Great eastern front memoir!Fantastic!

superbee

superbee

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Just finished reading a great eastern front memoir: "Until the eyes shut" by Andreas Hartinger.
Once you start reading you will not be able to put it down, well written, non-political, a brutally honest and emotional touching account.
It is about a simple Austrian farm boy caught up it the world wind of the eastern front meat grinder.He fought for 2 years with the 3rd mountain division as a MG42 machine gunner.Excellent descriptions of the inner workings of a German machine gun squad.He describes the emotional bonds and comradeship that can only be formed in brutal close combat.The explicit trust in your fellow solider knowing he's got your back every time.
You also see what a human being can endure and still survive.After the war he was imprisoned in Russia until 1948.
My only criticism is that there is no hard cover version.

Available on amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Until-Eyes-S...rds=until+the+eyes+shut&qid=1578618683&sr=8-1
 
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I will add this to my list for sure.

Favorites of mine are:

Tigers in the Mud
Sniper on the Eastern Front
Black Edelweiss
Panzer Gunner
Grenadiers
DDAy through German Eyes
Panzer Leader
Goodbye Transylvania
Stuka Pilot

And many many more
 
Adventures in my Youth - Armin Scheiderbauer

Fur Volk and Fuhrer - Erwin Bartmann, an officer in the SS Leibstandarte

Twilight of the Gods - Thorolf Hillblad, a Swedish volunteer in the SS Nordland


All auto bios, few of my favourites. Eager to check out your suggestion OP.
 
Heinz Knocke (52) published his wartime memoir back in the '50s.

Entitled "I Flew for the Fuhrer", it contains some interesting (and alarming) observations regarding the Messerschmitt 109.

Worth getting.
 
I have read (I think) all WWII German memoirs printed in English.There are some I probably missed.This one is near the top of the list.I was haunted for days after reading it.

Other great ones are:

Franzl:the story of Franz Gable
Another Austrian MG42 gunner who served on the eastern front from 1941 to the end of the war.Fantastic.Amazing tale of survival.Later won the silver medal in down hill skiing in the 1948 olympics.He later coached the Canadian downhill ski team for years.

Another one is:

"against the odds" survival on the Russian front by Hans Stieber. Superb!

"Before you cast the second stone" by Klaus Heck. Amazing tale os survival at the end of the war, even survived the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustav!

I will list more later
 
Recce21 said:
I will add this to my list for sure.

Favorites of mine are:

Tigers in the Mud
Sniper on the Eastern Front
Black Edelweiss
Panzer Gunner
Grenadiers
DDAy through German Eyes
Panzer Leader
Goodbye Transylvania
Stuka Pilot

And many many more
Click to expand...

Sniper on the Eastern Front is the best. You cannot stop reading all night.
 
cornelunc said:
Sniper on the Eastern Front is the best. You cannot stop reading all night.
Click to expand...

Indeed. No other book i read has ever had such an impact on me. Once you read such a story, you are forced to adjust many perspectives, ideas. Messed up my brain a bit, for sure. Glad i read it.

Thanks for the other suggestions, fellows,

Lou
 
I read the forgotten soldier when I was about 10 years old, still have the first edition hard cover.great read!
About 10 years ago there was a movie deal signed and a script done, but because of the economic down turn in 2008 it was canceled.Paul Verhoeven was to direct it.
 
I recently discovered a pdf copy of "Volokolamsk Highway" by Alexandr Bek which was quite interesting. Some of you may know how difficult it is to find a hard copy. If anyone would like the pdf pm me your email.
 
I loved Stuka pilot. I only recently started reading these first hand accounts.

Definitely worth getting are
Panzer Leader, By Heinz Guderian, and The Rommel Papers. Both firsthand accounts of leading the successful German panzer armies across Europe and Afrika, and their retreats and defeats. These men dealt directly with Hitler and other top Nazis, and it shows the ridiculousness of it all, which you don’t get in some of the solider accounts. How Hitler would make demands for for an army of a battered division out of pure fantasy. Both of these men were pioneers of modern and tank ware fare. They were not “Nazis” and had great respect for their adversaries.
 
Highly recommend Beevor's The Fall of Berlin, 1945.

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And also Tuchman's The Guns of August - it won a pulitzer and there is a good reason why.

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Best book I have on Berlin is "Bloody Streets" by Stephan Hamilton.Lots of first person accounts.
A second edition will be printed sometime this year.
 
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