The Forgotten Soldier

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Summary: Guy Sajer has written a gripping and graphic acount of war.
Review: Contrary to other comments that Guy Sajer's book is fictional, I believe it is the real story. Early in the book he states that he has not looked at any maps or any references as to how authentic the data seems, he is just writting about it as experienced. As a reader and collector of historically significant military artifacts, I can understand if his account does not quite jive with written facts. For a guy slogging it out on the ground, he will write as he remembered it, from his point of view, and just because some referece book doesn't say so, doesn't mean it didn't happen. Aside from that, the book is certainly one of the best and most gripping tales I have ever read. There isn't alot of info on the Eastern Front available, especially historic first person accounts. The book sheds light into the chaos of the Eastern Front, the single most devastating conflict in history. As a member of the Gross Deutschland, Sajer was as they put it, "Born to Die", and the book explains why. In the end it is a great story, whether fact or fiction, and it has revolutionized my view of the terrible chaos and struggle that took place across the steppes of Russia. Anybody reading this book will simply not forget it. We, don't realize what fear is.

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Summary: A monument to the horror of war
Review: The Forgotten Soldier is an incredibly powerful story that lays bare the inhumanity of war. It does not matter that this is the memoir of a German soldier, because politics are not important in this story. This is a story about the fear and terror of combat; the death and destruction wrought by both sides on the Russian front. Anyone who reads this book will never forget it. I read this book for the first time 25 years ago, and it changed forever the way I thought about war. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

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Summary: Honest book on the human condition
Review: The Forgotten Soldier could have been written by a Russian, Japanese, US, British, or any soldier fighting in WWII. The reason that I preface my review with this statement, is that the story is not reflective of the politics of any one nation for right or wrong, but a story of how a young man (teenager) is affected by the consequences of war. I make this general comment to inform potential readers that may be turned-off by the author who was enlisted with the German Army.
The book should be read by anyone wondering what life was like on the front in WWII. What makes this story more horrific is that it is the East Front (against the Soviets). The Russian winters and low food supplies is as deadly as any bullet. The book moves from bleak to hopeless as it takes place in the later part of the war and the German's are retreating.
Sajer and his comrades consistently dream of retreating to the West (the Fatherland) which constitutes safety, failing to realize that the West Front is now facing the Allied forces, thus hemming Germany in the pincher claws of the Red Army in the East and the Allied Forces in the West.
As they move west the soon realize there is no safe haven. The massive retreats at Memel are horrific as the Soviets bomb and shoot down civilians and soldiers alike. If any place has been hell on earth Memel sounds pretty close to it.
Sajer writings jump between first person and third person (looking back). His insights and honesty about feelings (from cowardly, scared, humble, and angry) to his realizations about life and death make this a memoir that touches on a subconscious philosophy of the value of life. In some respects these sprinkled insights remind me of more lucent samurai philosophies of the balance between life and death.
The best book I have read on the human condition of war.

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Summary: a haunting memoir of the war from the "other" side
Review: The majority of the casualties the German Army suffered in WWII occured on the Eastern Front - indeed, the Allied landings in France and Italy were diversions compared the length and brutality of the war in the east. Guy Sajer's memoir vividly captures the raw horror, pain and waste that is war. It is ironic that Sajer writes from the perspective of a nazi soldier - the "bad guys" in WWII. This makes his stories all the more compelling, reminding us that war IS hell - regardless of which side of the battle lines you fight on.

I give it 4 stars for its relative lack of scope - I had a difficult time figuring out where Sajer was while he was relating his story. (I know, from personal experience, most soldiers on the front line lack the "vision" of thier role in the bigger picture - but I had hoped that after the fact, as the book was being written, those areas would be filled in.) In spite of this minor criticism, it truly is a remarkable account of the second world war, and of what life was like on the eastern front in particular.

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Summary: If it is True
Review: Much debate rages about the accuracy of the account in this book. After researching on the web I feel that it is very likely true. The scale of this book is myopic and that really helps the reader focus on the plight of the humans involved in this story (though Sajer doesn't bother to do much character development). If the scale were any greater it would be easy to forget the number of soldiers that were chewed up and spit out in Hitler's eastern folly. The casualness that Sajer describe the death and destruction around him accurately portrays many veteran's hardened views of what they saw. The piling up of the dead as a windbreak on a train, the skirmish in the factory against the partisans, and the Russian air raids are described with an unusual detachment. Read this book to understand the depth of despair that is war.

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Summary: Maybe your life isn't so bad after all. . .
Review: At least you're not freezing AND starving, you're not trapped and surrounded by the Red Army, armed partisans are not out to mutilate you, the girl you love back home is not being bombed and your life and those of your friends does not hang on the military whim of a mad corporal named Hitler.

Whew!

And those are only a few of the nightmares that Guy Sajer had to endure for years on the Eastern Front.

Some critics have doubted the author's veracity based on small details regarding troop i.d. numbers and the like, which they argue are either inaccurate or would have been unavailable to a common soldier. My feeling is that the real objection is that the book is just too well written! Sajer does work up his facts with some literary flair. e.g.; we do not find out the name of 'the veteran' until half way through.
(Why is it that only boring, impersonal writing is considered credible?)

This is probably the best first person account of the terror and pain of war ever written.

Despite some omissions (As usual, with German war memoirs, there is not a single anti-semite or Nazi in the entire Wehrmacht) the author does clarify some issues which have not been written about before as when his benevolently wise C.O. gives the troops a pep talk as to why they're fighting which is straight out of Nietsche.

There is also Sajer's own ambivalence. He did not have to fight at all. He was the son of a French father and a German mother living in the 'Germanic region' of occupied France. But being a teenager, he thought it would be cool to be a Stuka pilot, or failing that, at least to be accepted into the camaraderie of the elite Grossdeutschland corp.

I mean what kid doesn't want to be in the 'Special Forces'?

The book could be subtitled 'the horrors of a dumb teenager in love with the romance of war'

Reality intervenes brutally and Sajer masterfully recounts his three years at the front with a stunning imagery which gives this book its haunting power.

It is impossible to pick which episode is most moving or disturbing: Getting a letter from his mother telling him not to volunteer for anything dangerous--while artillery shells are falling all around him. His leave and budding love affair in Berlin interrupted by a massive air bombardment. The bloody night retreat from Kiev in makeshift boats. Coming home at last and having his own mother not recognize him.

Page after page Sajer takes the reader into a vivid inescapable world of madness from which there is no escape and no one to rely upon except the other poor sods stuck in a mudhole beside him who have become more than his family or country. They are his entire universe. His reason for living and the source of his courage.

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Summary: The Eastern Front...
Review: This book serves as one of the most powerful accounts of the Eastern Offensive (from the eyes of a young german soldier) all the way to its eventual retreat. Guy Sajer writes in a very candid style, describing everything from the cold to the fear one feels in the midst of a firefight - a fear I hope that I will never know.

I have had a few relatives fight in the war and as a boy I always wondered why they could not tell me about it. But as I grew older, after reading important works such as this, I grew to understand.

To live in that time, it must have felt as though the world and its entire human society was dying. Guy Sajer illustrates the feelings of this madness and personifies the numbers and BW photos. He too, must of felt the world was ending.

To all those that are interested in this stirring and raw account of the war, please also check out a book by Charles Yale Harrison titled "Generals Die In Bed". This was from one Canadian's personal account during World War I. I must say I was sick with grief and horror after reading it. His story about loosing a bayonett inside a young German boy is horribly sad, to say the least.

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Summary: A great account of an unbelievable story
Review: I had read several other World War two books prior to reading The Forgotten Soldier, including The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Stalingrad, and The Fall of Berlin. This book was the first to be written in the first person perspective.

I found his experience to be absolutely amazing. From boot camp where he learns how tought the war is going to be till the final days, his story is magnificent. What a perfect depiction of how WWII actually was during the Russian front. He found himself involved in many of the major battles including Kharkov, and Kiev. There were many memorable moments where he really shocks the reader with what he had to go through, and how war really affects the human mind.

It really hit home to me during the book when he turned 17. At the time I read the book, I was 17 as well, and it hit me. I realized that this was very very real, and that me and my friends could have been in his situation.

Overall i would highly recommend this book who wants to understand what WWII was really like, and what can happen to the human mind in times like WWII.

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Summary: Essential WWII reading
Review: Guy Sajer's "The Forgotten Soldier" is without question one of the two best WWII memoirs ever written (Bidermann's "In Deadly Combat..." is the other). No other book comes close to portraying the agony and emotions of war. The genre of WWII memoirs is filled with books that are competent, but not great. This is a great book, and is essential reading for any WWII enthusiast. With few books can you look back at after you have finished reading them and feel like you got your money's worth and that the time invested in reading them was time well spent. This is one of those rare books. Highly recommended.

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Summary: Sheer pain
Review: The Forgotten Soldier tells the tale of the war time experiences of a young infantryman, born to one French parent and one German, who was recruited by the Third Reich just in time for their eastern offensive to Russia. Perhaps, as a Frenchman, Sajer had an inkling that what awaited the Germans would be similar to Napoleon's costly campaign in the previous century. Sajer does not present a book of heroes, nor attempt to gild his own experiences. Quite the opposite. Most of the time, you feel yourself quivering in fear alongside him, standing guard in minus twenty degree weather, or holding your cracked hands out to be warmed by the brief warmth of a friend's urine. Pursued by the Red Army and plagued in their retreat by vengeful partisans, Sajer's book is a stunning account of an army on the run. For anyone who grew up watching Hollywood versions of the impeccable and efficient Germans, The Forgotten Soldier contains enough chaos and terror to make you smell the fear of not just an army in retreat, but a nation in collapse. Sajer's writing takes a while to get going, but do persevere, because not only does his tale become more and more enthralling as it proceeds, but his writing improves. In the moments when his unit are pounded by artillery or plagued by aerial assault, Sajer achieves an incredible sense of detachment that seems to have been at the heart of this one man's survival.