ss panzergrenadier by hans schmidt

[Terry OToole]

just started reading this difficult to obtain (in uk anyway) book by Hans SCHMIDT , seemed quite promising at first then turned into a national socialist tirade about jews , Americans etc , which is a bit strange , he s lived in the states since 49 , anyway once it gets back to his wartime experiences hopefully it ll pick up

[ErichK]

The book was so bad that I could not finish it.He came off as a blowhard with minimal combat experience.

[SSkrieg]

is it in english?

[Terry OToole]

apparently its available in French,Spanish and English

[Bcarver]

btt

Keep reading it, he is a NS and very proud of his service in the SS. I felt it shows the idealism that the German youth of his generation all had. I found it to be more believable than some of the PC memoirs that have the author beating themselves up for serving their country.

[Terry OToole]

yes he could certainly never be labelled an apologist ! his claims that German scientists provided the atom bomb trigger are a little far fetched , and why is he so rabidly against the USA ? a country that took he and his family in , he s obviously done quite well there

[Robin Lumsden]

I found it to be more believable than some of the PC memoirs that have the author beating themselves up for serving their country.

I agree.

[Chris D.]

I just started reading this over the weekend. While the author makes some very valid points about the hypocritical manner in which the allies have dealt with the Germans, and the demonization of the Germans, in particular the Waffen-SS, any decent point is totally lost when he takes almost every other paragraph into this racist rambling. In the same sentence he states "Germany was not out to take over the world but declared war on those that were, including, the Soviet Union, Great Brittan, America and National Jewry."! and then turns around and says Hitler "Never ordered the murder of European Jews" Its hard to see past a lot of this while reading this book. I feel a lot of people would be very enlightened by this book if it wasnt so full of the authors racist rhetoric. It is quite disappointing. He claims these feelings didnt come about during the NS period but AFTER the war while living in the states which is possible but I find not very likely.

The author also comes across as VERY whiny in parts. It seems all he does is complain about food. He goes so far to include a letter he sent home to his mother where all he does is complain that she didnt send him any snacks and the gifts she did send him werent good enough for him. Keep in mind, in this letter, he also acknowledges the fact that bombs are landing in his mothers back yard!! He just comes across as a little brat.

That being said, I will say it does have its good parts and, if you can get though the diatribe, it makes for a well written, enjoyable book. Its just somewhat of a let down to have to sift though a lot of the junk that in the long run, I feel, does quite the opposite of what he is trying to achieve and is a discredit to the WSS comrades.

[PZIV]

The book was so bad that I could not finish it.He came off as a blowhard with minimal combat experience.

Combat experience in WWII is combat experience...

[Terry OToole]

Combat experience in WWII is combat experience...

agreed, shelled ,shot at and wounded is more than enough experience as far as i m concerned