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Surgeon With the Kaiser's Army
The Author gave up his medical studies at Freiburg University in 1914 to enlist in the German Army. He was soon involved in bloody hand-to-hand fighting against the French before moving to the Russian front.
Promoted to medical officer, despite being unqualified and barely into his twenties, he is given command of an ambulance train on the Western Front. He treats and operates on wounded of all nationalities and ranks and rescues British and German soldiers after gas attacks on the trenches of the Somme. As medical officer to the German Air Force (von Richthofen Circus) Westmann sees the dangers and effects of aerial combat at first hand. He witnesses the British tank attacks at Cambrai.
His writing graphically illustrates life and death in the front line, the carnage and humor that sustained soldiers of all nationalities. Westmann’s insights into the social, political, religious, economic and medical aspects of war time life are particularly revealing.
The text is enhanced by contemporary photographs.
Promoted to medical officer, despite being unqualified and barely into his twenties, he is given command of an ambulance train on the Western Front. He treats and operates on wounded of all nationalities and ranks and rescues British and German soldiers after gas attacks on the trenches of the Somme. As medical officer to the German Air Force (von Richthofen Circus) Westmann sees the dangers and effects of aerial combat at first hand. He witnesses the British tank attacks at Cambrai.
His writing graphically illustrates life and death in the front line, the carnage and humor that sustained soldiers of all nationalities. Westmann’s insights into the social, political, religious, economic and medical aspects of war time life are particularly revealing.
The text is enhanced by contemporary photographs.
- GenresGermany
185 pages, Hardcover
First published January 19, 2015
19 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 22, 2014
Being interested in both medicine and the Great War, I looked forward to reading this book, which did not disappoint. The writer was a young medical student at the outset of World War One, and was quickly drawn into combat. He manages to survive the war, and details his experiences in the trenches and behind them, in a wide variety of settings. This is learning medicine on the fly.
There are many excellent descriptions of life on the German side of the line, and some scenes can be stirring and vivid.
The grandson has edited the book and brought it up to speed for publishing on the centenary anniversary of the outbreak of the war.
I'm gratified he did not change the tone of the book, even as he concedes it is not exactly politically correct. The writer has great sympathy for the soldiers of both the British and his own side, but is less kind with the French, who he sees sometimes sympathetically, and sometimes less sympathetically. His words seem to arise quite easily from his experience of over four years of intermittent terror and growing deprivation and disillusionment.
The writer does complete medical school after the war, we learn via an epilogue. The book itself ends in the chaotic days of demobilization. Later, he will flee to Great Britain, as the Nazis come to power (the writer is Jewish, and his patriotism to his country in the Great War is heartfelt and undying). Having written the book later in his life, he does compare his feelings of Germany under the Kaiser against Germany under fascism.
There are not that many good German memoirs easily available in English translation. Surgeon with the Kaiser's Army is definitely worth reading and will give a glimpse into the German experience - both in combat and in military medical care - during the cataclysmic events and violent destruction of World War One.
There are many excellent descriptions of life on the German side of the line, and some scenes can be stirring and vivid.
The grandson has edited the book and brought it up to speed for publishing on the centenary anniversary of the outbreak of the war.
I'm gratified he did not change the tone of the book, even as he concedes it is not exactly politically correct. The writer has great sympathy for the soldiers of both the British and his own side, but is less kind with the French, who he sees sometimes sympathetically, and sometimes less sympathetically. His words seem to arise quite easily from his experience of over four years of intermittent terror and growing deprivation and disillusionment.
The writer does complete medical school after the war, we learn via an epilogue. The book itself ends in the chaotic days of demobilization. Later, he will flee to Great Britain, as the Nazis come to power (the writer is Jewish, and his patriotism to his country in the Great War is heartfelt and undying). Having written the book later in his life, he does compare his feelings of Germany under the Kaiser against Germany under fascism.
There are not that many good German memoirs easily available in English translation. Surgeon with the Kaiser's Army is definitely worth reading and will give a glimpse into the German experience - both in combat and in military medical care - during the cataclysmic events and violent destruction of World War One.
Displaying 1 of 1 review