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17th out of 392 books
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The Forgotten Soldier
by
Guy Sajer
This book recountsthe horror of World War II on the eastern front, as seen through the eyes of a teenaged German soldier. At first an exciting adventure, young Guy Sajer 's war becomes, as the German invasion falters in the icy vastness of the Ukraine, a simple, desperate struggle for survival against cold, hunger, and above all the terrifying Soviet artillery. As a member...more
Paperback, 465 pages
Published
October 15th 2001
by Potomac Books
(first published November 1st 1988)
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The best War Memoir I've ever read! Heart breaking, brutal, real, lyrical, depressing, insightful, and in some ways familiar - I simply loved this book. Guy Sajer tells his story as a young half french, half german boy joining the Wermacht in 1942. His story spans his journey from Germany to Poland for training in the transportation Corps and then to the east in the winter of '42 to resupply the German Army at the Don river. Later he joins the Gross Deutschland division as an infantryman in ...more
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Guy Sajer's account of life on the Eastern Front in World War II is a must read. If "All Quiet on the Western Front" left any mark upon you at all, this book will floor you. You will fully understand the brutality of war, the brutality of the Soviets and the Nazis. You will fully understand the brutal nature of "total war" and fierce nature of mankind who stoked and fed the machinations of World War.
He's just a dumb kid in the beginning. He's an old man at the en...more
He's just a dumb kid in the beginning. He's an old man at the en...more
This is a very powerful book; it's not for the squeamish. The author was a teenager who enlisted in the German army in 1942, and following basic training, was sent to the Eastern front as a truck driver. In 1943 he volunteered to become an infantryman in the elite Gross Deutchland division in exchange for a one week leave in Germany. He went to Berlin but found life there little different from the war zone in the Ukraine: daily bombing (from the American Air Corps) and little food.
Saje...more
Saje...more
This book will be of interest, but the book is riddled with errors of fact - or perhaps translation errors (it was originally written in French). Either way, anyone using it as a source of information (as Fritz did with FRONTSOLDATEN) is treading in a minefield. Sajer is simply unconvincing - he can't drive a truck but is sent off to drive a tank, after starting in the Luftwaffe in Rudel's squadron, which was nowhere near where Sajer reports him to be? He is immersed in the German Army for sever...more
This is an interesting memoir of one (very) young Franco-German soldier's experiences on the Russian front during WW2; the events described beginning when Guy Sajar was only 16 years old. It was obviously written (possibly as a form of catharsis) many years later - there are sections which contain long speeches that are unlikely to have been recalled verbatim and were certainly (re)composed at a much later date, but, that small caveat aside, much of this account is a vivid, stark and horrific de...more
I read Sajer's story 20 years ago and I was deeply impressed by it. He was among those Alsatians who joined the Wehrmacht following the incorporation of Alsace (one of France's eastern regions) into the Third Reich following France's defeat in June 1940. Sajer himself is of French and German parentage.
Since the time I read this book, questions have been raised as to its authenticity. Be that as it may, Sajer's descriptions of serving both with an anti-partisan and later with ...more
Since the time I read this book, questions have been raised as to its authenticity. Be that as it may, Sajer's descriptions of serving both with an anti-partisan and later with ...more
I don't think that I can do this book justice in a short review. I suppose that it's best summed up as "All Quiet on the Western Front", set in World War II. As a well-written book from a point of view contrary to the phony John Wayne flag-waving Hollywood propaganda, I found it refreshing, thought-provoking, and brutally honest.
M. "Sajer" (not the author's real name) felt that it was his duty to bear witness to the incredible horror that he lived through, and i...more
M. "Sajer" (not the author's real name) felt that it was his duty to bear witness to the incredible horror that he lived through, and i...more
A good but tough memoir. It follows the life of a young half-French/half-German boy from Alsace who enlists in the Wehrmacht in late 1942 and all his subsequent actions up until the end of the war. He is sent to the Russian front, which is a brutal, unforgiving assignment, with death from the Soviets and the environment constantly surrounding him. While he avoided the hell that was Stalingrad, he did suffer through the battles of Kharkov and the long, slow, bloody retreat of the Germany Army acr...more
A descent into hell as we read about an ethnic German from France who joins the Wehrmacht in 1943 and is promptly sent to the Eastern Front. Talk about bad timing. Things quickly go from bad to worse as you follow him retreating back to Fatherland with the broken remnants of the Master Race. Hard to feel sorry for any of the Krauts in WWII, but this is as close as you will get. Great book.
I read this book while enduring Officer Candidate School.
If you want to read a story about what war is really like, then read this book. The author lived it and he does a very good job of reliving it for you through his writing.
It's not the normal story about WWII that you see here in the US. Mr. Sajer is in the German army and spends a good deal of time on the eastern front.
The descriptions are vivid, the fear is palpable.
Mr. Sajer basically sa...more
If you want to read a story about what war is really like, then read this book. The author lived it and he does a very good job of reliving it for you through his writing.
It's not the normal story about WWII that you see here in the US. Mr. Sajer is in the German army and spends a good deal of time on the eastern front.
The descriptions are vivid, the fear is palpable.
Mr. Sajer basically sa...more
I read this book for one of my history classes and thought it was probably one of the most incredible books I've ever read. It's a biography of a young man from France who becomes a Nazi. Reading about his experience as a young soldier was incredible-- it had a very honest feel. It was a good reminder to me that while I don't approve of Hitler one bit, it isn't fair to classify all the soldiers who served under as terrible men either-- this poor guy went through a ton and this book was a great e...more
"The Forgotten Soldier," has been called, "All Quiet on the Western Front of World War II." It is that, both more and less. More - Guy Sajer has written a volume twice the length of, "All Quiet" It is a story - autobiography - largely untold of the experiences of German soldiers on the Russian front battling the Red Army and the Russian winter. Sajer's account compels close, deep interest. It is a most worthy effort but Sajer does not have the literary skills of Eri...more
Through the eyes of Guy Sajer, I have rediscovered the putrid horror of war and the interminable depth of the human soul. Such a juxtaposition concerns me. In the flowing filth of destruction, can one glimpse the shimmer of the human quality? So many people allude to war as the pinnacle of evil within human nature. Undoubtedly, the mystifying magnitude of our destructive tendencies overwhelms our vision and guides us into stereotypical cognition of ideological evil and discontent. However, does ...more
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"The war seemed to have turned me into a monster of indifference, a man witout feelings. I was still three months short of eighteen, but felt at least thirty-five. Now that I have reaches that age, I know better. Peace has brought me many pleasures, but nothing as powerful as the passion for surviving in wartime, that faith in love, and that sense of absolutes. It often strikes me with horror that peace is really extremely monotonous. During the terrible moments of war one longs for peace w...more
By far the most unsettling account of WWII I have EVER read. The degradation on the front between Germany and Russia was definitely the closest to hell on earth humanity has yet achieved. Sajer does a fantastic job of never defending the German aims or beliefs, and therefor never tries to defend the atrocities committed by either army. However, since he doesn't make it to the front until long after the German advance into Russia, he also has no basis for comparison when the Russians strike back,...more
I read a review of this book around 1971 and my Dad and
I eagerly awaited its arrival at the library. We both
thought it was a great read.
It was one of the first popular 'from the German point of view'
stories available. The genre has grown quite a bit
since then.
Twenty years later in the early '90s, there was and perhaps
still is a controversy over whether the author is telling his
story or one that is, shall we say, a composi...more
This is a truly haunting account of life on the front line for a second world war soldier. The fact that this is a true story makes it even more remarkable.
Whether this genre appeals to you or not I urge you to read it simply for it's realism and detail. You will soon be engaged with this exceptional read. It has real pace right from the outset and is relentless till the very end.
It reads like a novel, such is the drama surrounding this man's life on the battlefield. ...more
Whether this genre appeals to you or not I urge you to read it simply for it's realism and detail. You will soon be engaged with this exceptional read. It has real pace right from the outset and is relentless till the very end.
It reads like a novel, such is the drama surrounding this man's life on the battlefield. ...more
This book has a lot of controversey to it. Is it the work of multiple authors? Is it a true story or historical fiction? Might it be a story written by a soldier but who put together the stories of others? Regardless of what the answers to those questions are, this is a great bnook to read to get a picture of what life might have been like on the Eastern Front for the average German soldier. It makes no excuses for the actions of the army or the politics of the country, its just the tale of...more
Simply put it's a brutal, gut-wrenching read. This one took me longer than usual to read because I had to take a couple of breaks from it because of how depressed I was getting. At times I was reading this book and thought to myself "is this book fiction or is it real?" And then I realize it's real and men lived through this war machine.
To read this memoir and to read the change that takes place in the author is quite sad. He enters the war bright-eyed and bushy tailed ...more
To read this memoir and to read the change that takes place in the author is quite sad. He enters the war bright-eyed and bushy tailed ...more
This book is haunting. What boggles the mind is the force of history that put all the people on all sides of the conflict where they are.
The German men and boys who find themselves commanded to run under fire down a shallow trench dug in the ground that's frozen solid at the outer edge of a 1000-mile-long arm of men and machinery that's reached into the frozen wastes of a country none of them ever cared to see or even think about.
The unending waves of nameless Russian "...more
The German men and boys who find themselves commanded to run under fire down a shallow trench dug in the ground that's frozen solid at the outer edge of a 1000-mile-long arm of men and machinery that's reached into the frozen wastes of a country none of them ever cared to see or even think about.
The unending waves of nameless Russian "...more
I read this a decade ago during a spate of interest in WWII. First published in 1965, it is the account of a _Landser_ in the German army who served on the Eastern Front from 1942-5. Although it apparently provoked much controversy over 'accuracy' (Sajer errs on some details, including the proper location of his unit patch), I never worried about such things, for it provides a vivid and devastating account of one man's transformation from youthful patriot to bitter survivor. Harrowing.
Sajer was Alsatian--- born in Alsace, the province disputed between France and Germany since 1870 ---and conscripted into the German Army in WW-2. "Forgotten Soldier" is his account of his service as an infantryman with the Gross-Deutschland Division on the Russian Front during the latter stages of the campaigns that saw the destruction of Hitler's Germany. It's harrowing, sad, and powerful. One of the best combat memoirs I've read.
Many people don't know what it was like being a soldier on the Eastern Front in World War II (brutal and heartless fighting on a 1,000 mile range that consumed many a poor life). This book is the perspective of a French-German guy who got drafted into the Wehrmacht and went to Belgorod right when Stalingrad fell... and ended up being pursued by the Russians all the way back to Berlin.
The story of Guy Sajer, a young German soldier from the Alsace region of France. He has a French passport and is forced to enter the German Army. He takes you into the action, allowing you to experience the march across Europe, through Poland and into the Soviet Union. A powerful story that shows the human side of war, proving that in times of catastrophe, life goes on.
An extraordinary memoir which provides some insight into the Wehrmacht and the way in which it managed to maintain its viability as a fighting force through three years of retreat. I've yet to find a similar biography, and one is forced to rely on more academic works to explain the phenomena and the consequences of the German Army's acquiescence in Hitler's folly.
I enjoyed this book even though I had read some criticism. Sure there may be some areas that the author has muddled, but has also been implied he may have a bit to hide. With all that in mind this is still a read about a brutal time for a young man. For those that are considering reading this be warned though, it is long and the "action" is non stop.
Guy Sajer's story of his experiences in the German Army during WWII is just utterly incredible. The reader is taken through his tough training and eventual nightmare exploits on the Eastern front with the Gross Deutschland Divisions, all the way back to his home town after the war.
Probably the best WWII biog I've ever read.
Probably the best WWII biog I've ever read.
Best war memoir I've had the privilege to ever read. No one can excuse the crimes of the Nazi regime, but this heart rending account of suffering and abject exhaustion (both physical and mental) does lend itself to feelings of sympathy for the millions of young men co-opted into the manifestation of the Nazi ethos of endless struggle.
WOW! What an incredible book! This book mostly focuses on the battles fought on the Russian front (during WW2) from the perspective of a German soldier. Though the book is fictional, there are many true parts to the book. I was pretty much mesmorized through the entire book.
A devastating memoir of a French Alsatian conscripted into the German army who served for three years as a private soldier on the Eastern Front. Listening to his friends being run over by a tank while they huddled in their trench; terror, cold and hunger; "They died, but it didn't matter"; and so on. For those bearing most of the cost of the war, the simplistic moralizations of the Allies unblemished virtue versus the utter depravity of the Axis has little meaning.
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