I want to read a good memoir - help me!

[Bcarver]

Are there any German memoirs like "Forgotten Soldier" that have a lot of combat stories and less of the Hitler bashing and "we Germans were all guilty" stuff? I have been very disappointed by the modern ones I have read. "Stuka Pilot" was great and wish more were like it.

[ColdZero1]

Good Memoirs

Thanks for the recommendations and quick reviews. I love war memoirs, and now have a good list of several of the best to read. Best, Joe.

[dag001]

If you can find it, try Peter Neumann's "The Black March". This was printed in the 1950's and is long out of print, I think. A good read of his transition from the HJ into the SS and then into the Eastern campaign.

[Helene]

'Panzer Commander, the Memoirs of Colonel Hans Von Luck.' A brilliant read, very detailed in Army tactics and personal memories. Von Luck was awarded the German Cross in Gold and the Knight's Cross. Quote "One of the more valuable World War II memoirs.....an exceptional volume' - Booklist". It's one of those books you just can't put down.

[jmark]

A bit of shameless self-promotion. Best Stalingrad memoir is undoubtedly Adelbert Holl's "Als Infanterist in Stalingrad", which I translated and released in English (An Infantryman in Stalingrad). First-class description of infantry co-operating with assault guns during an attack in a large city.

Also Dr. Wigand Wüster's "An Artilleryman in Stalingrad": he's quite a character and it shines through in this book. Bullied by his battalion commander, his humour gets him through. He's outside the Stalingrad pocket in December 1942 but goes through numerous ordeals to fly back in where he is considered crazy for doing so. Lots of great episodes in this memoir.

Jason

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[whatthecrunchyo]

The only German soldier memoirs I've read was Panzer Commander by Hans von Luck which was mentioned. One of THE BEST books I have ever read, hands down, was Visions From A Foxhole by William Foley. His battle sequences gave me the same suspense as when I watched Saving Private Ryan for the first time. It is about a late-war GI as they attack the Sigfried line. It talks about interaction fighting the Germans quite a bit.

On another note, a book I just started reading and is giving me the same feeling is Low Level Hell by Hugh Mills. It is about an aeroscout pilot in Vietnam that flys an OH-6 "Loach" (Littlebird nowadays). Very suspensful!

[Ian Thomson]

Just finished Stuka Pilot - Hans Ulrich Rudel, what an amazing guy those that havent read it, just put down what yur reading and get the book.. The German/English translation leaves a bit to be desired at times, but what a career, amazing.

[k9mike]

Tigers in the Mud....Otto Carius. Awesome book...Had him autograph it for me.
I have read almost all of what has been mentioned an all are great books...so many...so little time...lol
Mike

[stross]

A new book just out : Fuhrer,Folk and Fatherland, a soldiers story. By Douglas Wolfgang Oskar Gagel. ISBN 978-1-897508-15-2

About his father, Albin Gagel, and his time in the Wehrmacht 1939 through the Russian front and how he managed to survive the end of the war.

A tremendous read, I really did not want the book to end.

I highly recomend it.

I agree completely! I bought this book directly from the author and had a good talk with him about it and his father, Albin. It includes in wonderful detail his time immediately after the war as well his wife's escape West ahead of the Russians.

[Marcel Banziger]

"Marsch aus dem Untergang" by Claus Neuber. I am not sure if this one is in English as well but it is very good, entertaining, easy to read and very exciting about some Germans who got stuck behind enemy lines on the eastfront and had to get back to the German side.

[k9mike]

Was this written in English version as well? If so...can someone post link to any for sale..
Mike