BOOK AS A WHOLE - FINAL THOUGHTS -ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

[André, Honorary Contributor - EMERITUS - Music]

Elizabeth S wrote: "You make some good points, Andre. Really, what we need is some term to differentiate between the kid-next-door soldiers and the monsters who commit war crimes..."

As you say, Elizabeth, that will probably be impossible to do. ALl the more because in the middle of a war zone some "kid-next-door soldiers" unwillingly turned/were turned into "monsters" either as a reaction to what they lived through and saw, or by their superiors.
Also many young men were forced to do things they would never have thought they would have been able to do in a "normal" situation.

"Drawing the line" of course becomes much easier when these crimes were planned and executed systematically. Also any acts of war against civilians, retaliations etc. cannot be tolerated.

But nowadays the "civilian point" has become much harder to judge - especially in war zones like Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq - how to make out civilians when the terrorists/insurgents hide amongst them, use them as shields or switch back and forth between "innocent" ordinary civilians and part time killing machines....

[André, Honorary Contributor - EMERITUS - Music]

Tim wrote: "I was not trying to excuse any of the war crimes committed by the Wehrmacht (or by the Allies themselves; only the defeated get to go to the war crimes trial) ..."

Tim, you're so right.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

What a great discussion even after the book discussion finished - a great tribute to the group of members who read the book and to Elizabeth.

[Tim]

Hassel's books are a little bit sensational. I think they were originally published in Germany and Denmark (Hassel was a Dane from his own account).

I think that Legion of the Damned is probably the best and after that they get a bit more mass-market as they go on. One of the misleading things is the way the publisher alters Hassel's name on the cover. The double-S of his name is made to look like the emblem of the SS. Actually Hassel's unit (if it ever existed) is a penal armoured regiment in the Wehrmacht. They are a good read although not what you would call literature. Two of his main characters, Porta and the Old Man, are very similar to Remarque characters.

[Elizabeth S]

Thanks for the explanation of Hassel's books, Tim. "A little bit sensational" is probably a little bit of an understatement, huh. Altering the double-S is probably one of those selling point things. As they say, don't judge a book by its cover.

By the way, be sure to include the author links (and book link) in every post that you mention the author or book. The goodreads software counts the number of times a link is used in a thread and that helps people to know there is discussion rather than merely casual mention.

Sven Hassel