Rating: 
Summary: Incredible story.
Review: There may be some geographic errors or mistakes in equipment as some would claim. Unfortunately, those who discredit the book fail to realize the vast dimensions of the chaos on the Eastern front. Units were mixed up, lost, and decimated. Just because some book written 50 years after it happened, based on confused reports comming from 1000 miles away in the wake of an all-consuming Red tide in which whole divisions were simply annihilated, may not have the clearest overview of what is happening. And all these sacred records were written up by a government which was collapsing and trying to bring the world down with it, or some "truthfull" communists trying to convince the world and themselves that they had saved the world from a Nazi holocaust. The book is absolutely incredible. I paints the most vivid picture to date of what war is like. Stephen Ambose's books do a great job, but they cover many small stories from a particular battle. Guy Sajer's book, follows him as he goes from a truck driver across the steppes of Russia, to a member of an elite group in the Wehrmacht. The "Gross Deutshland" was the cream of the crop of Nazi Germany, and together with the Fallshirmjager and the Waffen SS, it would go down in history as one of the most powerful and fanatical units in the history of warfare. But the book is not about Nazi ideology, it is about fighting in an army engaged in a life-or-death struggle with the Red Army. Long gone are the days of German conquest, Sajer's book is about what it is like fighting for your life.
Rating:
Summary: incredible
Review: When you read this book,you feel the cold and misery of the cold on the eastern front.So what that there are some wrong statements and accounts.I serve with the Canadian army and have been in the arctic training.I never want,as all soldiers, want to go through the hell Herr Sajer went through.This book is a testament to the millions of non-nazi soldiers who fought and died against communism in Russia.
Rating:
Summary: Even with innacuracies, reads like great fiction!
Review: One of the best books I have ever read, in any catagory. It read like great fiction (of which it contained some). Since the book was written by a young private, I can forgive a few innacuracies. Should be read by every soldier or potential soldier planning to serve in a combat unit.
Rating: 
Summary: WWII through the eyes of a single German troop,
Review: Like many historical war accounts, Guy Sajer's "The Forgotten Soldier" is not so much a blueprint of exactly what happened but rather a feeling of what had happened. This book has been critisized for purported inaccuracies but these critics are missing the larger point. The book is refreshing because it is written by a lowly German private doing his duty and simply trying to stay alive. Over the years we, the public, have tended to view the German Wehrmacht as a monolithic fighting machine. Wars are still fought by armies composed of individuals- Sayer is one of these tiny players in an otherwise large and powerful force. His account of the hopelessness and misery of the Russian campaigns is gripping. Although a fine read, this book would have been better served by including some campaign maps.
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Summary: A view of the Eastern front
Review: This book is as effective an anti-war novel (autobiographical or not) as any I've ever read. It digs deeply into the psychy to reveal from one person's perspective, the desperation and futility of the German war against Russia.There are a number of errors, but as I am not able to find the original in French, I cannot attribute them solely to inaccuracies on Sajer's part. BTW, Sajer is still alive and works as a cartoonist. He does not care to discuss the book. I believe he had said his piece, and wishes to move on. Given what he has experienced, who can blame him.
Rating:
Summary: This book really tells it like it was
Review: It meant a lot to me when I first read the book "The Forgotten Soldier." I was thoroughly impressed. I found right away some mistakes, but that was mostly unimportant. What really mattered was the emotions it invoked. Feelings I had surpressed for more than 25 years, it all came back and a few times I had to put the book down. I just could not continue. All the emotions, all the fears, everything. How can anyone who was not there criticize anybody who was there and lived through it. I liked the book and will always say so. We were very proud of our "Aermelstreifen" (arm band) "Grossdeutschland," still are. A few others from my division are finally coming around to realization that Guy Sajer did not write a novel but what he felt. I served in the war with 17th Company, Panzer Grenadier Division "Grossdeutschland" as a Funker (radioman) for my sergeant, with the Infanterie-Geschutz Kompanie, 15 cm heavy infantry howitzers. It was an interesting life, to say the least. I have to say I liked it because that is where everything happened. Whenever I was up front, which was 29 days of the month, mostly all hell broke loose and when I was relieved by another fellow, nothing happened when he was there, when I came back, everything started all over again. This was all when I was a corporal. I now live in the United States, but I still keep in touch with my comrades from the "Grossdeutschland". In the Pamphlet "Army History" on page 18, a Hans Wegener hit it right on the head about Guy Sajer and I can only second everything that man said. Helmut Ortlepp
Rating: 
Summary: The Forgettable Soldier
Review: I cannot recommend The Forgotten Soldier(TFS) as a worthwhile read due to the gross number of errors it contains. I believe TFS owes its success more to a lack of competition than to its own merits. The increasing number of German veteran accounts available to English-language readers is sure to push TFS into the obscurity it deserves. Although some claim that it is wrong to critique the book as a work of military history, I believe that most do read TFS for that purpose and, in doing so, are very ill-served. The number and type of errors in TFS lead me to conclude that the book is either a hoax by a French writer who had no service in the German military or an authentic account by a vet who writes like Hemingway but has an unusually erratic memory for details. I read TFS as one of my first books on the German military and accepted it as a worthwhile account. Over twenty years later, I am amazed at how badly written and factually misleading TFS is. There are a mountain of errors which I have spotted in the course of a second read-through. These include mock German names, bogus unit designations, erroneous weapons details including calibers, and inconsistencies in geographic information. Some might quibble with one detail or another, but the totality of false information is hard to ignore. Some say that Sajer is forgivable for his multitude of errors since we should allow vets some leeway on remembering silly things like facts. Sure, Sajer screws up his uniform, weapons, unit of assignment, comrades and officers names, etc., but damn he is good on knowing the location of his Division CP at all times! (Sarcasm intended) Email me for details.
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Summary: The best book about war and what its like to serve!
Review: Without a doubt this book exemplifies what it is to be in a military unit under the most extreme conditions. It reminds those who have served their countries what it was like to have friendships forged during those conditions. For those who have never served their countries, it spells out the pain and folly of war - that any veteran can see. This book is one of the two books best suited to the task of teaching us, the easy way, that war is folly - the other is "All Quiet on the Western Front
Rating:
Summary: Exceptional novel...not an autobiography
Review: The author does an admirable job of exposing the reader to the horrors and realities of the battlefield (in this case, WWII Russia). Rarely has a book so effectively provided civilians such acurrate insight. Unfortunately, the book is not factual. It is a novel in spite of the author's claims. The known and universally accepted facts do not jibe with the author's "recollections". It is, without doubt, one of the best novels of its type. If you are looking for a truly autobiographical account of the German side of the war, I would recommend without hesitation "Panzer Commander" by Hans von Luck. Read "Forgotten Soldier" for its emotional impact and its sense of 'being there'. Read "Panzer Commander" for its historical accuracy. The two books are an exceptional combination.
Rating:
Summary: The greatest Anti-War War Story I have ever read.
Review: The greatest Anti-War War Story I have ever read. I thought I was in the trenches and could feel the percussion of the mortar's. I felt the surge of the on-coming Russian Soldiers. The deprivation and bitter conditions were told in such graphic detail. I froze, I baked and enjoyed the rare moments of sanity. I was exhausted by the intensity, lulled into security in the early days during training. I first read this book in the 1980's in the UK and lent it out, so it was gone. I found it again in Australia had to have it specially ordered so I bought 3 copies and subsequently lent them out again. I am onto my 12th copy. I still cannot believe the adversity they went through. Is Guy Sajer still alive??? I would love to write to him! Peter J. McDonald
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