With Our Backs to Berlin

Rating:
Summary: Interesting stories from 'the other side of the hill'.
Review: Good collection and well written accounts of the final days of WWII. If you are specifically looking for stories from the German perspective buy this book. Several of the stories are compelling and there is a facinating transcript from German radio communications with a 'fortress' kampfgruppe. For east front enthusiasts this book provides good first person commentary.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting stories from 'the other side of the hill'.
Review: Good collection and well written accounts of the final days of WWII. If you are specifically looking for stories from the German perspective buy this book. Several of the stories are compelling and there is a facinating transcript from German radio communications with a 'fortress' kampfgruppe. For east front enthusiasts this book provides good first person commentary.

Rating:
Summary: Histories from survivors
Review: In this excellent work Tony Le Tissier compiles narratives from German and one Russian survivors of the close, vicious combat in and around Berlin in 1945 and adds some of his own writing based on radio logs and other reports now available. The most compelling pieces in the book are the longer narratives of combat in Berlin and attempts to break out to the Western Allies prior to capture by the Soviets. Much of the writing is simple and frank; describing brutal conditions and chaotic combat in deceptively plain language. The writers are squad leaders or soldiers, so command insight is rare, but the things that matter to soldiers (hot food, competent leaders, working weapons,...) are mentioned frequently. If you want a higher-scale reference on the struggle for Berlin, this is not the book you want. If you want to know what it was like to be fighting in and near Berlin as the Soviet armies entered the city and closed in on the Reichstag, from the soldiers' point of view, this is a book you want.

I gave the book only four stars because an overview chapter on events leading up to the fall of Berlin and the combat formations involved, as well as a couple of larger-scale maps, would have made the book much more complete and provided a backdrop for the stories within. But the material is unique and fascinating and for the reader with the background knowledge already, this is probably a five-star work.

Rating:
Summary: Great German Perspective
Review: This book gives you a good feel for what it was like for the German soldiers as the third reich crumbled under the Russian offensive. There are only a few books like this, including Tale of a German Sniper and a few others.

Rating:
Summary: Seldom read History
Review: This books explores the last and bitter days of fighting from the perspective of German soldiers. The book brings new insight into the last days of the once formidible German Army. It is good story given by the common soldiers who simply fight on for undisputed loyalty or simply because they are trapped an have no other choice but to fight or die.

Rating:
Summary: Seldom read History
Review: This books explores the last and bitter days of fighting from the perspective of German soldiers. The book brings new insight into the last days of the once formidible German Army. It is good story given by the common soldiers who simply fight on for undisputed loyalty or simply because they are trapped an have no other choice but to fight or die.

Rating:
Summary: From those who were there!
Review: To all those historians like myself, hearing the words from these veterans is simply priceless! This book, like many others I have read, depicts the futile struggle against the Allies from both fronts. With gripping accounts of street fighting and fire fights at point blank ranges, it will reach out to you and put you right in there shoes. These men were brave soldiers following orders to the last!

Rating:
Summary: With Our Backs to Berlin
Review: Tony Le Tissier has compiled wonderful veteran accounts of the fighting in and around Berlin as the war is nearing a tragic end for the soldiers of the Heer. These stories provide good insight as to what it was like to experience the horror of combat without getting up from your armchair. Very dramatic and sad tales of loss, sacrifice, heroism, and honor are in abundance throughout the book.

Contrary to what Liberal-PC extremism has been telling America and the world for years - that the Soviets were "liberators" is simply nonsense. In almost every tale there are stories of how small rearguard detachements of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS were left on suicide missions to let Rumanians, Ukrainians, Russian peasants, and Germans escape the ravaging Soviet juggernaut.

While there are better books that deal with the war in the East, this book and these stories (even one Red-Army soldier has one) is worth the purchase and worth your time.

Rating:
Summary: The last days of the German Army.
Review: Unlike some of the other reviewers, I don't think this book was a great read. The stories are unique, no doubt. However bringing them together leads to a disjoint and is not smooth. One story talked about the Western Front, then the next dealt with the Eastern Front. There was even a story in there from a Russian soldier. I tried to interpret these stories into some theme, but the only thing I got was the disorganized nature of the German Army. The last story from a Waffen SS recruit bordered on unbelieveable, and some of the interpretation mention that some may not be true. Perhaps a book called Berlin Dance of Death is a better book on the subject, although it is written by only one soldier.
This is an OK read, but there are better books out there from German soldiers. The stories are alright, if the reader is familiar with the last battles of the Third Reich.