Extraordinary - Charles Foley (about Skorzeny)
Stumbling Colossus - David M Glantz (Red Army on the eve of WW2)

[Paul70]

For the Afrika Korps read Panzer Battles by Major General F.W. von Mellenthin. He was a staff officer with Rommel and gives you a high tactics look at the war. I have not seen one written by the average Joe.

The Forgotten Soldier --- wasn't that book written by a communist and has been found to be fiction - facts not adding up to reality, no mention of weapons in detail, a long pro communist, pro Russian diatribes???? I have stayed away because I was told this.

One book that really impressed me was Sergeant in the Snow about an Italian machine gunner during the retreat from Stalingrad - good book and fairly short - I would check it out.

Paul

[Horrido!]

Not military related, but I just recently bought "Destined to Witness" and haven't been able to put it down. It's the memoirs of a boy who grew up black in the TR, his father from Liberia and his mother a German nurse.

[Daniele C]

what about DICK WINTERS MEMORIES?anybody read it yet?im going to buy it this week....
Germans.....forgotten soldier is my favourite