INSIDE THE WAR MACHINE
As a boy raised in Hamburg, Germany, after World War I, Werner Gramckow cared about only two things: soccer and going to America. His brother, Hans, moved there ten years before the start of World War II and became an intelligence officer in the US Army. Later, when Werner was drafted into the Wehrmacht, the brothers ended up fighting on opposite sides.
As a reluctant soldier in Hitler’s army, Werner endured both the horrors and the absurdity of war, including:
• The insidious Nazi takeover of Germany through propaganda, political intrigue, and violence.
• The Russian front, where two million people were butchered; Werner was one of very few survivors.
• Service in a cavalry that chased battles around Europe on bicycles.
Brothers at War is an extraordinary survival tale in the tradition of the greatest war stories, written by a soldier who hoped he’d never have to fire a weapon—and wished only to get out of the country alive.
