Rating: 
Summary: Unfortunately it's a novel
Review: If anybody cares to read into the fine print, then one can tell this Guy Sajer is totally fictitious.I don't think he actually fought in the Gossdeutschland Division of the Heer, one of the few units allowed to wear an armband on the right arm, NOT left as he described it. For reference, please read the mass of books by Helmut Spater on the GD, from its infancy as an infanterieregiment to its end as a panzerkorps
Rating: 
Summary: This is the book on what it is to be a soldier.
Review: This is the finest book I have ever read about what it is to be a soldier. The pain, fear, and mind-numbing desperation hits the reader right between the eyes. Sajer shows with heart-rending detail the daily life of soldiers on the Russian front, and the crushing hopelessness and unbelievable bravery which fought for control of their minds. This book is especially interesting because it shows the German side of WWII, a story which is rarely told
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely the best WW2 book I've read
Review: Hollywood should make a movie out of this book. We constantly get a barrage of glossed over accounts of soldier life from the American side but never hear what it was really like. Sajer offers us no protection from the elements. When all seems lost, with Russian tanks on top of him, he miraculously survives to continue his tale of survival.
The most moving part of this book though is his relationships with his fellow soldiers. There is no selfishness here.
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Summary: Stunning book of a German soldier on the Eastern Front
Review: An absolutely stunning story. Really puts you in the mud and horror of the Eastern Front, in the shoes (boots, rather) of a young soldier. Imagine volunteering for an elite SS division, just because you might get a shower. Or, as a young soldier on leave for the first time in ages, unable to get home because of the impossible transportation conditions .. and meeting a girl in Berlin .. in the midst of air raids! Easily comparable to "Iron Cross" (but at a soldier's level) or "Das Boot." And then fighting for your life, with almost nothing for weapons, in an encircled city while civilians and military try desperately to evacuate behind you. A read best appreciated by soldiers who've been there
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Summary: A must read for WW2 enthusiasts, the German soldier inRussia
Review: The Forgotten Soldier is a must read for all World War 2 enthusiasts. It is the chronicle of Guy Sajer's expierences in undoubtedly the most brutal theatre of this conflict, Russia, through a German soldiers eyes. Guy is not your ardent Hitlerite Nazi in fact he is hardly a true German at all, he is from Alsace Lorraine. Guy is raised during a time when this "provence" is actually considered part of France, having been re-acquired after WW1. Guy, though, is raised with strong German ideals and when France falls he joins the Wermacht, the German regular army. He recounts all the initial triumphs and the subsequent disasters,that he and his fellow, front line, combat soldiers expierenced. He pulls no punches when it comes to his descriptions of what it took to survive the horror of "Russian Front". The Forgotten Soldier is perhaps the definitive World War 2 classic.. It is a must read for anyone interested in the enemy side of this world changing conflict. If you read Remarc's All Quiet on the Western Front and loved it as much as I did you must read Guy Sajer's true story, The Forgotten Soldier
Rating: 
Summary: Sajer's "Forgotten Soldier" a Toe-Curling Good Read
Review: Although its historical accuracy has been doubted by some, the allegedly autobiographical "Forgotten Soldier" tells the
story of Guy Sajer, an Alsacian drafted into the Wermacht
and sent to fight on the Eastern Front in World War II. Whether Sajer is telling a true version of his own life, or
whether he is retelling other's tales of the front, the
book is incredibly gripping, offering hair-raising memories
of a savage, brutal, no-quarter conflict. WWII history
fans will appreciate this first-hand account of a theater
that dominated WWII, but not the post-war bookshelves.
Rating:
Summary: The horrifying truth about World War Two in Russia.
Review: "The Forgotten Soldier" is all the explanation you need on the horrors of war in general, and World War Two on the Eastern Front in particular. It is the story of Guy Sajer, a young Alsatian who volunteers for service in the Wermacht as a member of a supply unit. He ends the war having served as an infantryman with one of the Wermacht's (not the Waffen-SS's) elite Panzer divisions in some of the most ferocious battles of the war. I read this book when I was a teenager and wasn't able to leave behind its most vivid images: the men of his squad under intense artillery fire outside Belgorod, the living misery of existence in Memel, the seemingly endless and deadly Russian winters, his falling in love with a young Berliner. Years after reading it the first time with dropped jaw and tears, I picked it up again; I was amazed at its undiminished ability to jar my emotions and leave me mentally exhausted. I won't lie: this book is difficult to read simply because it encapsulates every morsel of TRUTH about one of the most horrible chapters of human history. That said, if you are a student of history or simply humanity, brace yourself for a harrowing journey into hell, and read it. To read this book is to understand humanity's duality: its magnificence and nobility in being able to rise above adverse conditions; and its depravity and ignobility in its massive capacity to inflict them. Quite possibly the greatest work of military non-fiction ever written.
Rating:
Summary: A Rare Gem
Review: The Forgotten Soldier is to World War II what All Quiet of the Western Front is to World War I. The story traces the war time biography of a French soldier from the Alsatian region who enlists in the German army and fights on the Russian front. The story is a gritty view of warfare and the camaraderie of soldiers undergoing shared hardships. This is not a biographical view of major battles or a digression of a commanding officer on tactics. This is a face buried in the mud, frozen toes, deathly afraid, empty stomach, survival story set in the harshness of a war that was fought in a grim manner. The focus is on the personal and emotional aspect of the soldier's story. For additional reading on the soldier's life in World War II try Beyond Valor by Patrick O'Donnell
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpeice
Review: Guy Sajer born to a French Father and German mother, joins the Geran Wehrmacht in 1943 as a driver in the supply corps. and makes 2 trips across the vastness of the Russian steppe to the Eastern Front before joining the Gross Deuchland Division and becomes an infantryman.
The story is unique, I've read an awful lot of accounts from WWII and NOTHING comes close to this, Band of Brothers, although fantastic and full of identifiable characters pales in comparison. I first bought this book in 1986 treasured it for years before losing it when on loan to an aquaintance years later. I bought it again a few years ago and to be honest it has far more feeling, now that I'm older. An amazing read , one of those that makes you want to find the author and thank him. BUY IT.
Rating: 
Summary: Speculative
Review: I see Amazon has changed our sign in status so we have to use our real names. That is great, but somehow all the reviews I did in the past have become disassociated with my "new" persona, so I am going to repeat what I said under my old handle.
In my earlier comments, I dismissed the book as possible fiction. I urge readers to make up their own minds, but also to look at the excellent historical articles at http://www.deutschesoldaten.com for viewpoints by historians Lou Brown, Edward Kennedy, and Douglas Nash, for their thoughts on the matter.
Not a bible for anyone interested in Grossdeutschland or the German Army, but no doubting it is a riveting read.
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