Rating: 
Summary: one of the best I have ever read
Review: Read all the other books first, since I read this one nothing grabs me like this one did.
Rating: 
Summary: Controversial book remains fiction
Review: As a work of fiction, this book will be of interest, but the book is riddled with errors of fact - or perhaps translation errors (it was originally written in French). Either way, anyone using it as a source of information (as Fritz did with FRONTSOLDATEN) is treading in a minefield. Sajer is simply unconvincing - he can't drive a truck but is sent off to drive a tank, after starting in the Luftwaffe in Rudel's squadron, which was nowhere near where Sajer reports him to be? He is immersed in the German Army for several years, but still can't speak passable German by the end of the book? He mentions the good old boys of "the 19th Rollbahn" (19th Road??) Search the internet for articles by Doug Nash and Ed Kennedy who discussed this at length,(...) The book should be read and interpreted on an individual basis, but a serious historical account it cannot ever be. Even the elusive author admits there are significant errors caused by faulty memory.
Rating: 
Summary: Valuable As History But Not A Great Book
Review: This detailed account of the brutal German-Russian war lacks
the moral qualities required, even when the subject is war,
to be a great book. In chapter 3 Sajer writes that he was
fighting for a "good cause". Yeah right - if you define a
good cause as a murderous racist regime that invades other
countries! It's strange to me that so few readers are
disturbed by Sajer's lack of admission of wrong-doing.
Sajer frequently boasts in the book that the German army
would have prevailed if only they didn't face superior
numerical odds in Russia. He has the attitude that a lot
of Confederate veterans had in writing about the civil war.
Bitter about the suffering he experienced and making excuses
for defeat, while showing almost no contrition for the suffering
he imposed.
Rating:
Summary: Best book I've ever read on WW2
Review: I'll keep it short. This is beyond a doubt the best, most gripping book about WW2 I've ever read. The author is able to convey the horrors, difficulties, triumphs, defeats, and hopelessness of life on the eastern front in such a way that the reader is drawn in as if he were actually there. It is a must read.
Rating:
Summary: Veracity of "Le Soldat Oublie"
Review: I am surprised that the veracity of this book is doubted. Sajer was born in Wissembourg, in Alsace. He wrote the book in 1967 during the "student protests" in France. His theme was "look at these young people whining about their condition. They do not know what suffering is."
Sajer was about 40 years old when he wrote the book, only 22 years after the war had ended. He referred to himself as "living apart from the human condition" after his experiences fighting for the Germans then rediscovering a French identify in 1945 and being made to join the French Army.
Painful experiences always sharpen a memory. So what if his name does not apper in regimental records? The Gross Deutchland Division was "reconstructed" 6 times over between 1940 and 1945. Most of its records were destroyed by enemy activity. The book is fact.
Rating:
Summary: War from the perspective of the average soldier
Review: War is a horrible and unglamorous endeavor, regardless of Hollywood's best efforts to put a noble face on it. Guy Sajer's essential message is just that. Throughout this sometimes mundane, sometimes terrifying account of one German soldier's experiences on the Eastern Front, the drumbeat of this pervasive theme steadily grows to a crescendo.The author begins his service as a support soldier, but later opts for the "glory" of the infantry, and is assigned to the Gross Deutschland division. His story ranges from the stark terror and carnage of a heated firefight to the misery and hunger of a defeated army fleeing the crushing Soviet onslaught. The reader cannot help feeling empathy for the tragic figure who evolves from naive recruit to veteran to disillusioned refugee to cynical survivor. But there is a triumph in survival. I have heard and read several critics who dismiss this book as a fraud based on some historical inaccuracies and the absence of the author's name from the Gross Deutschland's rolls. Even as a lover of military history, I'm not unduly concerned with those things. I don't rely on this book as a primary source for historical research. Rather, I read it as a window into the mind of the forgotten foot soldier, much as I would read Jakob Walther's "Diary." For that purpose, it is truly an excellent work, and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: German or Russian or American, war is war
Review: This book does a good job of humanizing the average German foot soldier who marched off to die in Russia not because he hated Jews and wished to spread fascism to the godless communists, but because he did rather love his country and wish to see it prosper and more importantly, because he had no choice. Many of them were young and powerless, and like their counterparts, just wanted to go home. They suffered and cried and went hungry just like Americans did. The novel is gripping and well written, and really the nationality isn't overly important to the story. It's much more about confused boys killing and being killed and never really knowing why. An easy read that's hard to put down.
Rating:
Summary: Magnificent- a masterpiece
Review: Napoleon said the first order of a soldier, above even courage, was the will to endure hardship. I read Guy Sajer's personal account while serving with the 1st Armored Division. It was tucked in my flak vest as we crossed into Bosnia- I was sitting behind a machine gun. I had it there to remind me of our mission: to put an end, if only for a while, to the horrific carnage that came, and will surely come, when the resolve to reason is lost amidst the madness of tyranny. This story must not be lost on future generations- it is too valuable for the sake of humanity. Graphic, deeply personal and consistently moving, I found it among the finest works I have ever known. A MUST read for any former combat/combat support soldier who knows what it means to suffer.
Rating:
Summary: every human must read this
Review: If the German Soldier of WWII interests you, you should get this book. It is up there along with "In Deadly Combat" as the best books I have ever read. Guy Sajer takes you on a journey that is like none other. If you want to know what it means to be a man, then read this book. Plenty of insights, plenty of action. You eyes will be opened to a different world.(so long as they are not flooding tears) I ,myself, was moved to tears many times.
Rating:
Summary: This book will move the reader!
Review: A spectacular book! It saddens me deeply that words do not exist to convey the depth of comprehension, of such experiences and sorrow, which this human tragedy demands.
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