<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: German Infantry Officer's Memoirs
Review: Excellent account of a young platoon leader and company commander's experiences fighting the Russians in WWII. Explains in detail elements of WWII German officer training; one of the reasons the German Army remainded a deadly opponent to the end of the war was the overall high quality of its company grade officers and NCOs. Describes in detail how it felt to be on the receiving end of a massive Soviet artillery barrage and to defend against tank-supported massed infantry assaults. Points out things this officer did right and wrong in combat, and how a young men deal with death in combat. One of the handful of books written from a company grade infantry officer's perspective; most accounts deal with panzer and panzer grenadier units, but this one does not. It focuses on the combat actions of an infantry regiment equipped with horse-drawn waggons for supply and occasionally transportation. Rock solid history of small unit to regimental combat on the Eastern Front in WWII.
Rating: 
Summary: A good read
Review: This was a well written and detailed autobiography of a young Austrian's experience in the German Army as an infantry officer on the Eastern Front. He covers his officer training in 1941/42 when the army was still interested in turning out gentlemen as well as competent leaders of men. Armin saw his first action in Russia in 1942 and his last as a badly wounded hospital patient in Danzig in 1945 where he began two years of Soviet captivity.This book deserved 5-stars, but the publisher did not include any maps! How a reader is suppost to follow a military campaign of movement without maps is beyond me and is the only real flaw of this book. Be warned that the print is small (paperback size), and some photos would have been nice too(there were none). Despite its flaws, it is still a good read.
Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: This was a well written and detailed autobiography of a young Austrian's experience in the German Army as an infantry officer on the Eastern Front. He covers his officer training in 1941/42 when the army was still interested in turning out gentlemen as well as competent leaders of men. Armin saw his first action in Russia in 1942 and his last as a badly wounded hospital patient in Danzig in 1945 where he began two years of Soviet captivity. This book deserved 5-stars, but the publisher did not include any maps! How a reader is suppost to follow a military campaign of movement without maps is beyond me and is the only real flaw of this book. Be warned that the print is small (paperback size), and some photos would have been nice too(there were none). Despite its flaws, it is still a good read.
<< 1 >>
| 
