Forgotten Soldier : The Classic WWII Autobiography (Brassey's Commemorative Series WWII)

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Summary: Look inside the mind of a soldier in combat
Review: Guy Sajer has provided the world with a stunningly graphic, heartfelt account of war as experienced by young men in the worst imaginable conditions. I have made this book a "must read" for my junior officers. Nothing I have read before compares to the horrors of war that Sajer brings out in this work. Through a careful study of this book, leaders can learn a great deal about why soldiers press on when chaos and fear abounds. The most basic examination will reveal the truths about the reasons young soldiers fight in the face of overwhelming odds, the way youngsters see leaders, and the mental/physical struggles soldiers endure beyond what the leadership can see. Simply a marvelously insightful book no leader should ignore.

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Summary: A gem you will not see in mall book stores!
Review: Why have I never seen the book before on bookstore shelves? Hooray Amazon.com! Well written narrative account holds the reader's interest with its dramatic telling. It focuses on the soldiers' point of view. That point of view gives insights to the actual progress of the war and the author gives a framework of the progress on the larger scale. Learning how the greater forces resulting in the outcome of the war affected the everyday soldier on the ground makes those academic conclusions hit home in the vision of the front line given to us by Guy Sajer. I wonder what became of him?

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Summary: It's all been said
Review: What can I say that hasn't already been said? An excellent personal account of a common German combat infantryman trying to survive the brutal conditions on the Eastern Front. How did anyone survive such brutality and not go insane is beyond me.

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Summary: Feel the death and desperation of the Eastern Front.
Review: This moving and easily flowing autobiography describes the life for average Wermacht soldiers on the eastern front, and the events they experience and witness. Guy Sajer's narrative tells of his mixture of feelings: being proud to be a professional soldier of his newly adopted country, his teenage romance with a German girl whilst on leave, and of being on an exciting adolescent adventure. However, the experiences he takes part in, convering the full German retreat following their deep thrust into Russia until the last desperate defence of East Prussia, will shock anyone reading this book. The physical endurance, the brutal combat, the pain of surviving in the freezing huge expanses of the Russian winter, the lack of essential supplies, bearing witness to war's cruel treatment of all civilians, and the desperate hunger he lives through all contribute to a change in his state of mind in under three years from a happy-go-lucky teenage soldier to a broken old man whose hopes about life have all been shattered. The endless death leaves a feeling of absolute and total terror about fighting the battles he knows he must fight in order to have any hope of survival. This book will bring home to anyone the desperation of trying to remain human amid the unending pain of total war.

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Summary: A gripping description of the disjunction of war.
Review: Although this is not the greatest literary work I have ever read it captures the utter misery and chaos of war from the point of view of the foot soldier.

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Summary: And I thought Pvt Ryan was good!!!
Review: I have always wanted to hear the other side. Certainly war is hell for the losers. The Forgotten Soilder is no longer! A masterpiece of the written word.

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Summary: An outstanding look at the life of a German Soldier in WWII
Review: This book is both exciting and troubling in it's description of the life of a German Soldier in WWII. Anyone interested in learning about the war should read this great book.

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Summary: POWERFUL STORY-POWERFUL BOOK !
Review: This book illustrates what was meant when German soldiers were threatened with service on the Eastern Front. The book is a brilliant result of what appears to be the author's cathartic attempt to come to grips with events that were deeply burned into his psyche as a teenage soldier. It is written in a simple, direct style that not only reads well but engrosses the reader in the events. It is truly an "I can't put it down" book. "The Forgotten Soldier" outdoes "The Memoirs of Sergeant Bourgogne," in which the French foot soldier/afuthor describes his retreat from Moscow in 1812-13. Unfortunately, Sajer has little to say of his life before or after this monumental experience in Russia and the Western front. Since his book was so personal and caused the reader to identify with him, it leaaves you hanging a bit. But the mark of any good book is that you always want more, and the glow stays with you a very, very long time.

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Summary: a wonderful read
Review: EVEN THOUGH IT HAS BEEN SEVERAL YEARS SINCE I HAVE READ THIS BOOK IT'S IMPACT IS STILL WITH ME. I WAS ABSOLUTELY RAPT BY THE WONDERFUL PROSE OF THIS FINE WRITER.HOW HE EVER SURVIVED THIS HORRIBLE TIME IS BEYOND MY KEN.THIS BOOK SHOULD BE READ BY EVERYONE,IT IS A WONDERFUL BOOK.

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Summary: unserpassable
Review: what more can a non fiction buff say that has not been said. did he ever meet his army buddies again? hals e.t.c