Bogus Memoirs

[Herr Lyppe]

Thought it might be appropriate to start a thread listing all the fake memoirs on the market.
I'll start with 'Honor Denied' by Paul K Harker.

Allan

[nomis]

memoirs..

Presumably, you would expect any accusation of ' bogus ' to be substantiated with some evidence, for those who are not ' in-the- know '.

Otherwise anyone can make statements about anyone elses work.

For instance, I could say that you are a fraud wishing to denounce a person for whom you have a dislike.

Therefore, anyone wishing to make statements of what amounts to fraud, please provide supporting evidence, not speculation, and most definately not a simple remark as the one preceeding this, that way we might all learn something.

SF.

[Herr Lyppe]

Hi SF,

Fair call! I actually read this a number of years ago, as it appealed to my interest in both German communications and the Waffen SS. Even after a short way through it number of recurring statements kept raising questions. ie his detailed descriptions of communications vehicles and equipment, the time frame in which he expressly used the panzerfaust and his odd assignment to Erwin Rommel.

Once completed I started searching for the thoughts of others on this book and it's author and came across a considerable amount of discouraging information. For example, this post on the Axis-History Forum.

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtop...?f=19&t=138466

There is no ulterior motive in starting this thread. I only hoped that it would serve myself and others in ensuring that our money is being spent where we'd hoped.

Allan

[nomis]

Bogus books.

I totally agree its a good idea, but there is i think a need for caution.

There are a lot of people using military forums for general chit-chat and speculation which seems to then be taken as fact, despite having no evidence or factual content at all.
Threads are hijacked away from an original query and i believe its all too easy to give people an overall false impression of a topic, simply because people like to gossip, rather than base thier discussion on facts, history, call it what you like.

As this thread is to alert members and the web to potential problem areas in written form, it seems only fair that if an author is to be critisized, that criticizem should be backed up with supporting evidence. Presumably something the authors concerned did n't bother with themselves.

SF.

[Terry OToole]

directive 19 , has recieved a lot of negative reports , it goes into more detail on other forums , needless to say it totally put me off buying it !

[nomis]

Bogus memoirs

Why ?

Surely supporting evidence here, or post your comment on those other forums.

My other point, a singular comment implying Its no good , is of no help to anyone and is not backed up with facts.

SF.

[feldpost 58]

Hi,

For bogus memoirs I recall an author called Sven Hassell!
Loved his books as a teenager, then realised that he would have had to been in various areas of the world at the same time, to have released his memoirs as "real"!
Great books, with several good characters, but in my opinion a total fraud!
Some people on the forum still believe this guy was real

Sad but true,

Very best wishes,

John.

[Obersalzberg]

The Eva Braun Diary....laughable. cant remember details but famously fake.

[Herr Lyppe]

I wasn't actually aware that Sven Hassel was supposed to be non-fiction and based on real events. I've only ever given it a cursory read and it seemed to have the same feel as the old Battlefield etc comics I read as a kid.

I agree completely with nomis. My initial post was fairly shortsighted and although this is a subject that needs attention, a considerable amount of due care needs to be observed.
The majority of posters here always appear to have an objective and genuine interest in the subject matter and material being published, and it was probably this presumption that led me to omit any qualification in the initial post.
With that in mind, I think that Terry referred to Directive 19 on the assumption that many may have given the link I included for Honour Denied a brief read and realised that it was also by Paul Harker, or one of his aliases.

Allan

[feldpost 58]

Hi Allan,

I may be wrong, but I believe the first Sven Hassel book; "Legion Of The Damned" had printed on the jacket that it was a true story written by a member of a Wehrmacht Penal Battalion.
I have not got the book at hand at the moment, but I thnk this was a selling point on initial publication.

Best wishes,

john.

[Terry OToole]

Hi Allan,

I may be wrong, but I believe the first Sven Hassel book; "Legion Of The Damned" had printed on the jacket that it was a true story written by a member of a Wehrmacht Penal Battalion.
I have not got the book at hand at the moment, but I thnk this was a selling point on initial publication.

Best wishes,

john.

you are right John he was supposed to have written the first one ! ,

[stonemint]

This one has been the subject of much dispute since being originally published in 1956:

[MarcRikmenspoel]

This one has been the subject of much dispute since being originally published in 1956:

I don't think there's any dispute anymore. It's a novel by someone who may have had military experience, but also took material from Reitlinger's books, for dramatic effect.

[Terry OToole]

"anotherbowl of kapusta"by Gottfried P Dulias seems to be controversial