Heaven & Hell: The War Diary of a German Paratrooper

Rating:
Summary: Honest Account
Review: Many are not aware that the Fallschirmjäger, or German paratroopers, were among the most elite of the fighting forces in WW2. So, those who are interested in the FJ and their history should be more than interested in this book. How many German paratrooper accounts of World War 2 can you think of? You can count them on one hand.

From the start to the finish - Poppel recalls the days of his Hitler Youth, his naive views of Germany & the world before his entrance in to war (which becomes understandable), his and his comrades' views of Italian, British, and American troops, and inevitably, the loss of his friends and his own country. His accounts of battle range from the disastrous jump at Crete, to Holland, Russia, France and Italy. You'll watch Poppel go from a very enthustiastic trooper to a very tired veteran, wishing for nothing more than the entire ordeal to be done with.

Note that German paras were not used in many combat jumps during WW2 because of "failure" at Crete - don't be angry when you find alot of the book is from the view of an FJ trooper with his wings clipped.

Also, don't expect for the book to be a grand story of his life. It is exactly what it says - a war journal. Some entries are rather abrupt and not entirely descriptive. Regardless, considering the amount of days chronicled, it's quite an achievement. Those who are interested in the FJ or simply the German perspective during the war will know full well that finding information on the troops is scarce, especially an account directly from one of the elite. That said, trying to fathom what the man must have gone through on some occasions is difficult, especially since he doesn't get too far into the psychology of his time in the field - how he felt on most occasions. He simply states what he went through and leaves it up to you to understand the impact of what he is saying.

While it may not be as descriptive as Donald Burgett's US para accounts, its definitely informative - and a treasure for anyone interested in German paras or paratroops in general. Add it to your war library.

Rating:
Summary: Good but there are better books
Review: Matin poppel gives some ggod descriptions of where he fought, in particular Crete and the Ostfront. However this book is a compilation of his war diary entries. I found it lacked smoothness in it's reading. For those searching for a good war novel this is not it, I will recommend Gottlob Herbert Biderman's book titled In Deadly Combat or Black Edelweiss by Johan Voss.
Poppel does give and insight into what it meant to be a Fallschirmjager and how they were often used to hold particular front lines, He did not participate in the legendary battles of Monte Cassino does mention the battles if only briefly. Overall if you like books on Paratroopers then this will suffice.

Rating:
Summary: Good but there are better books
Review: Matin poppel gives some ggod descriptions of where he fought, in particular Crete and the Ostfront. However this book is a compilation of his war diary entries. I found it lacked smoothness in it's reading. For those searching for a good war novel this is not it, I will recommend Gottlob Herbert Biderman's book titled In Deadly Combat or Black Edelweiss by Johan Voss.
Poppel does give and insight into what it meant to be a Fallschirmjager and how they were often used to hold particular front lines, He did not participate in the legendary battles of Monte Cassino does mention the battles if only briefly. Overall if you like books on Paratroopers then this will suffice.

Rating:
Summary: Some good parts
Review: Poppel's book does give some good first hand accounts of combat, but it does have some limitations.

It seems he did not start keeping a diary until '42 so his experiences up to that point are not very detailed and very general. Which is disappointing since his unit was rushed to the Russian front in December(?) of 1941 to help stop the Soviet's counter attack. Accounts of combat with Red Army soldiers in '41 would have been very informative.

He also does not fill in periods of the war where he was not in combat. Yes it is not easy to remember events 50 years ago, but it would have been nice to know some general info about where he was staying and what he was doing there. We learn he has a fiancé but nothing as to where they met and so forth.

I think the worst thing is the translation, it is atrocious. Sometimes I would have to read a sentence two or three times to figure out what was being conveyed. There were a few sentences that I could never figure out, it seems as if they were literally translated from German into English. Also the translator used British slang which make comprehension even harder.

Having said that I would recommend this book, it is not perfect but parts of it were very interesting and entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but has serious flaws
Review: This is, as far as I know the only account in the market by a German paratrooper. As such it is an important document.
What Mr Poppel writes is so obviously heartfelt. He comes out as just about as nice a fellow as they come. As a paratrooper he literally existed between heaven and hell. He is lyrical in his descriptions of the actual parachuting. It is when he tries to describe his combat experience where his language falters. The man is not a writer. And the translation is atrocious.
The fact is that the only major paratdrop by the Germans was Crete. Mr Poppel just states that the fighting was so horrible that he does not want to write about it. We must respect that decision. It does make it a weaker book though. It is an interesting war memoir. He sees action in Sicily, at the D-Day, and Holland. If you want to read about paratrooper warfare I would not recommend this book.