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Guy Sajer

The Forgotten Soldier: War on the Russian Front - A True Story Paperback – 15 July 1999

by Guy Sajer (Author)

1,102 ratings

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The Forgotten Soldier: The True Story of a Young German Soldier on the Russian Front
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An international bestseller, this is a German soldier's first-hand account of life on Russian front during the second half of the Second World War.

When Guy Sajer joins the infantry full of ideals in the summer of 1942, the German army is enjoying unparalleled success in Russia. However, he quickly finds that for the foot soldier the glory of military success hides a much harsher reality of hunger, fatigue and constant deprivation. Posted to the crack Grosse Deutschland division, with its sadistic instructors who shoot down those who fail to make the grade, he enters a violent and remorseless world where all youthful hope is gradually ground down, and all that matters is the brute will to survive. As the biting cold of the Russian winter sets in, and the tide begins to turn against the Germans, life becomes an endless round of pounding artillery attacks and vicious combat against a relentless and merciless Red Army. A book of stunning force, this is an unforgettable reminder of the horrors of war.

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Product details

Publisher : Cassell; Second Edition (15 July 1999)
Language: : English
Paperback : 560 pages
ISBN-10 : 0304352403
ISBN-13 : 978-0304352401
Dimensions : 12.9 x 3.3 x 19.7 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 50,237 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 18 in History of Eastern Front in World War II
- 55 in Russian Historical Biographies
- 56 in World War I Biographies (Books)

Customer reviews:
1,102 ratings

Product description

Book Description

The devastating true story of a young Franco-German soldier trapped in the lethal machinery of total war on the Eastern Front in the Second World War.

Synopsis

An international bestseller, this is a German soldier's first-hand account of life on Russian front during the second half of World War II. When Guy Sajer joins the infantry full of ideals in the summer of 1942 the German army is enjoying unparalleled success in Russia. However, he quickly finds that for the foot soldier the glory of military success hides a much harsher reality of hunger, fatigue and constant deprivation. Posted to the crack Grosse Deutchland division, with its sadistic instructors who shoot down those who fail to make the grade, he enters a violent and remorseless world where all youthful hope is gradually ground down, and all that matters is the brute will to survive. As the biting cold of the Russian winter sets in, and the tide begins to turn against the Germans, life becomes an endless round of pounding artillery attacks and vicious combat against a relentless and merciless Red Army. A book of stunning force, this is and unforgettable reminder of the horrors of war.

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5 star		79%
4 star		13%
3 star		5%
2 star		2%
1 star		1%

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CPH

Armchair reviews from a safe distance

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 October 2017

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I have read the disparaging comments of a number of people who have read this book. Many of them appear to be people who despite having never been anywhere near a battlefield have concluded that since Sajer cannot recount details of his service like a unit historian that he is making it up. One reviewer considers himself qualified to claim Sajer is a fraud because he himself has read so many military histories. I am a veteran of the 11th ACR, (1967-68) and much of what he says rings true to me. The experiences which only an Eastern Front landser could have are unique and I can't say whether they are true or not. My opinion is that they are basically true but could have been adorned with some exaggeration. Adornment is not unique, as most veterans will admit, but enough corroboration exists to confirm that most of what Sajer says took place actually did so.

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Mr. Stephen Hendry

The best War Memoir I've ever read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 March 2016

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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 order to qualify for some leave and participates in many of the big battles of the eastern front. He was a soldier in the German army 67 years ago but, some of his descriptions of life as a soldier in a combat zone ring true to my own experiences. His storytelling is lyrical and heartbreakingly real. He's honest about his inadaquacies as a soldier - he doesn't recast his war experiences to make himself out to be a hero - and he doesn't shy away from describing his early fanatacism about the ideals of the third Reich and then his later disillusionment (based at least partly on his realization that being "french" - his dad was french and he was raised in france - he wouldn't ever really fit in with his german komeraden). His vivid descriptions of the Russian landscape, combat against the Bolsheviks, the bombings of cities in Germany and their aftermath, are amazing.

This is a beautiful, painful, brutal book that anyone looking for a firsthand account of the horrors of combat and war should read. I've heard this referred to as a classic and I now know why

12 people found this helpful

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MR W

Not Forgotten.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 November 2017

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I've had this book for quite a while on kindle. I read about some of the accusations against Sajer, which did put me off for a while. Having read it now, I don't really care one way or the other whether the story is fabricated in places. I've got through quite a few books on the Eastern front and the first world war and this is up with the best of them.

10 people found this helpful

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Jex

one of the best books

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 July 2020

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I rarely write reviews for anything on Amazon, can’t be bothered 98% of the time. However..

This is probably the best personal account book about the Eastern front I’ve read so far. I say best but I mean that in the most horrendous sense of the word. Other books cover operational and strategic matters but the one shows us the perspective of a young man in the total war of the Eastern Front.

I will start with the cons because there are so few:

*A few typos here and there
*General Guderian was not leading anything into battle in 1943 as the book hints once
*One speech by a Captain character in about the middle of the book seems far too prepared and nobody would have remembered it years later (it is a good speech mind)

This guy was clearly writing with hindsight, having done a little bit of wider research into bits of the conflict around him but not too much that he sounds like he is writing an operational history of the battles around him. Just enough to roughly place where he was.

The book follows a young man from training, into a logistics team running supplies across the vast distances of Russia where he is part of the retreats after Stalingrad, to recruitment into the elite Großdeutschland division where he is part of some of the fiercest and awful fighting to have been visited upon this world. He demonstrates the ‘elation’ of attack with the terrors and horrors of deep winter retreats to the mindnumbing boredom of the times inbetween.

There is nothing he does not say and the mental pictures you can paint point to how mentally broken and scarred he must have been after the war. When his unit retreat from Memel towards the end of the book it starts describing the point where the mind has gone beyond fear and terror into the world of despair and nothingness.

Love, hatred, fear, loathing, hunter, despair, lack of identity, humour, comradeship, death beyond all imagination are all key themes and they are all interwoven into this novel. There will be points where you genuinely feel for these people and what they went through (even though it is unfashionable to do so them being on the losing side)

It is true? There is some discussion nowadays that it might just be a novel. However, in my mind he had to have been there to have written about it in such detail and precision.

Highly recommended for anybody interested in the Eastern front from a simple infantry mans perspective

2 people found this helpful

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Book Enthusiast

Harrowing tale of the war on the eastern front

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 June 2019

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This is a harrowing tale of a young German soldiers’ experience on the eastern front 1942-45.

There is some controversy around the book, and whether the author actually served in the grosse Deutschland division. The lack of detail on dates and people often cited as the reason for doubt. The author himself is clear the book is his experience of the war, rather than a tactical history of the battles. Despite this, the book cannot but fill the reader with horror at the experiences of the ordinary men, the cold being the bitterest of enemies. Perhaps my only criticism is that there is no reference to Nazi atrocities in Russia, it is hard to believe an elite division was not aware or did not participate even in a small way.

The ending is short and sudden, and one wonders if that is how Sajer himself felt in being released. Well worth reading to understand the experience of an ordinary soldier.

2 people found this helpful

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