...a well-wrought ground level view of daily life in hell. - WWII Magazine This is the remarkable story of a German soldier who fought throughout World War II, rising from conscript private to captain of a heavy weapons company on the Eastern Front.William Lubbeck was 19 when he was drafted into the Wehrmacht in August 1939. As a member of the 58th Infantry Division, he received his baptism of fire during the 1940 invasion of France. The following spring his division served on the left flank of Army Group North in Operation Barbarossa. After gruelling marches admidst countless Russian bodies, burnt-out vehicles, and a great number of cheering Baltic civilians, Lubbeck s unit entered the outskirts of Leningrad, making the deepest penetration of any German formation.The Germans suffered brutal hardships the following winter as they fought both Russian counterattacks and the brutal cold. The 58th Division was thrown back and forth across the front of Army Group North, from Novgorod to Demyansk, at one point fighting back Russian attacks on the ice of Lake Ilmen. Returning to the outskirts of Leningrad, the 58th was placed in support of the Spanish Blue Division. Relations between the allied formations soured at one point when the Spaniards used a Russian bath house for target practice, not realising that Germans were relaxing inside.A soldier who preferred to be close to the action, Lubbeck served as forward observer for his company, duelling with Russian snipers, partisans and full-scale assaults alike. With the assistance of David B. Hurt, he has drawn on his wartime notes and letters, Soldatbuch, regimental history and personal memories to recount his four years of frontline experience. Containing rare firsthand accounts of both triumph and disaster, At Leningrad s Gates provides a fascinating glimpse into the reality of combat on the Eastern Front.
AT LENINGRAD'S GATES
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I cannot do anything other than recommend this book to all Eastern Front enthusiasts, particularly those with an interest in the life of the ordinary soldier in the Wermacht. --www.wargamer.com
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
By Gisli Jokull Gislason
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover
I found this book to be a very warm recollection of terrible times. As a reader I felt I had shared in Lubbeck's experience. His story is told at a late age so it is interesting to see what memories stand out, I also followed his post war life with interest, both because Lubbeck comes out as a likeable man and because post war Germany was a troubled land in dark times, the war was over but the hardships were not.
Lubbeck served with the 58th Infantry Division in Army Group North on the Eastern Front. His is the tale of a ambitious infantry soldier that was promoted to an officer in the crucible of war. The story provides a satisfactory explanation as to why German soldiers fought in 1944 and 1945, it also tells less glamorous stories of lice and dirt and how soldiers travelling home changed trains on the border and deloused before going further. This is also a story of an infantry man, who didn't ride a Tiger and walked into Russia while the baggage train and artillery were drawn by horses and R&R was a good bath and latrine.
It is the humanity of the story and the personality of William Lubbeck that stand out in the story. There is also a love story between Lubbeck and his future wife Annelise, their relationship while he was at the front, his worries about her during the allied bombings and her uncertainty of his fate at the front.
All in all a rewarding book.
Lubbeck served with the 58th Infantry Division in Army Group North on the Eastern Front. His is the tale of a ambitious infantry soldier that was promoted to an officer in the crucible of war. The story provides a satisfactory explanation as to why German soldiers fought in 1944 and 1945, it also tells less glamorous stories of lice and dirt and how soldiers travelling home changed trains on the border and deloused before going further. This is also a story of an infantry man, who didn't ride a Tiger and walked into Russia while the baggage train and artillery were drawn by horses and R&R was a good bath and latrine.
It is the humanity of the story and the personality of William Lubbeck that stand out in the story. There is also a love story between Lubbeck and his future wife Annelise, their relationship while he was at the front, his worries about her during the allied bombings and her uncertainty of his fate at the front.
All in all a rewarding book.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By Andrew Blake
Format:Hardcover
An excellent firsthand account of combat in northern Russia. As a former infantryman, I appreciated his detailed descriptions of life at the front and the remarkable sequence of events that enabled him to survive the last few weeks of the war. The section describing life in East Germany right after the war, including a close encounter with a Soviet patrol, was also interesting. As an aside, I was impressed by the number of personal wartime photographs included with the narrative. Given the campaigns in which Lubbeck participated, it's remarkable that they survived. They're helpful in visualizing the situation within Lubbeck's unit.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I just finished William Lubbeck's At Leningrad's Gates. It was fantastic. I have read several good memoirs of the Russian Front, but Lubbeck's stands out as truly remarkable. His account of his experiences was refreshingly candid and provided great insight into the horrors suffered on both sides of the line. I highly recommend this book.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Rather bland given the epic titile
Although rather a sanitised version I always got the feeling this could have been written so much better especially as he spent so much time at the front. Read more
Published 3 months ago by masspecguy
2.0 out of 5 stars
Tedious
I was fairly unimpressed by this Book,which i honestly found to be fairly tedious.I also have to say that i found this Book yet another highly sanitised German account of the... Read more
Published on 12 Mar 2010 by The Old Git
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great ostfront memoir
This is a well written memoir which is a page turner. The author gives a very frank and honest narrative of his experiences on the eastern front. Read more
Published on 13 Sep 2009 by P. Younger
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting
I got this after reading The Forgotten Soldier and Blood Red Snow, both brilliant books which I couldn't put down capturing the horrors of the actual fighting. Read more
Published on 13 Jun 2009 by vangoyen
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